Cook County prosecutors are demanding personal documents such as e-mails and grades from Northwestern University students who work on the Medill Innocence Project.
The group is trying to prove the innocence of convicted murderer Anthony McKinney, and they've filed a petition for a hearing. Since then, according to the Chicago Tribune:
The Cook County state's attorney subpoenaed the students' grades, notes and recordings of witness interviews, the class syllabus and even e-mails they sent to each other and to professor David Protess of the university's Medill School of Journalism.
Northwestern has turned over documents related to on-the-record interviews with witnesses that students conducted, as well as copies of audio and videotapes, Protess said.
But the school is fighting the effort to get grades and grading criteria, evaluations of student performance, expenses incurred during the inquiry, the syllabus, e-mails, unpublished student memos, and interviews not conducted on the record, or where witnesses weren't willing to be recorded.
Started in 1999, the Project is a joint effort between Medill School of
Journalism professor David Protess and Medill students, who bring
attention to those they believe were wrongly convicted.
The state is claiming the documents requested are needed for them to investigate McKinney's case.
From Romenesko to Windy Citizen, not to mention the Medill alumni listserv and the Twitterverse, people are debating whether the students should be protected under the Illinois Reporter's Privilege Act, which basically says journalists don't have to turn over source material.
Is Cook County overstepping its bounds? Or are Medill students meddling where they don't belong?
"Lawyers in the Cook County state
"Lawyers in the Cook County state
It is this attitude that substantiates the acrimonious and antagonist relationship betweent the CCP and justice