A federal appeals court on Friday sided with a former Detroit Free Press reporter who refused to testify about his source or sources for an article about a federal prosecutor who faced an ethics investigation.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld David Ashenfelter's Fifth Amendment privilege not to reveal the source of information in the article for fear of potential prosecution.

Ashenfelter's story reported on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in a terror-related case that then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino oversaw. DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility opened an investigation surrounding allegations of ethical violations in how Convertino handled the case.