You Can Run Scooter, But You Can't Hide
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, stood calmly before a packed courtroom facing a maximum of 25 years in prison.
"It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life," Libby said in brief remarks to the judge.
The court did, before sentencing the disgraced lawyer to 2 1/2 years for lying and obstructing an investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Libby was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, perform 400 hours of community service and placed on probation for two years following his release from prison. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had requested 3 years in custody. The judge will decide in a week whether Libby can remain out of custody pending his appeal.
The highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair, The loyal Republican and likely fall guy of the Bush administration has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Bush said he "felt terrible" but was silent about a presidential pardon ...for now!
But U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, the tough African-American jurist and proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity wasn't buying it, saying that the evidence at the trial back in March overwhelmingly proved his guilt.
"People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem," said Walton.