President Bush on Monday canceled the prison sentence for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby without giving him a pardon for obstruction of justice and perjury committed during the investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame.
Libby, once the vice president’s right-hand man, was sentenced last month to 2 1/2 years in prison after a District of Columbia jury found him guilty of obstructing justice. He was expected to turn himself over to prison officials later this month and was already issued federal prison No. 28301-016.
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Bush, in Kennebunkport, Maine, said he weighed the arguments before making up his mind, but he decided that the punishment handed down by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton was too harsh.
“I respect the jury’s verdict,” Bush said in a statement released by the White House. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.”
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who headed the federal probe of Libby, had no immediate comment on the commutation. Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, said those proposing a pardon or commutation for Libby were “accessories to an ongoing crime.”
Bush said Libby was not getting off free. Libby will remain on probation and pay $250,000 in fines.
“The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged,” Bush said. “The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting.”
Bush’s decision came hours after a federal appeals court in D.C. unanimously denied Libby’s bid to remain out of prison while he sought to overturn his conviction.
George Washington University law professor and former prosecutor Paul Butler said the president’s decision was unusual and that his action sends the message that people who are rich, powerful and privileged don’t have to follow the same laws as everyone else.
“It’s the continuation of the Paris Hilton justice that we’re seeing this summer,” Butler said, referring to the billionaire heiress who walked out of jail earlier this summer after complaining of medical problems.
In his announcement, the president pointed out that no one was charged with the original crime, the outing of a covert CIA agent. Furthermore, he said, Libby was a first-time offender with years of exceptional public service and was handed a harsh sentence based in part on allegations never presented to the jury.
Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing an investigation into the leak of the identity of Plame. He was the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra investigations.
