HOUSTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Writer Vanessa Leggett was released from jail Friday after spending more than five months behind bars for refusing to turn over her notes to federal authorities.
Leggett, 33, was jailed July 20 by a federal judge after she refused to turn over notes and recordings for a book she was planning to write about the 1997 slaying of Doris Angleton. The victim's millionaire husband, Robert Angleton, was under investigation by federal authorities.
Leggett had tears in her eyes when she walked out of the federal detention center with her husband, Doak; her attorney, Mike DeGeurin; and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
"I'm very, very grateful to be free, " she told KTRH radio. "Downtown Houston never smelled so good."
Leggett said she still plans to write the book and that her 168 days in jail will be part of it. She was jailed longer than any other journalist in the United States, according to DeGeurin.
U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon ordered Leggett released because the term of the current federal grand jury expired Thursday. DeGeurin plans to continue with an appeal he filed earlier this week with the U.S. Supreme Court because his client could be subpoenaed again.
Federal prosecutors would not say what the outcome of the grand jury investigation was or if they would seek another one to continue the probe, although DeGeurin said the government might convene another grand jury in the case.
Leggett, a former part-time English instructor at the University of Houston, was researching for a book about the slaying of Doris Angleton, who was shot a dozen times by an intruder at her house in the upscale River Oaks section of Houston on April 16, 1997.
Robert Angleton, her husband, was acquitted in 1998 on state charges of hiring his brother Roger to kill his wife. Roger Angleton committed suicide in 1998 before he could be tried on capital murder charges.
Federal prosecutors claimed Leggett was not a journalist and therefore not protected by the First Amendment.
The Society of Professional Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press were among several groups that supported Leggett after she was jailed.
"We are very pleased that Vanessa has been released, but we're still dismayed that it ever had to come to a jail sentence," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the committee.
The committee filed briefs and sent letters to federal officials on Leggett's behalf during the time she was in jail.
"We're also still very concerned about any independent journalist who attempts to work on a similar project in the future," Dalglish said. "We greatly admire Vanessa's commitment to the important journalistic principle of protecting one's sources."
