‘Look to Libby’ Plea Loses

Sentencing

Posted Jul 13, 2007, 07:04 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A federal judge in San Francisco didn’t give much weight to a former lawyer’s bid for a reduced sentence that cited President Bush’s decision to commute the sentence of an ex-aide.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White sentenced Troy Ellerman yesterday to 30 months in jail for leaking grand jury transcripts about athletes’ use of steroids, the Recorder reports. He gave short shrift to Ellerman’s argument that the judge should follow the lead of President Bush, who commuted a sentence of the same length for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, convicted of lying to investigators, because it was too harsh.

“Under President Bush's reasoning, any white-collar criminal should receive little or no time," White said.

Ellerman is one of several defendants who sought lenience in the name of Libby. (See this ABAJournal.com post for more information.)

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Sentencing