Libby’s Lawyers
May Coach Witnesses, Have Them Communicate With Each Other, Hoping For Mistrial
Coming off a minor victory from last week, the lawyer for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby said this morning that “we may use some of the strategies from the Moussaoui trial”.
Last Friday, Federal Judge Reggie B. Walton, in a compromise, ruled that the Libby defense was entitled to receive limited amounts of highly-classified intelligence and information, instructing prosecutors to turn over "general topics of the matters" that were given to Mr. Libby when he was chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
These lists, of the President's Daily Briefs, may be in the form of a “table of contents”, as well as being heavily redacted.
Watching the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui “with great interest”
Seeking to gain momentum, and continued to build the case the his client was “too busy” to have outted covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame, of remember who he spoke to about her, Theodore V. Wells Jr., Libby’s chief defense lawyer indicated that he is watching the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui “with great interest”.
The Moussaoui trial, the sentencing phase of it, has been thrown into chaos, and risks being declared a mistrial, after the court learned that Carla J. Martin, a Transportation Security Administration lawyer, has allegedly coached other witnesses, as well as communicate with them about the trial – doing so in violation of a court order from U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.
Brinkema, extremely agitated, halted the trial yesterday and threatened to remove the death penalty as a possible sentence for Moussaoui.
Plans To Force Mistrial By Coaching Witnesses
Specifically, Wells said that he may notify Judge Walton that he intends to “coach any or all witnesses in this case, and encourage them to email each other, about elements of their testimony and, overall, the scope of the trial.”
“Some have suggested that we wait for the trial to start,” said Wells, “to engage in these activities. I feel, if we can gain ground, or possible get a mistrial before we begin, then that would be in the best interests of my client.”
‘We’re looking to build some momentum off the PDB ruling.”
The momentum Libby and his lawyer are seeking my be derailed, as the White House, and CIA, has not yet decided to turn over the documents, giving some indications that a claim of “Executive Privilege” may be inserted.
Unconfirmed reports say that, when apprised of Friday’s ruling, President Bush immediately, and angrily, threatened to veto Judge Walton. When advised that wouldn’t be possible, the President summoned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the White House, to seek his advise on removing Judge Walton from the Federal bench.
Observers say that the Bush Administration may be attempting to challenge pretrial motions and procedures, looking for a flaw or a crack to jump the case over the Supreme Court.
“They can’t come out and overtly help Scooter,”, said Sonny Earl, editor of a Supreme Court newsletter that monitors the court's activities, 'OMIB" ('The Original Men In Black'). “What they can do is exercise their Executive Powers to the extent it pertains to the trial and make it as difficult as they can for the prosecutor and judge … Wear’em down and hope the can weaken the case.”
‘If they come up with a precedent that can get it into the big court … Well … That’s, more-or-less, is the end game here. Get the OMIB to back up the Executive Privilege claim and get the whole thing tossed out.”
Wells dismissed any talk of getting covert assistance from the White House.
“Everyone there is as busy, or even more busy then Mr. Libby was, during the period the prosecutor says he lied. I’m sure they’re so busy, that they wouldn’t even have the time to conjure up such a scheme – I barely had time to notice the Moussaoui trial and the great legal opportunities that may present us.”
Dubai Ports World Turning Over Any Libby Evidence To American Entity
In a move, not yet clear if it will be related, or not, to the Libby trial, scheduled to begin next January, Dubai Ports World announced that they are moving all their evidence and testimony on Scooter Libby to a yet-to-be-determined American entity. The company said in a statement released this morning that they wanted to avoid “any more hassles for the Bush Administration, as well as stoking any more anti-Arab, anti-Muslim rhetoric.”
Experts say that Dubai Ports World has testified in “a bevy of cases here in the
Scooter Libby is planning to use his crutchers during his trial next January, to bolster his defense that he is "too busy to remember his foot is healed"
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