Posted on 03/10/2007 12:43:55 PM PST by rhema
The verdict is in: Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, should be pardoned. At least according to two of the jurors who found him guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.
Asked about the possibility of a pardon, juror Ann Redington said, "I would like him to get one," and added, "I don't want him to go to jail." Asked how he would feel if Libby were pardoned, the ubiquitous juror Denis Collins said, "I would really not care."
The jarring spectacle of jurors expressing support for, or at least indifference toward, an executive act to wipe away the conviction that they just handed down is a damning statement about Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It means that he had sufficient evidence to convince a handful of people drawn from Washington, D.C.'s liberal jury pool that Libby was guilty, but even they didn't believe Libby should have been in the dock in the first place.
Libby might have deliberately lied or might have had a memory lapse, given that practically every witness had memory problems. Fitzgerald's evidence against Libby was all he said/he said. In these circumstances, a judicious prosecutor would have committed an act of forbearance, and even moral courage: He would have let it go.
Fitzgerald couldn't resist the temptation of every Washington special prosecutor, which is never to close up shop without at least one obstruction-of-justice indictment. Fitzgerald's justifications for his pursuit of Libby have proven either false or tendentious.
At an October 2005 press conference announcing Libby's indictment, Fitzgerald said that Valerie Plame's employment at the CIA was "not well-known, for her protection." But Plame has not notably been endangered at any of her photo shoots since her "outing."
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Scooter ping
Amazing. Why did these dumb***** even find him guilty?
Then as a juror, they should have just voted not to convict. Simple.
People don't realize that as a juror, they are the law.
The jarring ignorance of jurors.....g-d help this nation. The system of justice is broken!
Few people realize that his name is the punch line of an old joke about two gay Irishmen.
Thomas Sowell also had some choice words for Fitzy in his column.
That Denis Collins says he "would not care" if Libby is pardoned kinda spills the beans, I think. He wanted Libby convicted as a means of undermining Bush/Cheney, not in any quest for truth or furtherance of justice. If he really believed Libby guilty of the crimes for which they convicted him, it seems that he would very much care about the prospect of a pardon.
I am not close personal friends with Denis, but I've known him since 1963. Always a nice guy - and maybe he wanted the book deal and wanted to undermine the administration, but does have the decency to not want a man to go to prison for it.
Because as poor a target as Libby was for them to vent their rage and hatred, he was still the only chance they had to "get" the evil Chimpy McCokespoon Halliburton Bushitler Regime. So they took it.
One thing I have decided as of late, is if for some reason I find myself facing trial in our "justice" system, I will do everything I can to avoid a trial by jury, and have my case heard by a reasonably sane judge, if one exists.
Exactly. Why did they convict him if they feel this way.
I will tell you. They didnt find the man guilty, they just wanted to get back at George Bush. They know Libby was innocent they just couldnt let this opportunity to take a shot at Bush pass.
Sorry lot of human beings.
He should have declined the jury trial and gone for a judgement, if that option was available.
I don't know if you can have a bench trial in federal court tho.
The injustice shown to the general population by these show trials and weird judges as in the ANS hearings just terrify me. Thinking of Nifong, and Fitz......
And if Libby doesn't get a new trial, doesn't win on appeal and doesn't get a pardon, and instead spends the rest of his life in a federal prison (and you know that Fitzgerald will push for the maximum sentence, and the judge will probably not be incliined to show any mercy), how will Denis Collins feel as he cashes those royalty checks from his publisher?
Gerald Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzgerald. ;-)
I was just over lurking at JOM, and I found this nice little tidbit:
ooops: should read "jurors" not witnesses.
The more I read, the more I learn, the madder I get. I hope Libby gets his appeal. If Judge Walton had an ounce of integrity he would declare a mistrial, overturn the verdit, or whatever he could do to correct this travesty. But alas, I'm certain that will NOT happen. Time for him to hang up his black robe for good and hang his head in shame.
Because, based on the evidence, his guilt was pretty obvious.
I hear exactly what you're saying. I think that what he's done here is wrong, using this opportunity to bash Bush and further his own ambitions, while not wanting to have the other guy actually go to jail. It's not a matter of how he "feels" about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.