Trial's Lesson: Just Take the Fifth

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Trial's Lesson: Just Take the Fifth
Perjury Risk of Talking Is Too Great Unless Facts Are Clear, Lawyers Say
By JESS BRAVIN and ASHBY JONES
March 7, 2007; Page A6

WASHINGTON -- With yesterday's conviction, Lewis "Scooter" Libby joins a line of individuals stretching from Alger Hiss to Martha Stewart whose mistake wasn't committing an underlying crime, but lying to investigators. In pursuing such well-known figures, prosecutors hope to send a message to the meek and mighty alike: Don't lie.

But some lawyers predict Mr. Libby's conviction may send another message: Say nothing at all, invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Ari Fleischer, for instance, the former White House press secretary, took the Fifth and then testified for the prosecution in the Libby case in exchange for immunity.

(snip)

Prosecutors have favored perjury charges for philosophical and practical reasons. Many prosecutors find noncooperation or, even worse, outright deception, deeply offensive. As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is also U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said yesterday: "Any prosecutor would tell you -- in my days in New York, in my current days in Chicago -- that we cannot tolerate perjury. ... If people don't come forward and tell the truth, we have no hope of making the judicial system work."

Prosecutors tend to use the threat of a perjury charge to persuade a witness to cooperate with the government against a bigger target. For that reason, the prosecution of a well-known figure such as Mr. Libby stands out; few bigger targets, other than the vice president or president, remain.

(snip)

Such a relatively light penalty shows that while it may be easier to convict a defendant for lying to authorities than for the underlying allegations themselves, perjury isn't taken as seriously as the substantive crime. And for politically prominent perjurers, redemption by their patrons is always a possibility. After losing his bid for re-election in 1992, President George H.W. Bush pardoned six former Reagan-Bush administration officials facing obstruction or related charges in the Iran-Contra scandal, including Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress. The current President Bush hired Mr. Abrams to serve as deputy national security adviser.


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117276388675723464.html (subscription)

[BlooInBloo]

1. BULLSHIT ALERT: "whose mistake wasn't committing an underlying crime"...

... Um, he was convicted of perjury, lying, and obstruction of justice. Therefore WE DON'T KNOW whether or not there was an underlying crime. That's the whole fucking point of perjury, lying, and obstruction of justice.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Libby is probably drinking a fifth right now.

[GainesT1958]

3. Scooter followed Nixon's Watergate admonitions well:

(From the White House tapes): "Just be damned sure you say, 'I can't recall; I don't remember'!"

And of course, the classic passage from Tricky Dick:

"I don't give a s*** what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else if it'll save it, save the plan, that's the whole point!"

You can almost hear Cheney recite that one to everybody, can't you?:eyes:

B-)

[Skink]

4. Music Lesson: take the Flat 5th whenever possible.

it's hip.