Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A timely piece about press sources in today's news: <<<<January 5, 2002 Writer Who Was Jailed in Notes Dispute Is Freed By ROSS E. MILLOY HOUSTON, Jan. 4 — Vanessa Leggett, an aspiring author jailed for more than five months for refusing to hand over her research to a grand jury, was released today from a federal detention center when the grand jury's term expired. "Downtown Houston never looked so good," Mrs. Leggett said, opting to walk six blocks in the winter sunshine with her husband, Doak, to her lawyer's office, rather than ride. Just how long she will remain free remains a question. Prosecutors have indicated they may convene a new grand jury within the next few weeks to compel Mrs. Leggett's testimony. "If she should be called again as a witness, she will go through the same process again," said Terry Clark, an assistant United States attorney........ In a case that could affect the relationship between the government and the press, Mrs. Leggett was jailed for contempt of court after refusing the grand jury's request for her notes and records about a sensational 1997 murder in Houston. Because she was writing a book about the murder, Mrs. Leggett and her lawyers argue, the materials were protected from a forced disclosure. The government maintains that Mrs. Leggett, who does not have a publisher for her murder book and has never published a news article, is not a member of the media. "This is an absolutely critical case for what it says about journalists' testifying before grand juries," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, based in Arlington, Va. "Every journalist who might want to shield confidential sources is at risk in what happens here," Ms. Dalglish said. Mrs. Leggett's journey toward jail began on April 16, 1997, when Doris Angleton — wife of a millionaire former bookmaker, Robert Angleton — was found shot to death in their home here. The police arrested Mr. Angleton's brother Roger, seizing $64,000 wrapped in paper bearing Robert Angleton's fingerprints. Mrs. Leggett, who was then an adjunct university lecturer in English and criminal justice at the University of Houston-Downtown, had been seeking a subject for a true- crime book, and a chance conversation with Roger Angleton led to hundreds of interviews with him and other people close to the case. "This case picked me, I didn't pick it," she said last year. Both brothers were charged with capital murder in state court, with prosecutors asserting that Robert had hired Roger to kill his estranged wife to avoid a costly divorce settlement. Roger Angleton committed suicide while awaiting trial in 1998, leaving a note confessing to the crime. Robert Angleton was acquitted, but a federal investigation has begun into accusations of tax evasion and money-laundering. With Roger Angleton no longer able to testify, federal agents began questioning Mrs. Leggett about the case, leading to her incarceration. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected her appeal, and her lawyers asked the Supreme Court to consider her case; that request stands because of the possibility that she could be jailed again.>>>> Think on't. Seth LaK 9 - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html