Congresswoman Looks Into Writer’s Arrest
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said she would look into why the U.S. Justice Department pushed to have a freelance writer jailed for refusing to give her notes on a Houston murder case to federal prosecutors.
Jackson-Lee said she would urge U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to look into the matter, which news organizations view as a threat to press freedom.
Vanessa Leggett, a 33-year-old University of Houston writing lecturer, was jailed in July for contempt of court.
She refused to give prosecutors interview materials and research for an unfinished book on the 1997 killing of Doris Angleton.
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