Leggett was jailed in the Federal Detention Center in Houston last July on a civil contempt charge after she refused to provide the grand jury with her notes and tapes of interviews conducted over the course of four years of research into the 1997 shooting death of Houston socialite Doris Angleton.

Leggett’s attorney, Michael DeGeurin, argued that she was protected by a reporter’s constitutional privilege against revealing confidential sources, but two federal courts disagreed.

The writer was released January 4 when the grand jury’s term expired. Shortly after her release from jail, a new grand jury indicted Robert Angleton for murder-for-hire in the death of his wife. Angleton has already been cleared of murder charges by a state court. A hearing is pending in federal district court on Angleton’s motion to dismiss the charges.

According to a report from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued to the Supreme Court that Leggett’s release from jail made her appeal moot. But Leggett countered that she could be subpoenaed to testify at Angleton’s trial, and would face another contempt citation and more jail time if she did not comply.

Leggett’s appeal urged the Supreme Court to clarify the law surrounding a journalist’s First Amendment privilege to pro-tect confidential sources. Federal courts apply the law unequally, resulting in disparate treatment for news gatherers across the country, her appeal said. She also argued that the subpoena, which sought all copies of her research, would leave her unable to work on her book. As such, a grand jury subpoena amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint, the appeal said.

The April 15 Houston Chronicle reported that the grand jury asked Leggett to disclose any conversations she had with certain police officers, prosecutors, and others. Robert Angleton’s lawyer, Michael Ramsey, has reported rumors that the grand jury was looking for evidence of law enforcement "leaks" about the investigation rather than for information about any crimes stemming directly from Doris Angleton’s shooting death.

According to the January 5 Houston Chronicle, FBI agents had offered to hire Leggett as a paid, confidential informant. Leggett refused and was eventually arrested and jailed.  
 
 
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