Posted on 03/06/2007 9:22:15 AM PST by LM_Guy
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, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
perjury you say? So when does Slick Willy report to jail?
why in the name of the 50 States of the United States of American does someone have to be tried in one little beltway hemmed in POS city that does not have a real congressman or any Senator whatsoever (and shouldn't)....
...shouldnt people being charged for federal offenses be spread out amongst the real citizens of this fair land.
the only basis for the appeal is going to be the conduct of the jury. that stunt with the valentine's day shirts, getting that one juror thrown off (she was obviously for acquittal, hence they had to get rid of her). the jury was a bunch of clowns, the mistrial should have been declared as soon as they all (11 of them) walked in wearing those shirts and making that "we love you judge" statement.
Libby is guilty. He claimed he forgot something that he was told several times, and THEN said that he remembered something, that he was "surprised" to learn something, from someone who never told him anything. That's not forgetting, it's lying.
I switched from the Dems to the Republicans when Clinton was clearly lying because I have respect for the rulle of law in my country and Clinton's flagrant lying, made me sick, even if it was about a relatively small matter. Lying is lying, and it made me sick to watch him sit there and lie.
So today, I cannot defend Scooter. I hoped he was not guilty, but from the details of the case I have been following, it's been very hard to believe that. Now it's very clear. Scooter was lying, and he deserves to go down for it. Honesty should be of the utmost importance for public figures.
I, for one, and mot worried about the politics of this at this moment, but rather am pleased that our justice system worked today. A guilty man was found guilty, and that is a good thing no matter what party he is in.
One other thing, unless you carry a (D) after your name you have absolutely no protection.
He should. Libby has grounds for appeal based on the behavior of the judge and jurors in this case during the deliberations.
One juror, Denis Collins, said "there was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. "It was said, 'Where's Rove, where are these other guys?' "We're not saying that we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was the fall guy," Collins said.
So if the jury couldn't have Rove or Cheney for their show trial, they'd take the next best thing. Nice. Real nice.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he welcomed the jury's verdict and called on Bush not to pardon Libby if the conviction stands. "It's about time someone in the Bush administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics." Reid said.
Harry, shouldn't you be busy cooking up some more earmarks in Congress to pay for improvements on your land with federal funds?
God, this whole thing is just disgusting on so many levels.
Lying to a Grand Jury and obstruction of justice are series crimes, and the fact that a Republican is prosecuted and a Democrat is not is doesn't make the crimes any less (or more significant). I don't know what Libby said or didn't say or did or didn't do because I haven't followed the case that closely. I am willing to bet, however, that not a single Freeper who has criticized the verdict actually sat in the courtroom everyday throughout the trial and listened to all the testimony and considered all of the evidence from beginning to end while observing the demeanor of the witnesses and their attorneys, as well as the demeanor of Libby himself, and then listened to the judge charge the jury on the applicable law.
Some have stated that the jury was biased, which is pretty stupid given the length of the deliberations and the fact that the jury did not convict on all charges. Some have said that the jury was tainted because a former journalist or reporter was on the panel, but that argument is silly because it assumes that the other eleven jurors ignored the evidence and the law to side with a lone holdout. And while the charges against Libby pale compared to the seriesness of the charges that should have brought against Berger, the fact that Berger received a sweetheart deal doesn't make Libby any less guilty. (BTW, does anyone know whether Libby was offered a plea?)
Don't get me wrong, I wish that Libby had been acquitted, but he wasn't; I wish that the prosecutor had exercised his discretion not to prosecute Libby in the first place, but he didn't. And while I hope the case is overturned on appeal, I am not holding my breath because the standard for overturning a jury verdict on the facts is nearly impossible. (The only way this case is overturned on appeal is if Libby accepts the facts as found by the jury, and argues that even if those facts are true, as a matter of law, Libby hasn't committed a crime.)
I'm also willing to bet that even if the Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the conviction 3 to 0; an en banc panel of the Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the conviction 15 to 0; and the Supreme Court affirms the conviction 9 to 0, many people will still complain that he was railroaded and did nothing wrong.
Welcome to Freerepublic!
The problem here is the double standard that allows you to lie if you are a member of the Democrat party, but you get hounded til you make a mistake if you are a Republican in Washington.
Wrong. Anyone can claim the fifth amendment if their answer might incriminate them.
I agree, it is scary. Bush can apparently fire Fitzgerald but will not because he has other agenda items he wants cooperation from the Democrat party on. This makes Fitzgerald like a god (at least in his own eyes).
Rush's analysis stands today as perfection on this travesty of justice. Still, the Left, the MSM, the Dems will rejoice in this travesty and once more the GOP, the Prez, the VP will be blasted, poll numbers will go down and the double standard so evident will not be explained resulting in the public viewing the GOP as even more venal than the Dems. That, of course, will count for votes in '08. Yipe. No wonder many are awaiting the Second Coming to bring to a close this unjust world.
"NO. This is justice. He lied under oath. End of story."
On what do you base your statement that he lied on?
There we agree! There are a lot of Democrat liars who deserve the same treatment (William Jefferson of Louisiana comes to mind). All I am saying is that I am glad to see the justice system working when it is applied.
From the beginning, it was clear that Libby was covering something up. I still don't know what, or why, but you don't lie like that for no reason. We may never know, but I am comforted when someone who is not honest doesn't get away with it.
It's tough politically for us, but then again, GWB's reputation is tough to save at this point. Having some justice here at least I think sort of cleanses the palette and allows the next GOP candidate to run without a taint on the party.
The ones that stand up (like Gingrich) get beaten down by the media.
But they still must stand up . If more of them did, maybe the media would have too much work to do to destroy them all and eventually we could make some progress against the enemies of freedom and capitalism.
"He didn't need to take the 5th. He hadn't done anything illegal, until he decided to lie to the Grand Jury.
I think the fact that he refused to testify on his own behalf pretty much tells the whole story."
I was going to answer these ludicrous statements, but can't top the one you already wrote.
There is no real justice in America anymore, when 11 year old kids face possible felony charges for swatting classmates on the behind, and people steal documents and get slaps on the wrist.
We're a dying Republic, it just hasn't sunk in yet to the general public.
Ed
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