Scooter found guilty:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.
He was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI.
As I said, though this case has political impact, the conviction is a particular legal judgment by the jury. They are not "sending a message" about how they feel about the Bush administration. I was prepared to write this if they had acquitted, too, because it's true either way. The administration is completely corrupt, but whether any given prosecution is successful has nothing to do with it. That's why it was stupid for rightwingers to claim Fitzgerald would be discredited if Libby were acquitted. That being said, let me add: Frogmarch!
And just incidentally, I was correct that the judge's response to the jury's question on Friday would quickly lead to a verdict.
Also, I think Libby's counsel used poor judgment in not asking for the jury to restart deliberations with an alternate when one of the jurors was dismissed. To the best of my knowledge, the judge wouldn't have told the jury it was the defense asking for them to do that, so it's not like they would necessarily would have blamed one side over the other. The defense should have known they were looking defeat in the face, and used any excuse to get there more slowly.
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