People v. Pelo

              Filed 8/13/08 NO. 4-08-0136
IN THE APPELLATE COURT
OF ILLINOIS
FOURTH DISTRICT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Circuit Court of
v. ) McLean County
JEFFREY PELO, ) Nos. 06CF581
Defendant-Appellee, ) 06CF679
and )
THE PANTAGRAPH and EDITH BRADY LUNNY, ) Honorable
Intervenors-Appellants. ) Robert Freitag,
) Judge Presiding.
_________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE COOK delivered the opinion of the court:
Interveners-appellants, The Pantagraph newspaper and
its reporter Edith Brady Lunny (Pantagraph), filed a petition to
intervene and gain access to an evidence deposition in a criminal
case, People v. Pelo (Nos. 06-CF-581 and 06-CF-679 (Cir. Ct.
McLean Co.)). On November 19, 2007, before the trial date in
Jeffrey Pelo's case had been set, the trial court granted
Pantagraph's petition to intervene but denied access to the
evidence deposition. Pantagraph appealed. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
The underlying criminal case, People v. Pelo (Nos. 06-
CF-581 and 06-CF-679), involves an accused stalker who allegedly
committed sexual assault against several different victims. Pelo
was first taken into custody for the underlying criminal case in
June 2006. A potential witness in the case, Scott Galuska,
reportedly saw a person near the residence of one of the victims.