[h1] Libby found guilty in CIA leak trial[/h1]
Yahoo
Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.[/p] Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was acquitted on just one of five charges after a trial that focused renewed attention on the Bush administration's claims of evidence about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the Iraq war.[/p] Libby had little reaction to the verdict. He stood expressionless as the jury left the room. His lawyer, Theodore Wells, said they were "very disappointed" with the verdict.[/p] Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he was gratified by the verdict.[/p] "The results are actually sad," he added. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."[/p] White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said that President Bush "respected the jury's verdict" and said he was "saddened for Scooter Libby and his family."[/p] Perino said there will be no more White House comment because it is an ongoing legal case. She said that Bush had watched the verdict on television in the Oval Office with White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and senior adviser Dan Bartlett.[/p] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) welcomed the jury's verdict. "It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics," he said.[/p] Although Libby was the one convicted, Reid said, "his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."[/p] Asked about that, Perino said, "I'm not commenting on a hypothetical situation" and added that "I'm aware of no such request."[/p] The verdict was read on the 10th day of deliberations. Libby faces up to 30 years in prison, though under federal sentencing guidelines likely will receive far less.[/p] U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered a pre-sentencing report be completed by May 15. Judges use such reports to help determine sentences.[/p] Libby faced two counts of perjury, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said he discussed Plame's name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous.[/p] Libby's defense team said he learned about Plame from Cheney, forgot about it, then learned it again a month later from NBC newsman Tim Russert. Anything he told reporters about Plame, Libby said, was just chatter and rumors, not official government information.[/p] Fitzgerald said that was a lie. But Libby's defense team had argued that it would be unfair to convict Libby in a case where so many witnesses changed their stories or had memory problems.[/p] One of the jurors said the jury had 34 poster-size pages filled with information they distilled from the trial testimony. They discerned that Libby was told about Valerie Plame, wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, at least nine times.[/p] "Even if he forgot that someone told him about Mrs. Wilson, who had told him, it seemed very unlikely he would not have remembered about Mrs. Wilson," said the juror, who was not immediately publicly identified.[/p] Wells said he would ask the court for a new trial by April 13. Such requests are common following criminal convictions. [/p] "Despite our disappointment in the jurors' verdict, we believe in the American justice system and we believe in the jury system," Wells told reporters outside the federal courthouse. "We intend to file a motion for a new trial and if that is denied, we will appeal the conviction. We have every confidence that ultimately Mr. Libby will be exonerated.... We intend to keep fighting to establish his innocence." [/p]Said Fitzgerald: "Any lie under oath is serious. We cannot tolerate perjury. The truth is what drives our judicial system. If people don't come forward and tell truth, we have no hope of making judicial system work." [/p] Libby will be allowed to remain free while awaiting sentencing, which is set for June 5. [/p] As the verdicts were read, Libby's wife choked out a sob and sank her head. Moments later, she embraced the defense attorneys. [/p] The jury acquitted Libby of one count of lying to the FBI about his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. [/p]Libby and his lawyers walked into the courthouse after Wells' statement, holding on to each other by the wrists, apparently so they wouldn't be separated in the crush of reporters and camera crews. They paused briefly when a cameraman fell. [/p]During the trial, prosecutors said Libby made up a ludicrous lie to save his job during the CIA leak investigation by telling investigators he'd forgotten Cheney told him about the CIA status of Wilson's wife. Cheney had passed the information to Libby more than a month before Plame's identity was outed by conservative columnist Robert Novak. [/p]Libby told investigators he learned of Plame's identity from NBC reporter Tim Russert, saying that he'd forgotten at the time he talked to the reporter that he'd been told of it earlier by Cheney. [/p]Russert testified he never told Libby about Wilson's wife, and underwent a grueling cross-examination as Libby's legal team tried to discredit Russert's testimony. [/p] Wells and Fitzgerald clashed over how important Libby and Cheney considered CIA officer Plame. [/p]"The wheels were falling off the Bush administration" in the summer of 2003, Wells argued. How could Libby, serving Cheney as both chief of staff and national security adviser, remember Plame's job when 100,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq and hadn't found the weapons of mass destruction the administration had cited to justify the war? Wells asked. [/p] "And he still had his day job of trying to prevent another 9/11" terrorist attack, Wells said. [/p]Fitzgerald noted that eight witnesses, including an undersecretary of state, two CIA officials, two top Cheney aides, two reporters and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said they discussed Wilson's wife with Libby in a one-month span before Plame's CIA employment was publicly revealed.[/p]
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