July 30--Two national TV reporters no longer face possible sanctions for violating media security rules at former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's arraignment last month in Chicago after their lawyers apologized at a closed-door meeting with a federal judge.
According to court orders posted online Thursday, U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo accepted the apologies and dismissed the contempt filings against Brian Ross, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, and Gabe Gutierrez, an Atlanta-based reporter for NBC Nightly News.
Castillo had met with the reporters' attorneys at a meeting last week in his chambers that was not publicly disclosed beforehand. A court record later noted the meeting but did not disclose any details other than to say the matter would be reviewed with the Court Security Committee.
The court order posted Thursday made no mention of either reporter attending the meeting in Castillo's chambers last week.
According to that filing, Castillo showed video clips of both reporters' violating decorum rules at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse lobby during the media frenzy at Hastert's first court appearance.
After viewing the videos, attorneys for both reporters admitted the violations and apologized to Castillo, according to the filing. Attorneys for both reporters noted they had never before covered court appearances in Chicago's federal courthouse and were unaware of the rules prohibiting interviews anywhere other than in a roped-off media bullpen in the lobby, the filing said.
Castillo accepted the apologies and dismissed the rules to show cause why they shouldn't be held in contempt of court, according to the filing.
Ross allegedly tried to interview Hastert while the former speaker was going through a metal detector in the courthouse lobby and again while Hastert was walking to an elevator bank.
A separate filing accused Gutierrez of attempting to interview Hastert as he left the courthouse after pleading not guilty to the charges. Several deputy U.S. marshals and court security officers "observed Gutierrez run in the wrong direction through a closed security checkpoint in an attempt to interview" Hastert, the filing said.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
