CIA Leak Judge Says No to Secret Arguments

[cal04]

A federal judge barred prosecutors in the CIA leak case Wednesday from making arguments that would be kept secret from the defendant, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. Lawyers for I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby are seeking a substantial amount of highly classified documents from the government so that the former White House aide can defend himself against five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI.

Libby is accused of making false statements about how he learned of the CIA employment of covert officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters about her connection to the agency. Plame's identity was publicly disclosed in 2003, eight days after her husband accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

In trying to scale back the amount of information they have to turn over to Libby, prosecutors said they should be allowed to argue their case in secret, out of the presence of the defendant and his lawyers, a request that U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected. ``It is inappropriate and in fact unnecessary for the government to argue questions of materiality'' without letting Libby's legal team know what the arguments are, Walton wrote. The government wants to delete some classified information from documents Libby is seeking and wants to provide summaries for language in other highly sensitive classified documents.

Walton said the government may in some cases present the court the actual classified information that Libby wants for his defense without letting the defendant and his lawyers see it. The judge would then determine whether some of the deletions or substitutions that the government is making are proper. ``Despite the fact that the defendant is a former national security official and some of his defense team hold security clearances, this does not entitle them to view documents that exceed the level of their security clearances or documents that may discuss particularly sensitive issues with profound national security implications,'' the judge wrote.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5736611,00.html

Judge Rules on Classified Libby Case Info
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5736604,00.html

[NorthernSun]

1. Constitution - Article 6

Funny how they can keep secrets in Rummy's cases but Libby and company get to have a fair trial. Guess it pays to be part of the crime family.

[Roland99]

2. Same judge keeping Sibel quiet, too.

[Tiggeroshii]

3. Hilarious

...let's see where it gets them.

[HuffleClaw]

4. its not really a 'defence' at all but a blatant attempt to muddy the water

and a disgraceful tactic. truly sickening.