Prosecution Recommends Three Years for Libby

May 25, 2007 — -- Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby could face up to three years in prison, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald on Friday.

Fitzgerald wrote in the memorandum, "Mr. Libby maintains that despite his conviction, he is totally innocent. He has expressed no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility, and no recognition that there is anything he should have done differently."

Libby was convicted of four counts of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements on March 6, 2007, for lying about how he learned the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Libby could have faced a maximum of 25 years in prison.

Supporters and friends of Libby have asked for leniency since he was a high ranking government official who was serving the public in his position at the White House.

Fitzgerald noted, "In light of the foregoing, it is respectfully submitted that Mr. Libby should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment within the applicable range of 30 to 37 months."

Judge Reggie Walton will sentence Libby on June 5. Libby and his legal team filed a notice to appeal the conviction last month.

In the memorandum Fitzgerald wrote, "The evidence at trial further established that when the investigation began, Mr. Libby kept the Vice President apprised of his shifting accounts of how he claimed to have learned about Ms. Wilson's CIA employment."

In the trial's closing arguments, Fitzgerald told the jury on February 20, "There is a cloud over the vice president…we didn't put that cloud there, that's because the defendant obstructed justice. That cloud is something you just can't pretend isn't there."

Fitzgerald ends his recommendation memo, as he often did during the trial, asserting that the foundation of the judicial system rests on people telling the truth.

Fitzgerald also addresses criticism the prosecution was carried out for partisan purposes: "Mr. Libby's prosecution was based not upon politics but upon his own conduct, as well as upon a principle fundamental to preserving our judicial system's independence from politics: that any witness, whatever his political affiliation, whatever his views on any policy or national issue, whether he works in the White House or drives a truck to earn a living, must tell the truth when he raises his hand and takes an oath in a judicial proceeding, or gives a statement to federal law enforcement officers."