The Crime in Writing True Crime (Continued)

A day or two into the trial, a Harris County senior citizen sat down next to me and — not knowing who I was — said, "What’s this judge trying to hide?" The woman explained that she was just a taxpayer, had no axe to grind, she just wanted to know what was going on with her tax dollars, but she couldn’t hear what was being said in court. I never saw her again.

Citizens and reporters complained time and again about the inability to hear. The judge never turned on her microphone.

I stood in the back of the courtroom and counted press seats — 45, not the promised 50. In other words, there was room for all five of us denied credentials but submitted as evidence in federal court: St. Martin’s, Time, GMA, World News, and Suzanne O’Malley.

As it turns out, there was a hidden blessing in not having press credentials. I was not subject to the judge’s media orders. Those orders prevented credentialed press from talking to witnesses. I could talk to Russell Yates, Andrea Yates’ mother, Andrea’s brothers, Russell’s relatives, attorneys, witnesses, anyone I wanted to, and the judge could not throw me out of the courtroom. Instead, she threw out an MSNBC producer, who was also not credentialed, for slipping into an empty row reserved for press. The producer was only trying to better hear the proceedings.

Friends of the judge, though, could come and go as they pleased. They sat on front rows, they took breaks when they wanted. Anyone else taking a needed restroom break, when there wasn’t a recess, was thrown out. We were the criminals in Judge Hill’s jail, scared to shift in our seats, scared to sneeze when nature forced us.

One day, I was late for court. Spectator passes were gone. Kindly, Janet Warner found me a pass and told me that they held a few aside each day. Hmmm? The next day, many reporters who also weren’t credentialed got there after all spectator passes had been distributed. Warner found them passes, too, rushing up to me first to ask if I had one. I did. I’d given up early morning interviews to be get it. I figured she offered me one first because she thought I’d go on TV screaming if I didn’t get in.

Tuesday, March 12, Andrea Yates was convicted of capital murder.

The following Monday, Judge Belinda Hill formally sentenced Andrea Yates to life in prison. I had lunch with Vanessa Leggett. Leggett flopped in front of me a U.S. Department of Justice publication entitled The Diversity of Homicide. I opened it and turned to the title page; there was Leggett’s name as editor of the publication. I flipped over to page 37 and found an article written by Leggett. She was a published editor and writer by the very entity that imprisoned her and claimed she was a "wannabe" journalist. By the way, one of the FBI investigators against Vanessa was Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal’s wife.

April 4, 2002, approximately three weeks after the final gavel slammed in the Yates trial, "Mac" Secrest, the special prosecutor appointed by Judge Hill to investigate the breeches of her gag order, issued his findings. Secrest stated that Judge Hill’s gag order violated the First Amendment, i.e. it was unconstitutional. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal and Russell Yates would not be held in contempt of court, i.e., no one was going to prosecute the district attorney.

There is a chance this scenerio will be replayed. Yates’ case will be appealed, in part, on the fact that she was convicted on admittedly false testimony by the state’s expert forensic psychiatrist.

If the appeal is granted, will the next judge care about the public’s right to know? This is, after all, Texas — Houston, Harris County, Texas.

End
[Page 6 of 6]

1.Breaking Point, St. Martin’s Press, by Suzy Spencer
2.Ibid.
3.Ibid.
4.Ibid.
5.Ibid.
6.Ibid.
7.Ibid.

• To read more about the lawsuit over Suzy Spencer's press credentials, click on The Reporter’s Privilege: Unresolved
  
  
• To read more about the Vanessa Leggett case, click on Summer Mystery: Why Jail Vanessa Leggett?

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