Libby and Self-Surrender

By Jeralyn, Section Lewis Libby Trial Coverage
Posted on Sat Jun 02, 2007 at 05:58:56 PM EST
Tags: Libby Trial (all tags)

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John Dean writes about Bush's dilemma in granting Scooter Libby a pardon and Fred Thompson's role in Libby's pardon-seeking process.

I have to take issue with one sentence. Dean writes,

Criminal defense attorneys with whom I have spoken expect that Judge Walton will choose a sentence of roughly 30 months (two-and-a-half years), and to give Libby at most a couple of days to get his affairs in order before surrendering to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Self-surrender doesn't work that way. There's no question the Judge will grant Libby a voluntary surrender to the designated institution. But, it's a matter of weeks, not days. Libby has to first be designated to a particular institution and that will be done by the Bureau of Prisons. They will consider any recommendation the Judge makes (which, if he makes one, will be based on wherever Libby asks to go) and then make a final decision.

More...

The Judge does not usually rule on a request for an appeal bond at the sentencing. He will rule on that after Libby files a Notice of Appeal of his conviction which occurs after the sentencing.

In other words, you get sentenced, the Judge grants a voluntary surrender and sets a date by which the Bureau of Prisons will likely have designated the defendant, and the defendant is told to show up at the prison on that date.

Within ten days of sentencing, the defendant files a Notice of Appeal and asks for bond pending appeal. Then a hearing is scheduled on the request. If it's denied, it can be appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals.

So anyone expecting Libby to go to jail on Tuesday will be very disappointed.

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Libby and Self-Surrender | 3 comments (3 topical)

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Dean is so old-fashioned (none / 0) (#1)
by Demi Moaned on Sat Jun 02, 2007 at 11:32:42 PM EST

I skimmed through the Dean link you provided. This passage struck me:

If Libby had been acting on his own behalf, a pardon would present no problem; Bush and Cheney could feel it was the humanitarian thing to do, given his long service to the government. However, no one I know believes Libby was acting simply for himself, nor does the evidence suggest it.
Let's suppose, instead, that Libby was doing Cheney's bidding, and that Cheney was deeply involved in both Libby's leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status and the lies Libby subsequently concocted to deflect attention away from the Vice President. If so, then there was a conspiracy to obstruct justice - and if Cheney should go to Bush and request that he pardon Libby, he would be furthering that conspiracy. No wonder then, that Special Counsel Fitzgerald remarked during the Libby trial that there was "a cloud" over the Vice President.

The gist of it seems to be that the appearance of impropriety would be harmful to Cheney. But it seems to me that the chief lesson that Watergate alumni (such as Cheney) seem to have take to heart is that the Nixon WH was undone by being too concerned about the appearance of impropriety.

"Appearances be damned" seems to be the current motto. "No one has the gumption to make anything stick at a higher level."

Self surrender!? (none / 0) (#2)
by Sailor on Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 03:47:10 AM EST

It must be nice to be rich, white and have friends in high places.

: While it's certainly nice ... (none / 0) (#3)
by Peter G on Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 01:26:08 PM EST

no doubt, to be "rich, white and have friends in high places," the federal courts are not as bad as you suggest, Sailor. Two of my recent sentencings involved defendants convicted of tax crimes. Neither defendant was rich (middle class, but not rich) and neither has friends in any high places. Both remained on recognizance bond after conviction, pending sentencing. One is white; the other, black. The white defendant was remanded to jail at the time of sentencing, because the judge in that case (generally viewed as "liberal") felt he was unstable based on certain conduct and statements he made between conviction and sentencing. The black defendant, whom the judge (generally viewed as "conservative") clearly didn't like, viewing him as greedy, indifferent to his legal obligations, and lacking remorse, is nevertheless self-surrendering tomorrow, following a couple of extensions of the date, totalling about two months after sentencing. This system is far, far from perfect, and statistics bear out that it is not color-blind, especially in drug cases. But the situation is not nearly as simple as you presume.