Judge in R. Kelly Trial Threatens to Jail Reporter for Not Testifying

First Amendment

Judge in R. Kelly Trial Threatens to Jail Reporter for Not Testifying

Posted Jun 3, 2008, 02:41 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

A Chicago judge overseeing the child pornography trial of R. Kelly has threatened to jail a newspaper reporter who failed to appear today to testify as scheduled.

Jim DeRogatis, a music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was supposed to testify about his role in receiving from an anonymous source and passing on to authorities, in 2002, a videotape—allegedly of Kelly having sex with with an underage teen—that is at the heart of the trial against the acclaimed R&B singer. However, DeRogatis didn't show, and Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan threatened to have him arrested, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Gaughan ruled last week that DeRogatis must testify, despite arguments that he should be protected from doing so by the First Amendment and a reporter's privilege. Today, Damon Dunn, a lawyer for the Sun-Times, sought to strengthen the privilege argument.

He contended that an Illinois statute precludes calling DeRogatis while a case is being appealed—as he has done with Gaughan's ruling last week that DeRogatis must testify, the Tribune recounts. However, Dunn made a critical error by apparently filing a notice of appeal with the trial court, in the Richard M. Daley Center.

"You filed it in the wrong court," Gaughan told Dunn today. "A notice of appeal has to be filed at the appellate court."

Additional coverage:

SouthtownStar: "Sun-Times critic DeRogatis ordered to take the stand"

Vulture (New York magazine): "The Prosecution Rests in R. Kelly Trial—But Where Is Jim DeRogatis?"

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