Lawyers for former prosecutor Richard Convertino aren’t giving up their quest to find out who leaked news of a Justice Department ethics investigation into his handling of a 2003 terrorism trial. They have asked a judge to order Detroit Free Press editors to give up the information, after the paper’s reporter, David Ashenfelter, argued his Fifth Amendment rights would be violated if he divulged the source.

Convertino is suing the Justice Department for privacy violations. He claims the leak was illegal, which is why Ashenfelter invoked the Fifth. The journalist’s earlier argument that the First Amendment protected his confidential source was rejected. 

Convertino’s motion argues the newspaper itself can’t claim the Fifth. Because the paper’s ethics policy instructs reporters to reveal their confidential sources to an editor, the editors must know the source’s identity, Convertino argues.

Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter doesn’t have to sit for a deposition about his source for a 2004 story revealing an Office of Professional Responsibility investigation of then-prosecutor Richard Convertino, a federal judge ruled. The journalist argued his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination would be violated if he were forced to answer questions about his source.

Convertino was under investigation for his handling of a now-discredited terrorism trial. The former Detroit prosecutor is suing the Justice Department for privacy violations.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals  today declined to halt a deposition of a Detroit Free Press reporter sought by former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino, who was acquitted in 2007 on charges he kept information from the defense in a botched terrorism trial.

Convertino wants to know the identify of David Ashenfelter’s source for a 2004 story reporting that the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility had opened an internal investigation of the prosecutor.

Reports the Free Press:

Convertino has said he needs Ashenfelter’s testimony to support his claim that Justice Department officials were retaliating against him for complaining about shortcomings in the war on terrorism.

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.