Filmmaker subpoenaed in connection with Illinois wrongful conviction suit

Documentary filmmaker Margaret Byrne was subpoenaed for her communications and unpublished work product on Sept. 5, 2024, by the defendant in an ongoing civil lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois.

The subpoena was struck down by a judge in November 2024.

Byrne, who founded the independent film company Beti Films, is the director of “To Catch a Case,” a documentary focused on efforts to uncover wrongful murder convictions in Cook County. Jose Cruz, who was extensively interviewed for the film, filed a lawsuit in 2023 against eight law enforcement officers alleging he was wrongfully convicted of first degree murder and attempted murder 30 years earlier.

One of the defendants, former police detective Reynaldo Guevara, subpoenaed Byrne — along with multiple other journalists — in September 2024, seeking the filmmaker’s video and audio recordings, documents, transcripts, notes and communications concerning Cruz and her documentary.

In a Sept. 16 objection, Brendan Healey, a lawyer representing Byrne, wrote that not only would complying with the subpoena be difficult and time consuming, but it could jeopardize her as-yet-unreleased documentary and her relationships with sources. He highlighted that the film is still in production.

“In fact, Ms. Byrne is still doing reporting in connection with the documentary. Any reporting done in connection with Mr. Cruz was decades after the events at issue in the lawsuit, and the film concerns dozens of cases, not just Mr. Cruz’s,” Healey added

Guevara asked the judge to order Byrne to comply with the subpoena Sept. 25, and Byrne again objected on Oct. 16, arguing that “being used as a conduit for a law firm to collect information” could jeopardize her journalistic work.

“My relationships with sources are built on trust, and I believe those relationships would be damaged if sources knew that information they provided me, whether in the form of documents or interviews, would be disclosed to parties in litigation,” Byrne wrote in a declaration.

Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes sided with Byrne in a Nov. 22 ruling, finding that the possible benefit to Guevara doesn’t outweigh the burden Byrne would face by disclosing her newsgathering materials and editing process.

“In the milieu of criminal justice reporting, journalists speaking to sources today about alleged wrongful convictions in Cook County could well anticipate future litigation and subpoenas directed at that reporting, particularly in high-profile matters such as this one, in which Guevara is a person facing some 26 wrongful conviction lawsuits and is said to be involved in about 46 murder exonerations,” Fuentes wrote. “In this case alone, Guevara initiated or pursued some seven subpoenas on journalists or their news organizations.”

Through court filings, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has identified and documented four such subpoenas. Guevara also notified the court of his plans to request testimony from Byrne and NBC News reporter Maite Amorebieta, but did not serve the subpoenas.

Byrne did not respond to an emailed request for comment.