Criminal Contempt Could Lengthen Reporter's Jail Stay

[FreedomAngel82]

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071502080_pf.html

Snip: <Washington Post
Saturday, July 16, 2005; A06

Miller, now in her 10th day in the Alexandria jail, already faces as
much as four months of incarceration for civil contempt after
refusing to answer questions before a grand jury about confidential
conversations she had in reporting a story in the summer of 2003.
Fitzgerald and Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan have both
raised the possibility in open court that Miller could be charged
with criminal contempt if she continues to defy Hogan's order to
cooperate in the investigation of who may have unlawfully leaked the
name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media.

The unusual threat in the case underscores the sensitivity of an
investigation that has reached the highest levels of the White House
and the prosecutor's determination to extract information from
reluctant journalists even though he has yet to charge anyone with a
crime. What secrets Miller can unlock for Fitzgerald -- and the
reasons he has so doggedly pursued her -- have been a subject of
considerable mystery.

While media coverage in recent days has focused on conversations
White House senior adviser Karl Rove had with reporters, two sources
say Miller spoke with Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, during the key period in July 2003 that is
the focus of Fitzgerald's investigation.

The two sources, one who is familiar with Libby's version of events
and the other with Miller's, said the previously undisclosed
conversation occurred a few days before Plame's name appeared in
Robert D. Novak's syndicated column on July 14, 2003. Miller and
Libby discussed former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's
husband, who had recently alleged that the Bush administration
twisted intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, according to the
source familiar with Libby's version.>

[bluestateguy]

1. Boo. Fucking. Hoo.

I have a limited amount of space and time that I devote to certain political causes. Judith Miller's freedom is not one of them.

She is being asked to obey the law. And then she will be asked again one last time before being charged with a felony.

When a court orders you to do something, you do it. You don't question it, you do it.