CBS News reporter subpoenaed in Illinois wrongful conviction suit

CBS reporter Jericka Duncan was subpoenaed for her communications and unpublished work product on Sept. 3, 2024, by the defendant in an ongoing civil lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois.

A judge ruled later that the subpoena could not move forward.

According to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Duncan was identified as a potential witness by former police detective Reynaldo Guevara. Guevara is one of eight law enforcement officers sued in 2023 by Jose Cruz, who alleges he was wrongfully convicted of first degree murder and attempted murder 30 years earlier.

Guevara subpoenaed Duncan — along with multiple other journalists — in September 2024, seeking the journalist’s interview recordings, transcripts, notes and communications concerning Cruz. Duncan was not served a copy of the subpoena until Sept. 13, according to court records.

Attorneys representing Guevara notified the court that they spoke with Duncan on Sept. 19 and she informed them that she did not have the requested documents readily available and had yet to obtain legal representation.

During a hearing on Sept. 26, Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes reflected on the potential precedent set by allowing a defendant to subpoena journalists for their notes, outtakes, sources and means.

“I think it’s an important substantive issue of what you can get from reporters,” Fuentes said. “How proper it is to have in a defendant’s playbook: We’re going to slap a bunch of subpoenas on reporters. We’re going to make them hire lawyers. We’re going to have them incur expense. How much does that burden the exercise of the right of access to documents and the exercise to the First Amendment?”

In an order issued the following day, Fuentes ruled that it was too late in the discovery process to allow the subpoenas to Duncan and former BuzzFeed News reporter Melissa Segura to proceed. However, he permitted the deliberations around subpoenas issued to two other journalists — filmmaker Margaret Byrne and NBC News reporter Maite Amorebieta — to continue.

Duncan did not respond to a request for comment.