Leggett prepares for longer
jail time
By S.J. Schmidt
News Reporter
As UH students count down the days until
the semester ends and freedom is theirs once again, one woman sits in her
cell at the Federal
Detention Center and wonders if she'll
be home in time for Christmas. Or New Year's or Easter, for that matter.
Vanessa Leggett, a fresh-faced woman in
her early 30s, now holds the inauspicous title of the longest-jailed journalist
in U.S. history.
Today marks her 134th day of incarceration
in the downtown Houston facility.
"I don't know when I will be let out,"
Leggett said. "I was told I could be in here up to 18 months. When I stepped
in here, I was prepared
to do 18 months, so anything less is a
blessing."
The runner-up for the dubious honor of
longest-incarcerated journalist was a reporter who covered the case of
convicted cult
leader/murderer Charles Manson. That person
spent 40 days in jail, Leggett said.
Leggett, an adjunct instructor of business
writing at UH-Downtown, is being held in contempt of court for refusing
to turn over information
she researched for a book on the Robert
Angleton case.
Angleton, a wealthy River Oaks bookie and
police informant, was accused of conspiracy in the murder of his wife,
with whom he was
said to be undergoing a nasty divorce.
His brother confessed to the killing, then committed suicide while in a
Nevada jail. Angleton's
state murder trial ended in a mistrial.
Federal authorities began their own investigation soon after.
Leggett had plans of finishing her book
last summer, but her problems began when FBI agents came knocking on her
door with the
ominous words, "We understand you're writing
a book."
Leggett claims the federal authorities
made her an offer to become a paid informant in their investigation. She
was to provide all of the
research and tapes she had collected,
and give the FBI an advance look at her manuscript. She balked at the arrangement.
"I was sent here because the government
wants to know what's in my head," Leggett said.
Further writing on her book has ceased
while she is incarcerated.
"It seems it wouldn't be smart to create
a permanent record of what's in my head while I'm in their house, under
lock and key, and they're
watching everything that I do," she said.
Leggett was an English major in college
and did not take any journalism classes.
"I learned journalism by trial by fire,"
Leggett said. "I did not know what the rules and regulations were so I
had to learn along the way."
Leggett said that she assumed she was protected
from revealing her sources, and found that giving potential sources that
assurance
made them more willing to talk to her.
"It was something that I just thought was
inviolate and that it would just be respected," she said. "I never dreamed
it could be trampled
upon so easily by the government.
"That's really part of truth finding, and
the function of the press is for people to feel comfortable opening up,"
Leggett said. "Otherwise, the
truth can't be known."
A U.S. district judge ordered her incarceration
July 20 when she invoked her First Amendment rights in refusing to comply
with a federal
grand jury subpoena.
"In my case I think that they thought 'we'll
just threaten her with the incarceration and she'll sing,'" Leggett said.
"I don't think they actually
thought I would set foot in this place."
At the heart of the controversy surrounding
Leggett's case is whether or not she should be considered a journalist.
While she was not on
the staff of any publication, she had
been issued press credentials in the past by Texas Magazine and the Houston
Press. Ironically, she
also contributed to a crime investigation
manual published by the Department of Justice.
Leggett noted that a couple of years ago,
Northwestern University journalism students were successful in getting
death row inmates in
Illinois released by helping to secure
DNA tests for them. These students did not have any publishing credits
to their name, she said.
"It is dangerous to try to put limitations
on people who don't have a long list of credits or try to certify who is
or who is not a journalist,"
Leggett said. "Because as long as someone
is gathering information with the intent of making it public, it should
be protected."
Her attorney, Mike DeGeurin, agreed.
"The test for who has qualified First Amendment
privilege to protect confidential sources is whether or not the person
at the inception of
gathering information had the intent of
disseminating the information," DeGeurin said. "It is through that act
that the free flow of
information is protected.
"The end result of the battle has been
you do not have to be published to be protected," he said. "A free-lance
writer or journalist is also
entitled to a qualified privilege."
He said his client is still being held
because the appellate court reviewed a lower court decision that was based
on rushed and
haphazard information.
Looking back, Leggett said she doesn't
think she would have done anything differently.
"Except maybe I would have never agreed
to talk to the FBI," she said.
"I cannot even fathom getting out of here,"
Leggett said. "I plan to go home, hug my family and my little animals --
they're like my kids -- be
still and thankful."
And then?
"I have been mentally composing -- furiously,"
Leggett said. "I have been storing up a lot of saturation experience in
my head -- the old
hard drive is getting a little full."
Vanessa Leggett cannot wait to get back
to her computer.
