YORKVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois judge has refused a request by Dennis Hastert to bar reporters’ cameras and recording devices from court in a May lawsuit accusing the ex-House speaker of sexually abusing a boy in a bathroom when he was a fourth-grader in the 1970s.
The accusation wasn’t part of a criminal hush-money case against the 75-year-old Republican that sent him to prison for more than a year. That criminal case revealed Hastert abused at least four boys when he coached at Yorkville High School outside Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune reports the Kendall County judge Friday rejected arguments by Hastert’s lawyer that use of the equipment could make it harder for jurors to be impartial. He said impartiality was critical but that legal proceedings need to be as open as possible.
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