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Rights/Reprints

Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter asked the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to intercede in a lawsuit brought by former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino. Convertino wants Ashenfelter to reveal his sources for a 2004 story that revealed a Justice Department ethics probe of the prosecutor for his conduct in a failed terrorism case. Ashenfelter said a federal trial judge has made “unwaveringly coercive rulings” by repeatedly ordering the reporter to testify who told him about the Office of Professional Responsibility probe. Ashenfelter says he fears prosecution and argues an order to reveal his sources would compromise his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.