Judge Orders New Jersey Newspaper To Stop Publishing Articles About Child Abuse Case
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)—A judge has ordered a New Jersey newspaper to stop publishing articles pertaining to a particular case and it's causing some to question the legality of the ruling.
The Record reports that Superior Court Judge Craig Corson issued a temporary injunction in October prohibiting the Trentonian newspaper from publishing articles about a confidential child abuse complaint obtained by one of its reporters.
The case involves a 5-year-old boy from Trenton, and details sensitive information, including a time when the boy allegedly carried packets of heroin in his lunch box and another time when he was caught with crack in a school folder.
The Record says the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency filed a complaint against his parents and the boy's paternal grandmother, which ultimately landed the boy in foster care.
Trentonian reporter Isaac Avilucea was able to obtain a copy of the child abuse complaint from the mother, but some still dispute how he obtained the files.
Avilucea was confronted in the courthouse by state officials, refused to turn over the complaint, left and then reported on the case despite Corson's temporary injunction, The Record reports.
Attorneys for the Trentonian argued in a legal filing that the child abuse complaint was not marked "confidential" and that Ford parted with it willingly.
The Attorney General's Office contends they have an interest in preventing the disclosure of confidential information to maintain the integrity of its investigations.
Attorney General Chris Porrino's office has accused Avilucea of stealing the confidential child abuse complaint.
The Trentonian denies it.
According to The Record, Porrino's office at first offered to drop the case if the newspaper were to destroy the complaint and cease publishing articles about it, but when Avilucea refused, an agreement was not met.
"I don't know how we're supposed to operate in a democracy if media organizations are having to capitulate to the court or the Attorney General's Office," Avilucea said. "The discretion of what to publish should be vested in reporters and editors, not in the court."
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments about the ruling on Wednesday in Mercer County.
