Prosecutors: Up to 3 Years for Libby

wallyburger · May 28th, 2007, 08:16 PM

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Quote:

Prosecutors: Up to 3 Years for Libby
May 25 03:59 PM US/Eastern
By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has shown no remorse for corrupting the legal system and deserves to spend 2 1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday.

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and an assistant to President Bush, is the highest-ranking White House official convicted since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.

In court documents, Fitzgerald rejected criticism from Libby's supporters who said the leak investigation had spun out of control. Fitzgerald denied the prosecution was politically motivated and said Libby brought his fate upon himself.

"The judicial system has not corruptly mistreated Mr. Libby," Fitzgerald wrote. "Mr. Libby has been found by a jury of his peers to have corrupted the judicial system."

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton has broad discretion over Libby's fate. Walton faces two important questions: whether to send Libby to prison and, if so, whether to delay the sentence until his appeals have run out.

Libby's lawyers have not filed their sentencing documents yet but are expected to ask that he receive no jail time. They have said that if Walton orders prison time, they will ask that Libby be allowed to remain free during appeals.

Libby was convicted in March of lying to investigators about what he told reporters regarding CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose 2003 exposure touched off the leak probe. Plame was identified in a newspaper column after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Libby "lied repeatedly and blatantly about matters at the heart of a criminal investigation concerning the disclosure of a covert intelligence officer's identity," Fitzgerald wrote. "He has shown no regret for his actions, which significantly impeded the investigation."

No one was charged with the leak itself, including the initial source of the disclosure, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Fitzgerald was aware early on that Armitage was the original source of the leak.

Libby's supporters have said that proves Fitzgerald's investigation ran amok. Fitzgerald rejected that idea Friday. The FBI pressed on because it was important to know who else was involved in the leak, Fitzgerald said, and Libby impeded that effort.

"Mr. Libby's prosecution was based not upon politics but upon his own conduct," Fitzgerald said.

Libby's supporters wrote letters to the court on his behalf, but Walton has not decided whether to make those letters public. Fitzgerald referenced those letters Friday and, even without the direct quotes, it's clear that some strongly criticized the investigation.

Libby's supporters, Fitzgerald said, have tried to "shift blame away from Mr. Libby for his illegal conduct and onto those who investigated and prosecuted Mr. Libby for unexplained 'political' reasons."

Libby's lawyers have said he deserves to be pardoned, but the White House has been guarded about the issue. Top Democrats have urged Bush not to pardon him.