Contempt of court

A reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat was held in contempt after he refused to provide testimony to Amiel Cueto in connection with a suit against the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and others.

Last year, Cueto filed suit against the Illinois Civil Justice League and JUSTPAC, alleging that he was placed in a false light by a 2006 campaign advertisement against his brother, St. Clair County Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto.

Attorneys for the former army scientist once labeled as a “person of interest” in the 2001 anthrax attacks identified three government sources who they say illegally leaked information about the investigation that is now at the heart of the scientist’s Privacy Act suit against the government.

Reporters James Stewart and Toni Locy asked Judge Reggie Walton to reconsider his order compelling them to testify in former Army scientist Steven Hatfill’s Privacy Act suit against the government.

In 2001, then Attorney General John Ashcroft identified Hatfill as a “person of interest” in the Department of Justice’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Hatfill subsequently brought suit against the Department of Justice for releasing information about their investigation to the media.

After holding a reporter in contempt of court for airing an interview with a potential juror in the high-profile trial of polygamist sect leader and convicted rapist Warren Jeffs, Judge James L. Shumate found that reporter Katie Baker's unrelated Nov. 20 report on a homeless program satisfied his mandate that she produce a human-interest news report to clear the charges.

The Santa Barbara Independent reports that Superior Court Judge Brian Hill found photographer Paul Wellman in contempt of court for failing to turn over photographs subpoenaed in the murder trial of 14-year-old Ricardo Juarez.

As we have said earlier, this seems to be nothing more than a fishing expedition by defense attorney Karen Atkins.