Libby Walks

Maybe Paris should have called the President...this sends an awful message to the American people about what can be done and erased even though the process was correct no matter how uncomfortable it was for everyone involved. The judge and jury made a decision, he broke the law, got caught and was served his consequences. Just like 2.3 million other Americans who don't have the Bush's phone number. Libby won't do the time even though he did the crime. I would say something about the need for integrity from public officials but that's laughable with this administration.
Read Talk Left's take

....and Doug Berman's over at Sentencing Law and Policy put this together

• the 33-month federal prison sentence for nearly identical crimes for decorated military veteran Victor Rita (basics here)?
• the 60-month federal prison sentence for minor drug sales for decorated military veteran Patrick Lett (basics here)?
• the 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences for bad mistakes made while protecting our border for Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean (basics here)?
• the 55-year federal prison sentence for minor drug sales for Weldon Angelos (basics here)?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just when things looked darkest for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, when prison seemed all but certain, President Bush wiped away the former White House aide's 2 1/2-year sentence in the CIA leak case.

Bush's move came Monday, just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. His prospects for an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court seemed bleak. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was just waiting for a date to surrender.

After months of sidestepping pardon questions, Bush stepped in. He did not issue a pardon but erased a prison sentence that he felt was just too harsh.

"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a written statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend 30 months in prison."

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disputed the president's assertion that the prison term was excessive. Libby was sentenced under the same laws as other criminals, Fitzgerald said. "It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."

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