The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Well, the word is that the jury in the Scooter Libby trial has asked for permission to be let off early tomorrow, at 2 p.m., which indicates that they fully expect NOT to be finished even by then and thus that they expect to be deliberating into next week. This is a travesty. Perjury is a rather cut-and dried charge: Either the person deliberately told a clear falsehood to the court, or he didn't. If it is not clear readily apparent that this is what happened, then the jury should acquit. This isn't just a "preponderance of evidence" question. The defendant must be proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt. If it takes this long to decide on something as simple as truth or falsehood, then it is obviously a case of a gray area being dominant.

I repeat what I said yesterday, that a jury going through all of this so painstakingly seems, to me at least, that the defense contention that everybody has a faulty memory is just not being accepted by the jury. If I were Libby, I would be nervous. And if I were his attorneys, I would already be working on the appeal, on the grounds that the judge improperly refused to allow the defense to introduce evidence it considered key to its case....