| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
20 Jan 2006 11:11:33 PM |
| Object: |
Libby lawyers to subpoena reporters in CIA leak |
Libby lawyers to subpoena reporters in CIA leak
Reuters.com ^ | January 20, 2006 | Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for a former top aide to Vice President
***** Cheney plan to issue subpoenas to journalists and news
organizations for documents to be used at his trial involving the leak
of a CIA operative's name, according to a court document filed on
Friday.
The expected move by attorneys for Lewis "Scooter" Libby was disclosed
in a joint status report that defense lawyers and prosecutors filed
with the federal judge overseeing the case.
Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, has pleaded not guilty to five
counts of obstructing justice, perjury and lying in the two-year
investigation into the leak to the news media of covert CIA operative
Valerie Plame's identity.
Plame's identity was leaked to reporters in July 2003 after her
diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of
twisting intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the
war in Iraq.
A number of journalists already have testified as part of prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak and could be called
as prosecution witnesses. New York Times reporter Judith Miller spent
85 days in jail last year before she agreed to testify.
In the six-page court filing, defense attorneys said the subpoenas to
journalists and news organizations would be to obtain additional
necessary documents for trial. They did not identify who would be
subpoenaed or say what they would be seeking.
They also said there could be litigation before U.S. District Judge
Reggie Walton, who is presiding over the case, and perhaps the U.S.
Court of Appeals if the reporters or news organization fight the
subpoenas, as expected.
Such a legal battle could delay any trial. The judge has yet to set a
trial date.
Libby's lawyers also said that it may be necessary for the defense to
issue subpoenas to government agencies but they did not indicate which
agencies.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 3.
--
"The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing
their memory, or their backbone, but we're not going to sit by and
let them rewrite history." -- ***** Cheney 11/16/2005
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
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