NBC News producer subpoenaed in Illinois wrongful conviction suit

Maite Amorebieta, a senior investigative producer for NBC News, was subpoenaed for her communications and unpublished work product on Sept. 3, 2024, by the defendant in an ongoing civil lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois.

According to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Amorebieta appeared to have ignored the initial subpoena and the defendant made no attempts to force her compliance after a judge ruled in October that doing so would have to go through federal courts where Amorebieta either lives or works.

Amorebieta 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 Amorebieta — along with multiple other journalists — in September 2024, seeking the journalist’s interview recordings, transcripts, notes and communications concerning Cruz. The request initially asked that the documents be turned over by Sept. 16, according to court filings.

He also notified the court of his plans to request testimony from Amorebieta and filmmaker Margaret Byrne, but did not serve the subpoenas.

During a hearing on Sept. 26, Krystal Gonzalez, an attorney representing Guevara, told the court that Amorebieta had spoken with Cruz while he was incarcerated.

“So we are specifically looking for any communications or documents related to Mr. Cruz,” Gonzalez said. She added that they had spoken with an attorney representing Amorebieta the day before to schedule discussions around the requests.

During that hearing, 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?”

While he decided the following day to allow the subpoenas to Amorebieta and Byrne to proceed, he struck down those issued to CBS News reporter Jericka Duncan and former BuzzFeed reporter Melissa Segura.

According to an Oct. 14 letter sent by Amanda Leith, Amorebieta’s attorney, no discussion had taken place with Guevara’s attorneys, and any attempt to compel compliance with the subpoena would have to be filed through a federal court in New Jersey or New York, where the journalist lives and works. The following day, Fuentes directed Guevara to follow that procedure.

The Tracker was unable to confirm whether any such attempts were made, as Amorebieta was not mentioned in subsequent filings in the case and no motions to compel were filed in any district court.

Neither Amorebieta nor her attorney responded to emailed requests for comment.