Libby Lawyer Seeks Trial Delay
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – Lawyers for former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby sought yesterday to delay his trial on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges in the CIA leak investigation.
In a court filing, Mr. Libby’s lead attorney, Theodore Wells Jr., asked that the trial, now scheduled to begin January 8, be moved to February 12.
Mr. Wells said he is worried that he won’t be done with an unrelated trial, set to begin in September in California, by the time Mr.Libby’s case is supposed to go forward.
The California trial – involving allegations of a massive securities fraud – originally was expected to last 10 weeks, Mr. Wells said. But he said recent developments have led him to believe it could take longer.
Mr. Wells said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is willing to go along with the delay unless the trial date in the California case is changed.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton will decide whether to grant the defense’s request.
Mr. Libby was charged last October with lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about how he learned and when he subsequently told three reporters about CIA officer Valerie Plame. He faces five counts of perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice.
Several news organizations wrote about Ms. Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Mr. Novak’s column appeared eight days after Ms. Plame’s husband, former American Ambassador, Joseph Wilson, alleged in an opinion piece in the New YorkTimes that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.
