Judge won't delay Libby's prison term

(Editorial note: Republicans=Jack-booted thugs. We are living through the 1930s in Germany. The Rethugs are the Nazis.)

A federal judge said Thursday he will not delay a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a ruling that could send the former White House aide to prison within weeks.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge showed no sign that he would delay I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison term in the CIA leak case Thursday — even as he reported getting threatening letters and phone calls after sentencing the former White House aide.

"I received a number of angry, harassing, mean-spirited phone calls and letters," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said. "Some of those were wishing bad things on me and my family."

Walton made the remarks as he opened a hearing into whether to delay Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence while the former White House aide appeals. Walton heard arguments on the request and was scheduled to continue them Thursday afternoon.

After a monthlong trial, jurors found in March that Libby lied to investigators about how he learned that Valerie Plame, the wife of an outspoken war critic, worked for the CIA, and whom he told.

Libby maintains his innocence and says any misstatements were the result of a bad memory, not deception.

Libby argues that he has a good chance of persuading an appeals court that when senior Justice Department officials recused themselves from the leak investigation, they gave special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald unchecked and unconstitutional authority.

Walton was skeptical, saying the alternative was to put someone with White House ties in charge of an investigation into the highest levels of the Bush administration. Libby had been chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

"If that's going to be how we have to operate, our system is going to be in serious trouble with the average Joe on the street who thinks the system is unfair already," Walton said...[Open in new window]