January 24, 2007...6:09 am
Scooter’s Jury and Libby vs Rove
Scooter Libby has his jury: nine women and three men. In a city that is nearly 60 percent African-American, 10 are Caucasian. The group includes an art historian, a soprano, a postal worker, a Web designer, and a charming retired North Carolina math teacher. Somehow, juror No. 1,869, that Washington Post reporter who seems to know everyone, made it into the box. Libby has to feel relieved. His jurors are not people who are hooked on the 24-hour news cycle. They’re more interested in celebrity gossip or the sports pages than the news. “I don’t like reading newspapers,” said one thirtysomething woman who said she watches Heroes, Jericho, and Judge Judy instead of Katie Couric or Tim Russert. (”You know [Judge Judy's] not a judge,” Judge Walton told her during her questioning.) Source
On trial for perjury (a difficult crime to convict on), Libby has to be pleased with the jury. Fitzgerald has his work cut out for him.
From yesterday’s opening statements, it would appear that Libby is giving up on trying to get a Presidential pardon (I’ll wager right now, he won’t need one …) and going straight after Rove and the White House (or he is signaling to the White House that they should quietly offer to pardon before Ted Wells throws the whole West Wing under the bus):
Libby, it was widely thought by legal experts, was going to be the good soldier. He would play it safe at his trial in order to preserve his options; mainly, if convicted, to seek a presidential pardon before Bush leaves office.
But no sooner did he start his opening statement Tuesday morning than defense lawyer Ted Wells shocked the courtroom and all but tossed the “pardon strategy” out the window. Seeking to rebut Fitzgerald’s contention that Libby had lied about his knowledge of Plame’s CIA employment in order to save his job with Cheney, Wells shot back: “Mr. Libby was not concerned about losing his job in the Bush administration. He was concerned about being set up, he was concerned about being made the scapegoat.”
Pass the popcorn. Nothing changes a boring perjury trial like a slash and burn, mudslinging defense attorney.
Aside from Slate, Firedoglake and Josh Marshall will have daily updates.
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