'Scooter' Libby guilty on four of five counts

[AliceInWonderland]

'Scooter' Libby guilty on four of five counts
Story Highlights

• Libby faces 25 years in prison, $1 million fine
• NEW: Libby attorney says appeals planned
• Prison time "virtually certain" if conviction upheld, CNN analyst says
• Vice President Dick Cheney's ex-aide lied about outing of CIA operative


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

Libby was convicted of:


obstruction of justice when he intentionally deceived a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame;

making a false statement by intentionally lying to FBI agents about a conversation with NBC newsman Tim Russert;

perjury when he lied in court about his conversation with Russert;

a second count of perjury when he lied in court about conversations with other reporters.
Jurors cleared him of a second count of making a false statement relating to a conversation he had with Matt Cooper of Time magazine.

Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said, "He is virtually certain to go to prison if this conviction is upheld."

After the verdict was read, Libby was fingerprinted and released on his own recognizance.

Ted Wells, Libby's defense attorney, said he will file a motion for a new trial, or appeal the conviction if that motion is denied.

"We intend to keep fighting to establish his innocence," Wells said outside the courthouse.

Libby, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was not accused of exposing Plame. He resigned in 2005 after the grand jury indicted him.

Prosecutors contended Libby disclosed Plame's covert profession to reporters as part of a plan to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who alleged that the Bush administration twisted some intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Wilson, who conducted a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, wrote in a July 2003 New York Times editorial that he found no evidence Iraq sought to buy uranium from the African nation, as the administration claimed.

The jury was down to 11 members -- seven women and four men. A week ago, one of the jurors revealed that she had obtained outside information that prompted the judge to disqualify her.

The defense said it would accept 11 jurors to avoid having to start deliberations over with an alternate. The prosecution objected, but U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton overruled, and the panel has continued with one chair empty.

Testimony and evidence in the trial began January 23.

CNN's Kevin Bohn and Paul Courson contributed to this report.



Find this article at:
'Scooter' Libby guilty on four of five counts - CNN.com

Burn baby Burn!

[Grimmlok]

Who cares about Libby, fucking Cheney and Bush told him to reveal her name! What about them?

Libby just turned into the fall guy, as expected.

Figures.

[AliceInWonderland]

well Cheney got a blood clot this week; what more do you want?!






(i know death would be nice, but we'll have to be patient; its coming)

[lurkur]

Originally Posted by AliceInWonderland

(i know death would be nice, but we'll have to be patient; its coming)

That fucker has dodged death a million times. Cockroach.

Good that Libby was convicted. Bad that the real culprits remain free.

[Dean James]

Yeah watching Libby go down isn't very satisfying, knowing he's the fall guy. whee...

[AliceInWonderland]

i hate his fucking name! For that alone; he deserves jail time.

[Dean James]

Scooter's going to jail, betches.

[Born In A Brothel]

No biggie. He'll get a pardon from Bush.

[KrisNine]

Yeah, well maybe they'll put the vice to his balls and he'll squeal and give up the VP!!

[Born In A Brothel]

I'd volunteer to admister that.

[lurkur]

If there is any suspicion he would rat out the Veep, just you watch for reports that he was killed in a prison scuffle or if it's urgent, he'll have "committed suicide" over the weekend.

[Born In A Brothel]

I think the pardon is part of the deal for him to not rat out Dick. Even the judge told his attorney that having Dick take the stand would serve in his clients best interest.

They refused make him testify.

[Grimmlok]

Bush refuses to say he won't pardon Libby

by John Aravosis (DC) · 3/06/2007 05:31:00 PM ET

It's a done deal, Libby is getting pardoned. Hell, I'd be surprised if he doesn't get a medal. No one, no one, no one is ever held responsible for anything in this administration, and if George Bush has to put the final nail in the coffin of his political legacy by pardoning Libby, trust me, he will. It's a tale of lawlessness. Of an adminstration that thinks it's holier than thou. Holier than the laws of this great country, holier than the courts, the Congress, the Constitution. Nothing gets in the way of a zealot, and Scooter Libby is just the latest zealot in a long line of Republicans in the Bush White House and Congress who simply don't believe in the rules that govern our country, our society, and our world.

And they're finally getting caught. Scooter will most certainly be pardoned, but nothing will wipe away the taint the next two years will leave on the Republican party for a long, long while.

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Yep, as expected.

[AliceInWonderland]

fucking.bastards.

[antsvensk]

I just cannot understand how Bush can be president of one of the strongest nations on earth. It's like we're all in an alternate universe X-men style.

When you think about it, it just doesn't make sense.

...ummm...wtf?