[Mb-civic] Libby Pleads Not Guilty in Leak Case - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Libby Pleads Not Guilty in Leak Case
Former Cheney Aide Waives Right to Speedy Trial, Citing Complex Issues

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; Page A01

Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff pleaded not guilty 
yesterday to charges of lying to the FBI and a grand jury about his 
conversations with reporters in the CIA leak investigation, and his 
lawyer promised to fight the accusations in a trial that could bring 
government secrets into open court.

"With respect, your honor, I plead not guilty," I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby 
told U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton during his 10-minute 
arraignment, his first court appearance after being indicted on five 
felony counts Friday. Under federal sentencing guidelines, legal experts 
estimate that he faces a probable sentence of two to five years if 
convicted.

Libby, 55, entered the courthouse on crutches because of a foot injury 
but came with a show of legal strength: Theodore V. Wells Jr. and 
William Jeffress Jr., two nationally prominent white-collar criminal 
defense litigators he had recently hired for his defense.

Libby resigned as Cheney's chief of staff last Friday, the same day that 
he was indicted on five counts of obstructing justice, perjury and 
making false statements in the two-year investigation of whether 
officials illegally disclosed the identity of covert CIA operative 
Valerie Plame to the news media.

"Mr. Libby today has plednot guilty to each and every count of the 
indictment," Wells told a throng of reporters outside the courthouse. 
"He has declared to the world he is innocent. . . . He has declared he 
plans to fight the charges."

A trial in the matter would probably require senior administration 
officials to testify about their private conversations in the summer of 
2003. That was when the administration grappled with how to react to the 
public criticism of its rationale for invading Iraq leveled by former 
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, and when the name of his wife, Plame, 
was leaked to journalists.

Wells, a partner in the New York firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & 
Garrison, is best known for his courtroom prowess. He recently 
represented Philip Morris against a Justice Department racketeering 
lawsuit that is awaiting a judge's ruling, and won acquittals for former 
agriculture secretary Michael Espy and former labor secretary Raymond 
Donovan.

Jeffress, also a highly sought defense lawyer, won a plea bargain for a 
Rite Aid executive accused of accounting fraud in 2003 and acquittals 
for a number of public officials accused of vote-buying, money 
laundering and perjury, many of them in Louisiana. He works at the firm 
of Baker Botts LLP, where Bush family friend and former secretary of 
state James A. Baker III is a senior partner.

Both the prosecution and the defense in Libby's case told Walton 
yesterday that they expect a complex case that will be drawn out by 
pretrial evidentiary battles before the judge can even consider setting 
a trial date.

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald warned that much of the evidence 
against Libby involves classified material concerning national security. 
Libby's lawyers must first obtain security clearances just to read the 
evidence Fitzgerald has gathered and to prepare their defense.

Jeffress said that there could be numerous First Amendment "issues" that 
may produce "protracted litigation" and delay the case. Libby's lawyers 
are expected to seek to review the notes, records and source information 
of several reporters who may be called as witnesses, several defense 
lawyers said, and the likely resistance from reporters and their news 
organizations could provide delays that help thedefense.

Standing in the Ceremonial Courtroom usually reserved for weighty oral 
arguments before the appeals court, Libby told the judge yesterday that 
he was waiving his right to a speedy trial because of those complexities.

Michael J. Madigan, a former prosecutor and now a well-known criminal 
defense lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, praised both Wells 
and Jeffress as excellent choices for Libby, but he said they are 
joining the case with "one hand tied behind their back" because of what 
has already transpired in the investigation.

They enter the case "with Libby having given two different statements to 
the FBI and testifying twice to the grand jury, in which he contradicts 
three reporters and four or five of his friends in the administration," 
Madigan said. "If I was entering the case, I would not be really happy 
to have that situation."

Defendants in perjury cases often say they simply forgot about other 
conversations or had flawed recollections. But that strategy looks less 
promising for Libby, several lawyers said, because he has already given 
such categorical testimony suggesting that he had detailed memories of 
specific events. For example, Libby told the grand jury that he learned 
about Plame working at the CIA from NBC reporter Tim Russert in July 
2003. But Fitzgerald charges that Libby learned about Plame from Cheney, 
the CIA and the State Department a month earlier.

"It would be difficult now to say that you didn't recall certain things 
when you've already testified that you did remember them," Madigan said.

Criminal defense lawyers, judges and prosecutors said the major strength 
of Fitzgerald's case is that he has the testimony of several 
administration officials who contradict Libby's accounts.

Fitzgerald has also warned White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove 
that he remains under investigation and could face criminal charges for 
false statements, sources close to Rove said.

Libby's next court date was set for Feb. 3, by which time Walton said he 
hopes the defense would have obtained the proper security clearances and 
been able to review the government's evidence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110300234.html?nav=hcmodule
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