We’re all Scooter Libby now
I haven’t commented much on the Libby trial, but my opinion is the same as it was during The Trial of Bill Clinton: I’d love to see Bush pardon Libby at the same time as he introduces a bill to reign in prosecutorial abuses on everyone, not just the politically-connected (or rich).
To paraphrase what I wrote then, this is not happening because Scooter Libby was Cheney’s aid. It is happening because a prosecutor set his sights on Scooter Libby, and once that happens anyone is in trouble. If Republicans want Libby freed, they need to introduce laws that free anyone convicted under similar circumstances. “We do not need two sets of laws, one for politicians and one for everybody else.”
Most people are a lot closer to James Ochoa than to Scooter Libby. A presidential pardon is not something they can count on when a prosecutor tells them to plead guilty or go to jail for 25 years to life. When faced with the choice between a plea bargain and a lifetime in prison, a lot of people without connections are going to lie (as Balko says, ironically committing perjury) and accept the plea bargain.
Once caught up in our criminal justice system, many people—especially minorities—are assumed guilty. Most people cannot count on the prosecutor’s lies falling apart before trial. Most people cannot count on the justice system accidentally catching the real perpetrator and realizing it.
Prosecutors need to be encouraged to let the crime speak for itself. Currently, if a prosecutor has a poor case, they’ll try to get a plea bargain. Never mind that one reason for a poor case is that maybe the accused didn’t do it! Even when a suspect is completely exonerated, prosecutors will claim that they must have been guilty of something, and they’ll keep prying into the victim’s private life looking for it.
Prosecutors should be discouraged from continued fishing expeditions after the original crime has been solved—especially when the crime turns out not to have been committed by the person they’re focused on. Perjury should not be a put into jail free card.
- Please Plea Me
- “According to [Deputy Attorney General] Chatman, the real culprit here is Ochoa’s cowardice. He wasn’t wrongfully convicted because the prosecutor went forward with charges despite the presence of exculpatory DNA evidence, he was wrongfully convicted because Ochoa himself didn’t have the guts to roll the dice with a 25-year prison term. It’s his own damned fault.”
- Durham-in-Wonderland
- Comments and analysis about the Duke/Nifong case from KC Johnson.
- The Runaway Train That Hit Scooter Libby
- “I cannot approve of lying under oath—not by Scooter, not by Bill Clinton, not by anybody. But the underlying crime is absent, the sentence is excessive and the investigation should not have been conducted in the first place. This is a mess. Should Libby be pardoned? Maybe. Should his sentence be commuted? Definitely.”
- A Liberal Defends Scooter Libby
- “Judge Reggie Walton got appointed by George Bush because Walton had a reputation as a tough-minded jurist who believed in punishing the guilty. Bush wanted to make conservatives happy by appointing judges who didn’t give out wrist-slaps to convicts. Furthermore, most of the same people criticizing both the conviction and sentencing of Scooter Libby wanted Bill Clinton removed from office for the same exact crime, and that arose not from a criminal investigation but from testimony in a civil lawsuit. Neither conservatives nor liberals have made a great virtue of consistency on this case.”
- Friends in High Places
- Radley Balko lists people “more deserving of pardons or clemency”.
- Statement by the President On Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby
- “The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr. Libby's case is an appropriate exercise of this power.”
More reigning in bad laws
- Justice conjured is justice denied
- Blunting criticism of bad laws by exempting nice people.
- Has welfare failed us?
- Has welfare failed us, or have we overwhelmed the welfare system through other policies that encourage dependance and discourage economic development?
- Term limits
- Term limit proposals avoid real problems. They’re a superficial solution at best. Efforts directed towards enacting term limits waste time and money that could be spent solving the underlying problems: a lack of new ideas and an ability to hide legislative bribery.
- The curse of modern legislation
- What would happen if our representatives actually read bills before voting on them?
- Maintaining Educational Diversity
- A state-run education is ever a danger to a liberal, free country. At any time, demagogues can take control over the education of nearly every child in the country.
- 10 more pages with the topic reigning in bad laws, and other related pages
Note: just as I went to publish this, I noticed that the president has commuted Libby’s sentence, but not pardoned him. This case comes to pretty much the same end as the Clinton case did: a symptom has been attacked, but the illness remains in place. So I guess we’re not really all Scooter Libby now.