Juror Says Let Libby Go
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Law
The pardon drumbeat is hitting a fever pitch, and now even a juror who convicted Libby is joining the parade.
WASHINGTON - Saying “I don’t want him to go to jail,� a member of the jury that convicted I. Lewis “Scooter� Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case called Wednesday for President Bush to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff. [...] The woman, Ann Redington, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Hardball� that she cried when the verdicts against Libby were read Tuesday. She said Libby seemed to be “a really nice guy.�Redington said “it was very difficult � it was hard� to vote to convict Libby, who was found guilty of four of five felony counts accusing him of lying to a federal grand jury and the FBI. Prosecutors said he hoped to derail a special prosecutor’s investigation of the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame, a covert CIA operative. [...]
“I would like him to get� a pardon from Bush, Redington said. “It kind of bothers me that there was this whole big crime being investigated and he got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.�
Now, if you follow the link above you’ll see a way to launch a clip with her on Hardball. Let me tell you, she sounds absolutely sincere, straightfoward and non-partisan. And she sounds like the jury room was that way too. So all these people who are crying about partisanship…well…I’m not buying it.
And to that point…here’s another bit from another juror, Dennis Collins:
“The people who led us were strict taskmasters. Let’s stick to the facts,” Collins said. “This was not a case about, ‘Who can we punish for going into Iraq?’ We didn’t go there. This wasn’t about the war.”
“This wasn’t about the war.” Let those words ring out all across the land. This was about what was right and what was wrong, and Libby did wrong. Will he get a pardon? Probably, but that doesn’t mean he was guilty of these crimes, so let that be what it is.
Meanwhile, Ann Coulter says it’s illegal to be a Republican …zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 and is filed under General Politics, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Wasn’t guilty of what crimes? A jury found him guilty of Perjury because he lied to a Grand Jury. No matter the reason, it is rightfully a crime They also found him guilty of Obstruction of Justice, lying to the FBI during investigation of a case. Investigations & Grand Juries are both attempts to find the facts on whether a crime has been committed, & if so, who may have been responsible.
The jurors did their job by following the law, in spite of their feelings. As far as a pardon goes, I’m against it. It is true, he was the fall guy for Rove & Armitage, but he is still guilty. Just possibly, the reality of a lengthy prison term will allow his faulty memory to recover enough to implicate others for other crimes. It worked with John Dean in the Watergate case. Time will tell. The longer Scooter sweats, the more likely other good may come from it. If so, he will deserve to be exonerated. Not until then.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Assuming Bob, that Libby has tons of dirty laudry to air on the Bush Administration — which I doubt, but I’ll play along in the Oliver Stone world — He won’t turn. Not everyone is a spineless rat and Libby has already proven that he is not. I also doubt that he is sweating much given that a pardon at some stage is almost assured.
Bob, you’d make a good IRS agent.
March 8th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Quite frankly I’ve found this Libby business very complicated, and a bit boring. Thankfully, Stephen Colbert explains it to me in this video:
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2007/03/stephen-colbert-explains-libby-verdict.html
March 8th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Dos Perps, You are probably correct about the pardon. As far as him not having anything to spill, he has been involved in Republican Politics for over 20 years. Anybody with that much time serving a Party knows where a lot of skeletons are buried. I include the Dems also, of course.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
We have a break though, Bob, I agree with you. I will seek immediate counseling in the morning.