Jail Time, Fines Sought for Reporters Accused of Defying Judge’s Gag Order
Prosecutors said they will seek fines and jail time for two Chicago Tribune reporters accused of defying a judge’s gag order in publishing the name of a boy accused of stabbing three classmates.
Circuit Judge Robert E. Byrne, who issued the gag order, declined to drop contempt of court charges against reporters Joseph Sjostrom and Jan Crawford during a hearing last week but said he would give the case to another judge.
Assistant state’s Atty. Carmen Polo said he would seek fines and jail sentences if the two are convicted.
Byrne had ordered news media not to identify the 14-year-old charged in the stabbings at a high school Dec. 7. The Tribune had published the teen’s name before the judge issued the order and published it again the day after the order.
The newspaper said the reporters had obtained the boy’s name after interviewing his mother and students at the school in Elmhurst.
“Truthful information in the public domain can’t be made secret again by an order,” said Joseph P. Thornton, an attorney for the newspaper.
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