Fall Guy Falls

Libby convicted on 4 of 5 count. See any news website for more.

From Legal Times, some juror feedback:

"We had tremendous sympathy" for Libby, Collins said. One juror said he didn't want to be judging Libby. "This sucks," Collins quoted the juror as saying.

"The belief of the jury was that he was tasked by the vice president to talk to reporters," Collins said.

So... the jury appears to have been ready to get Cheney for... something.

Putting aside the confusing mess that is the merits of the case, what should the sentence be? Libby was found guilty of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjruy, and one count of false statement of facts. According to the news, that's a maximum sentence of 25 years.

I pose to the comments thread: what is the right sentence? And where does the executive power to pardon fit in?

From what I've seen of the "harm" caused by the crimes proven, my instinct is that probation, maybe house arrest, would serve the interests of justice best.

UPDATE: Of course, Sentencing Law & Policy is already on the task. It's jail time for sure based on the guidelines, with a minimum looking like a year and a half. Judge Walton does have some discretion to play around within those guidelines. Based purely on his biography, it doesn't look good for Libby.

Also, I commend this article to those interested in this case.

UPDATE 2: WSJ on likelihood of pardon. The money line comes at the end:

"Defendants in similar situations are routinely allowed to remain free on bond while their appeals are pending. For Mr. Libby, that could delay the beginning of his sentence for months and push the need for a decision back to the end of Mr. Bush's tenure when a pardon would reduce the political fallout."