Writer jailed for refusing to give up interview notes

By The Associated Press

07.23.01

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HOUSTON — A writer surrendered to authorities last week after refusing to turn over her notes from research for a book about a sensational society murder.

Vanessa Leggett, 33, was found in contempt of court and ordered jailed without bond for refusing to turn over her notes on the 1997 murder of 46-year-old Doris Angleton, wife of millionaire former bookie Robert Angleton, said Leggett's attorney, Mike DeGeurin.

Before surrendering to the U.S. Marshals Service on July 20, Leggett said she was defending her free-press rights.

"I just feel like I'm doing what I have to do to protect my First Amendment right to freedom of the press," Leggett said outside the federal courthouse. "I feel like what they are doing is wrong."

Under law, she could be held for up to 18 months, DeGeurin said.

DeGeurin has appealed the contempt order to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and expects a ruling as early as this week.

Doris Angleton was found shot to death in her River Oaks home April 16, 1997, after her husband and two daughters returned from a softball game.

Robert Angleton and his brother, Roger, were later charged with capital murder.

Roger Angleton committed suicide in the Harris County Jail in February 1998 before his trial. But he left behind notes confessing to shooting his sister-in-law. He wrote that he planned the murder and framed his brother to extort money from him.

But state prosecutors alleged in Robert Angleton's 1998 murder trial that Robert hired his brother to kill his wife to prevent her from getting millions of dollars in a divorce settlement.

A state court jury acquitted Robert Angleton. It has been widely reported that federal prosecutors began investigating him after the state acquittal.

DeGeurin declined to name the target of the federal grand jury investigation because such proceedings are secret. But he confirmed that the grand jury had subpoenaed Leggett's notes from interviews related to her book.

DeGeurin said Leggett began researching the murder shortly after it occurred.

"She has interviewed hundreds of people, many of them confidential sources," DeGeurin said.

"She is standing on the principal that the government shouldn't be allowed to take the archives of the press simply to make their investigation easier."

DeGeurin said Leggett appeared before the grand jury as ordered, but refused to turn over her notes.

Update

Writer who refuses to turn over research still in Texas jail
News media groups petition federal appeals court to overturn contempt-of-court order.  07.31.01