‘Scooter’ Libby Drops Obstruction Appeal

Executive Branch

‘Scooter’ Libby Drops Obstruction Appeal

Posted Dec 10, 2007, 10:42 am CST
By Martha Neil

Former top vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has dropped his appeal of his conviction earlier this year in the CIA leak case.

Libby, who was convicted in March of lying and obstructing an investigation into the leaked identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, can no longer afford to continue with the appeal, according to his lawyer, reports the Washington Post.

"We remain firmly convinced of Mr. Libby's innocence," says, his attorney, Theodore Wells Jr., in a written statement published by the Associated Press. "However, the realities were, that after five years of government service by Mr. Libby and several years of defending against this case, the burden on Mr. Libby and his young family of continuing to pursue his complete vindication are too great to ask them to bear."

Libby's 30-month prison sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush in July. However, Libby, a former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, has paid a $250,000 fine, was given two years of supervised release and required to perform 400 hours of community service and remains a convicted felon unless the president pardons him.

Even if Libby had succeeded in the appeal, the case probably simply would have been retried, adding further millions of dollars to his defense costs, Wells noted.

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Posted by Glen G. Mayberry - 11 months, 3 weeks, 17 hours, 39 minutes ago

Scooter is not getting anywhere because when a person applies for a pardon, agents investigate him and he should have signed something that gave them the ok. ON the other hand they could just have him under sureveillance. If he knows the law and his sentence has been commuted. He probably won’t be pardoned. The commutation order and his other orders given him I think by teh Justice Department or the Court tell what he is supposed to do. Remember that if he violates anotehr law he would have to go back to prisonand the the prescribed sentence for the new law violation. Tjhe President cannot commute a sentence twice nor make comment on teh new violation because he has commuted the mans sentence. Therefore he is finished with Scooter and maybne he should seek the advice of a Psychiatrist or Counselor for his problems that some are not legal but maybe mental and social.

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