Attorney Find Blog

Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted yesterday of perjury and obstruction of justice. While Libby’s attorneys immediately requested a new trial and indicated plans for an appeal if a new trial was not granted, and publications like The National Review decried the verdict and the process that led up to it, those who support Libby’s conviction are no happier.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has indicated that no additional charges will be filed, although even the Libby jury reportedly stated that Libby wasn’t in this alone. The lack of charges relating to the real issue at hand–whether or not CIA agent Valerie Plame was intentionally “outed”–inspired strong reactions from an unlikely combination of officials. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apparently called for a commitment from the White House not to pardon Libby just moments after the conviction was announced, and former CIA officials have been quoted expressing relief at the conviction but concern that it doesn’t go far enough.

The White House is still declining to comment, classifying the case as an “ongoing criminal investigation” until such time as the appellate process has been exhausted.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 5:50 am and is filed under Current Legal Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.