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Vanessa Leggett
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Vanessa Leggett is
a lecturer and freelance writer. She has
lectured as an adjunct in the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences. She has taught for the Department of English, Professional
Writing Division at
the University of Houston-Downtown, as well as the Department of Criminal Justice, and the Criminal Justice Center for Training, where she was a senior instructor.
In 2001, Leggett was cited for civil contempt of
court following her refusal to betray confidential sources interviewed for her
book. Her stance earned her several First Amendment awards from a number
of organizations, including the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas
James Madison Award, the Houston Trial Lawyers Association, the Newspaper
Guild’s Herbert Block Freedom Award, the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism, PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award, the
Society of Professional Journalists, the University of Arizona’s Zenger Award,
and the Washington Independent Writers President’s Award. Her experience in jail inspired essays and an
editorial piece she wrote for, respectively, Newsweek, Texas Monthly , and the Houston Chronicle. Her piece in Texas
Monthly was the magazine’s annual submission for the essay category of the
2002 National Magazine Awards. Her crime nonfiction book based on her
experience is scheduled for release in 2006 from Crown Publishing, a division
of Random House. |
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Selected Readings
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From Texas Monthly: I had arrived here the day before, on July 20, 2001, after surrendering
to the U.S. Marshals Service. A van transported me to the Federal
Detention Center (FDC) on Texas Avenue in downtown Houston. I arrived
wearing a pantsuit, pumps, and the only accessories allowed in prison:
handcuffs and leg shackles, both secured to the "belly chain" girding
my waist.
My crime? None, actually. Federal judge Melinda Harmon had found me in
civil contempt for refusing to turn over my research materials for a
book on an unsolved murder to a federal grand jury. Unless I obeyed the
subpoena, I would be imprisoned as long as the grand jury was in
session or for eighteen months, whichever occurred first. "I'm the
Wicked Witch of the West," the judge said. "Meanest woman in the world.
I'm not going to give her bond. She's going to have to go into custody."  |
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From the Houston Chronicle: This is not about another journalist going to jail. This is not about
federal officials getting locked up for media leaks. Though any or all
of these people could end up behind bars, and the government has
already decreed the journalist should be the first.
This is about every American losing a significant measure of freedom, a
certainity if the federal government succeeds in strong-arming Time
magazine report Matthew Cooper or any other journalist into betraying
confidential sources. |
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