The jury in the Libby trial has sent out two new notes this afternoon that appear to be devlvng ever more deeply into minutiae and into a parsing of words and phrases in the indictment and the judge’s instructions, etc. To me, just by analytical logic, it seems that this means the jury is teetering on the edge of a decision — that this is a very very close call for some of them. I hope I am wrong on this, but I think this should make Libby very very nervous. If I were on the jury and were faced with a question of reasonable doubt, acquittal would be easy for me: Even if I thought Libby more likely than not told a deliberate lie (which I don’t, but this is just for argument’s sake), I would (I believe) have concluded long ago that the standard of “beyond reasonable doubt” is too high to convict. With EVERY witness having shown serious memory lapses or other contradictions, and with most of the charges involving a “he said/ no, HE said” clash of memories without other evidence, there is CLEARLY reasonable doubt. If there is doubt, there must be acquittal.

But this jury, asking so many questions, does not appear to see it that way. And that means conviction is still a serious possibility. Yikes.