Nightmare On Hickory: Joliet Wins FOIA Lawsuit Against Hosey

JOLIET, IL — Former Joliet Patch editor Joseph Hosey has been on a quest during the past four years to obtain access to the videotape interviews of four people involved in the notorious Nightmare on Hickory Street murders on Joliet's west side. Last month, Hosey was dealt another stinging setback by the state's judges. The Third District Appellate Court of Illinois ruled against Hosey in his Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the city of Joliet.

Back in 2016, Hosey submitted four separate Freedom of Information Act requests to the city of Joliet to gain access to the videotaped interviews by Joliet Police investigators for several people involved in the Nightmare on Hickory Street murders, but Joliet denied his access.

"The Illinois Attorney General was asked to review the denials and determined that (Hosey) was entitled to the videotapes," court documents show. "When the city still failed to process his requests, plaintiff filed a complaint for injunctive relief in the circuit court."

The original case went before Will Count Circuit Court Judge John Anderson and the judge ruled in favor of Joliet and against Joseph Hosey.

According to last month's ruling, Hosey, as a reporter for Joliet Patch, submitted four FOIA requests to obtain the 2013 videotaped police interview statements of murder suspects Alisa Massaro, Adam Landerman, Bethany McKee and Joshua Miner.

Massaro, along with Bethany McKee, 20, Josh Miner, 26, and Adam Landerman, 21, all were charged with the January 2013 murders. Massaro and McKee lured them to Massaro's Hickory Street nightmare house, according to police reports.

After the killings, Josh Miner and Alissa Massaro had sex atop the dead men's bodies. Miner and his friends hatched the scheme to rip off 22-year-old homicide victims Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins because they were broke and wanted to buy cigarettes and alcohol, a Will County prosecutor said at McKee's trial.

According to the Illinois court of appeals, Joliet "denied Hosey's request ... claiming unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, interference with actual or pending law enforcement proceedings and disclosure of confidential source or information, respectfully."

In time, Hosey sought a review by the Illinois Attorney General's Office and the ruling went his way because Joliet "failed to comply with the Attorney General's request for a copy of the recordings and a written explanation for asserting exemptions in denying Hosey's FOIA request," court documents note.

But, Hosey still did not have access to the videotape interviews of Miner, Landerman, Massaro and McKee.

Next, Hosey filed a subsequent complaint seeking attorneys fees, injunctive relief and a civil penalty against the city of Joliet for denying him access to the murder suspects' video interviews.

Here's what the Third District appeals court consisting of Justices McDade, Lytton and Wright had to say in their written analysis of the Nightmare on Hickory Street case.

Most of the legal discussion centered around Illinois Criminal Code 103.2.1 (g).

"To accept Hosey's interpretation that section 103.2.1 (g) is no longer applicable when the defendants are no longer accused would read into it an element that the legislature did not include — specifically that the videotape loses its confidential and exempt status upon conviction or exoneration of the accused," the three appeals judges agreed.

"The appeal of at least one of the defendants was still pending before this court at the time this appeal was filed, and we have no knowledge that any of the defendants have exhausted their rights to appeal ... we find that the subjects of Hosey's requests are confidential ... and therefore, exempt from disclosure ... The judgment of the circuit court of Will County finding that the videotaped statements at issue in this appeal were exempted by section 103.2.1 (g) of the Criminal Code from public disclosure pursuant to a FOIA request is affirmed."

Hosey left Joliet Patch during the spring of 2017 to return to work at The Joliet Herald-News, a print-focused news entity located in the city of Joliet.