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Detroit Free PressJudge: Free Press reporter can protect sources
BY JOE SWICKARD • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • APRIL 21, 2009
UPDATED AT 4:32 p.m.: U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland just ruled that Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter does not have to reveal his sources in a 2004 article about an embattled federal prosecutor.
Cleland accepted Ashenfelter's argument that naming his sources would violate Ashenfelter's Fifth Amendment right under the U.S. Constitution to avoid self-incrimination.
The ruling is a setback for former prosecutor Richard Convertino, who contends he needs to know who told Ashenfelter about a confidential Justice Department probe into Convertino's conduct. The leak violated Convertino's federal privacy rights, he contends in his suit against his former bosses.
The 2004 article was written after terrorism verdicts won by Convertino and another federal prosecutor were reversed, with a judge finding that prosecutors did not properly share evidence favorable to the defendants with their attorney
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http://www.freep.com/article/20090421/NEWS05/90421003/Judge++Free+Press+reporter+can+protect+sources