Former White House aide to be sentenced

Former US White House aide Lewis ’Scooter’ Libby faces sentencing today in the CIA leak trial.

Libby has not spoken publicly about the case since his 2005 indictment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. Throughout his month-long trial, and following his conviction in March, he always let his lawyers do the talking.

Today, however, before US District Judge Reggie Walton hands down a sentence in Washington, he will ask the former vice presidential chief of staff whether he has anything to say.

Defence lawyers, who argue that Libby should not have to serve a prison sentence, have not said how Libby will respond. It’s a delicate decision, one made more difficult because Libby has maintained his innocence and is appealing against his conviction.

“The only thing any sentencing judge wants to hear is remorse, and if they don’t think it comes from the heart or they think they’re only sorry for getting caught, for losing their job, or for going to jail, it doesn’t count,” said Hugh Keefe, a Connecticut defence lawyer who teaches trial advocacy at Yale University.

Libby, the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and assistant to President George Bush, was convicted of lying to investigators about what he told reporters regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose identity was leaked to reporters in 2003 after her husband began criticising the Bush administration’s war policies.

Libby’s lawyers say he should be given leniency because of his lengthy career in public service. They also note that nobody was charged with leaking Plame’s identity and suggest that Libby should not be punished as if he was a leaker.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has asked that Libby serve up to three years in prison, in part because he has shown no remorse.

Libby “lied repeatedly and blatantly about matters at the heart of a criminal investigation concerning the disclosure of a covert intelligence officer’s identity,” Fitzgerald wrote in court documents. “He has shown no regret for his actions, which significantly impeded the investigation.”