The answer is not much
Posted on 06/14/2007 11:29:49 PM PDT by Baladas
Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr.'s bid to remain free on bond pending an appeal of his conviction was denied yesterday by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton.
With pressure mounting on President Bush to grant a pardon in the case, Judge Walton said he would not delay Libby's 30-month prison sentence, which was handed down June 5. It is expected that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will select a facility to house Libby, and he will reportwithin six to eight weeks.
"Unless the court of appeals overturns my ruling, he will have to report," said Judge Walton, who handed down the ruling after determining that the evidence of Libby's guilt was "overwhelming" and warning the vice president's former chief of staff that he was unlikely to win a reversal of his conviction in the appellate court. Libby, 56, was convicted in March on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the disclosure of the identity of CIA Agent Valerie Plame.
Mr. Bush has been silent on the possibility of a pardon, saying only through a spokeswoman he felt "terrible" for the Libby family. A delay of the sentencing date would have given the president more time to consider the issue but Libby's pending incarceration is expected to accelerate any decision.
The White House yesterday said the president intends to continue to stay out of the case while Libby "still has the right to appeal."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
"The constitutional issue to be raised on appeal is substantial," conservative Robert Bork, liberal Alan Dershowitz and 10 other professors wrote in their nine-page brief, filed Thursday at U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
A great little piece here how FitzFong overstepped his authority.: http://justoneminute.typepad.com/
Anyone still harboring any romantic illusions about justice being blind should read this saga. Everyone but the moonbat left fringe is cringing over this.
This is disgusting. Bush could at least grant Libby a respite of his sentence while Libby is appealing, as suggested by Clarice Feldman: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/06/post_49.html
I think this judge knows he erred horribly in this case, and is hoping that Bush grants a pardon so the appeal becomes moot and he isn't thrashed by the appellate court.
Maybe Bush thinks Libby is a border guard or combat soldier.
I’m not convinced Libby committed perjury, even if Fitzgerald could get a jury of 12 Bush-haters to buy his theory that he did. For it to be perjury, it would have to be a conscious lie about a material point, rather than an error of memory, and the whole thing seems to come down to conflicting memories by Libby and Russert of a conversation that neither may have had a clear recollection of. That the judge allowed a friend of Russert’s on the jury (to sway the rest) when Russert’s testimony was the key evidence is an outrage.
..and I think the model for Libby should be Liddy. Like Libby, Liddy had an outstanding public service record (FBI) but, unlike Libby, Liddy took his medicine, never sought letters of support from anyone or a pardon from Nixon. He was the only one in the whole Watergate affair to keep his mouth shut and stand true to his ideals of loyalty. It earned him a ton of respect, fame and eventual fortune. It earned his main detractor today (John Dean) much scorn and ridicule from those who once were GOP friends (his "friends" today are former RAT enemies for whom he dances, puppet-like, and who regard him as a stooge and wouldn't walk across the street to help if they found him face down in a coma). I believe that will also be the fate of Joe Wilson eventually. Libby has been a crybaby about the Plame matter.
The answer is not much
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