COURT TO DECIDE JAILED WRITER'S FATE

By: Todd Shields Case Raises Important First Amendment Questions


WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court is to decide whether an
aspiring author should remain jailed for not divulging notes of
her investigation into a sensational murder in Houston.

Free-speech advocates say the case of Vanessa Leggett, 33, could
erode journalists' protections against forced testimony and may
indicate the U.S. Department of Justice is rolling back
longstanding policy against compelling reporters to testify.

Should the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rule
that Leggett's detention is justified, "The people who are going
to suffer the most are going to be journalists," said Lucy
Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press.

The Reporters Committee joined the American Society of Newspaper
Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Radio-
Television News Directors Association in urging the appeals court
to free Leggett. The groups said the First Amendment protects
journalists from compelled testimony lest they be "reduced to an
investigative arm" of prosecutors and police.

Leggett was jailed July 20 after refusing to turn over notes,
tape recordings, and interview transcripts to a federal grand
jury probing the 1997 slaying of a millionaire's wife. Leggett
had spent years conducting hundreds of interviews across six or
seven states in order to complete a book manuscript that is
seeking a publisher, according to her attorney, Mike DeGeurin.

Dalglish said the case indicated the Justice Department may be
changing a policy in place since 1973 that requires the U.S.
attorney general's approval before federal prosecutors can
arrest, or issue a subpoena to, a reporter. A Justice Department
spokeswoman did not return telephone calls to Editor &
Publisher. But The Washington Post quoted a department
official as saying federal prosecutors need to seek approval "for
a legitimate journalist or reporter."

Dalglish and DeGeurin said Leggett is a journalist, since she
gathered material for public dissemination. Leggett teaches
writing at the University of Houston, DeGeurin said.

"The fact that she is not on a salary does not disqualify her
from the limited protection that reporters enjoy to keep a free
press in this nation," DeGeurin said. "What we fear ... is that
they just annex her as an agent."

Dalglish said an adverse decision in the case could leave free-
lance journalists more exposed than staff writers to demands for
testimony. Leggett faces up to 18 months' detention.

On Monday, she issued a statement from the Houston federal
detention center. "I am not a martyr and I want to see justice
done," Leggett said. "But I am doing what I must to protect the
public's interest in a free press."



Todd Shields (tshields@editorandpublisher.com) is the Washington editor for E&P.



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