News organizations appeal for public hearing for jailed writer

By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff

08.14.01

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HOUSTON — A group of news organizations has filed a motion seeking access to a hearing in the case of a writer jailed for refusing to give a federal grand jury her notes and tapes of interviews with a man accused of a 1997 society murder.

The closed hearing is set for tomorrow in a Houston courtroom.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week denied requests by news organizations to argue on Vanessa Leggett's behalf.

An emergency motion was filed yesterday on behalf of ABC, The Associated Press, Belo Corp., CBS News, NBC, The New York Times, the Society of Professional Journalists and Tribune Co. to intervene to challenge the closing of the courtroom.

The motion said constitutional interests override any speculative or remote possibility that grand jury information might be disclosed during oral arguments. It said Leggett was entitled to a public hearing.

Leggett, 33, was found in contempt of court by a federal judge in Houston on July 20 and ordered jailed without bond for refusing to turn over her records of interviews with Roger Angleton.

Angleton was charged in the 1997 shooting death of his sister-in-law, 46-year-old Doris Angleton, the wife of his brother, millionaire former bookie Robert Angleton. Roger Angleton has since committed suicide.

Leggett cited the First Amendment as protection when she refused to turn over her interview records, which she said would compromise confidential sources as well as strip her of material needed to write a book about the Angleton case.

Federal prosecutors say Leggett is not a journalist. Journalism and news organizations trying to help Leggett dismiss that contention, saying that no journalist should be jailed for trying to do his or her job and that government is not the arbiter of who is or is not a journalist.

An editorial in today's New York Times opines: "Integral to our freedom of the press is the notion that the First Amendment protects those who are engaged in journalism, not those certified as journalists by the government. If the government refuses to recognize a fledgling freelancer as a real journalist, it may next decree that someone who works for a small newspaper also fails to make the grade."

Leggett said the FBI wanted records of interviews with Roger Angleton as part of an investigation into his brother.

Meanwhile, Leggett, a University of Houston lecturer, says she still intends to write a book about the case — including her place in it. "Absolutely!" she told the Houston Chronicle in its Aug. 12 editions. "I've got to work with the material I've got."

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization based in New York, last week urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to "do everything in your power to ensure that Leggett is released immediately."

But Leggett remains jailed, hoping her expedited appeal secures her freedom.

"It's very difficult to get a book published when you're behind bars," she told the newspaper from a federal detention center where she is being held. "That may be part of their intent."

Leggett said she originally planned to write a book about a man on death row in Texas for killing his family for inheritance money when the Angleton case piqued her interest.

Harris County prosecutors had subpoenaed tapes of Leggett's interviews with Roger Angleton, and she supplied them with copies. Those tapes were not presented during Robert Angleton's trial, nor did Leggett testify.

But FBI agents told her in November last year that they wanted her records of interviews with Roger as part of a federal investigation of Robert Angleton. She said she refused their invitation that she sign on as a confidential informant.

Leggett expected to answer questions about her jailhouse interviews when she testified before the grand jury in December, but the questions started to focus on her confidential sources.

Then she declined to speak before the grand jury last month, which led to her incarceration. She could be held for up to 18 months if an appeal doesn't get her citation for contempt of court overturned.

Mike Ramsey, one of Robert Angleton's attorneys, said he was puzzled at the interest in Leggett's records. "I don't think this is aimed at her conversations with Roger," Ramsey said. "There is another agenda here. We had everything at the time of the state trial that was of evidentiary value."

Update

Federal appeals court opens jailed writer's hearing to public
But order denying requests by news organizations to argue on Vanessa Leggett's behalf remained in effect.  08.15.01

Previous

Jailed writer's appeal hearing to be closed to public
Federal appeals court also denies request by news media groups to argue before court on behalf of Vanessa Leggett.  08.09.01

Related

Jailing of Texas writer sets journalists on dangerous path
Commentary Move by Justice Department against Vanessa Leggett threatens foundation of free press.  08.11.01