And if there is any justice left in our court system, Scooter Libby will be cleared of all charges in a case that amounted to little more than an instance of prosecutorial pique.

A federal jury ended its first day of deliberations yesterday in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after the presiding judge urged jurors to rely on their "life experiences" in deciding whether the vice president's former chief of staff lied to investigators -- or made an honest mistake -- about his role in a CIA leak.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton's instructions to the jury of eight women and four men reinforced the issue of the fallibility of human memory that has been central to one of Washington's most celebrated trials in years.

Prosecutors allege that Libby, then Vice President Cheney's top aide, lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury to obscure the fact that, in the spring and summer of 2003, he aggressively sought out and shared with reporters information about Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer. Plame is married to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was emerging then as a harsh, early critic of President Bush and the Iraq war.

The only person accused in the three-year CIA leak investigation, Libby, 56, is charged with five felonies: two counts of making false statements to FBI agents, two counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice. He is not charged with the leak itself. If convicted of all charges, he would face a potential prison term of 1 1/2 to three years under federal sentencing guidelines, prosecutors outside the case have said.

Libby's attorneys contend that Libby did not intentionally lie, but inaccurately remembered his conversations about Wilson and Plame with administration colleagues and Washington journalists.

And that is, ultimately, the big issue -- were any statements made by Libby intentionally misleading, or were they based upon inaccurate recollections? Interestingly enough, despite contradictory statements by many of the other witnesses, Patrick Fitzgerald chose to charge only Scooter Libby with a crime, in a leak case in which the rogue prosecutor knew from day one who the leaker was and made a decision not to prosecute the leak.

This is a case that never should have been prosecuted, on charges that never should have been brought. Let's hope the jury quickly acquits.

Posted by: Greg at 11:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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