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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY FEBUARY 14, 2023
>> CIA LEAK
Libby, Cheney won't testify Lawyers continue with story of overworked defendant
BY MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — 1. Lewis "Scooter" Libby abandoned plans to testify in his own defense and to call his former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, to help defend him in the CIA leak trial.
The announcement in U.S. District Court Tuesday by defense attorney Theodore Wells came after several days in which Libby's attorneys had inched in that direction.
Defense attorneys put in nearly two hours of testimony Tuesday from Cheney's current national security adviser, John Hammah, about how busy Libya was in 2003 with the war in Iraq and other pressing national security issues while serving Cheney as both national security adviser and chief of staff.
The formal reversal in their announced tactics prompted judge Reggie Walton to advise them the decision would limit how far they could go in using memory flaws as Libby's defense to perjury and obstruction charges.
Informed of Libby's decision, Walton said. "I understood the defense was going to be that these issues were of such significance that they so overwhelmed him so it was
Libby is charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury about his talks with reporters concerning Plame and obstructing the investigation of how her identity leaked in 2003. Libby says his memory failed him.
reasonable for him to forget" when he first learned that war critic Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald complained to the judge there would be little more than "a semantic difference" between what the defense could argue. He moved to exclude three defense witnesses who would discuss terrorist threats mentioned in the CIA briefing book for Libby and Cheney during key weeks of 2003.
Walton agreed to admit those classified details only if Libby testified how much the topics consumed his attention and Fitzgerald could cross-examine him about them, the prosecutor argued.
Walton decided to rule Wednesday on whether the three briefers could resitify.
Libby acknowledges he learned about Plame's work at CIA from Cheney on June 12, 2003, but claims he forgot it and thought he was hearing it for the first time from NBC reporter Tim Russert on July 10.
Rassert testified he and Libby never discussed Plame at all.
Tuesday afternoon with the jury out of court, Wells told Walton that he had advised Cheney's lawyer during a break that the vice president's testimony would not be needed. Wells then said Libby had accepted his recommendation to rest his case this week without testimony from Libby.
In December, Wells had announced he would call Cheney. Cheney himself said in recent interviews he expected to testify. Libby, too, once seemed a likely witness. Pretrial documents said he would testify how much national security issues weighed on his mind.
Putting Cheney on the stand would have opened him to cross-examination about his efforts to rebuil Wilson's criticism of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Wilson said his CIA-sponsored trip to Niger in 2002 debunked a report Iraq was trying to buy uranium there, but that Bush nevertheless used it in his 2003 State of the Union speech.
Earlier Tuesday, Hannah testified that Libby's workday extended from 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. Libby regularly moved through a raft of briefings and top-level meetings about the Iraq war, terrorist threats, nuclear programs in Pakistan and Iran and even the nation's defenses against biological attacks, Hannah said.
At the time Plame's identity leaked, Hannah testified. Labyv was even busier dealing with a diplomatic crisis with Turkey as well.
On cross-examination, Fitzgerald turned Libby's busy schedule against his defense.
"If he gave someone an hour or two during that week, it would be something Mr. Libby thought was important," Fitzgerald said, noting that Libby found time to meet with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. At a two-hour meeting, Miller testified. Libby told her Plane worked for the CIA.
on placing restrictions on where sex offenders can reside. If local governments want to place restrictions, they should have that right," said Wagle (R-Wichita).
Vratil said studies in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota have shown buffer zones really don't work.
Local control removed
》 LEGISLATURE
Ban on residency restrictions of sex offenders extended
"They don't accomplish the desired effect," Vratil said. "Studies show offenders don't offend in the areas where they live, which makes residency requirements kind of ridiculous."
BY CARL MANNING ASSOCIATED PRESS
But the issue of local control was why Sen. Susan Wagle voted against the bill.
Among those voting for the bill was Sen. Jay Emler, who said he was convinced that residency restrictions don't work.
"In some small communities, if you put that into play, it would put these persons in the middle of a field," said Emler (R-Lindsbore).
He said studies also have shown such restrictions could result in offenders not registering with law enforcement officials as required or moving to rural areas where it's easier to avoid the law.
Last year, the Legislature imposed a ban on local governments establishing buffer zones for registered sex offenders until June 30, 2008. The bill passed by the Senate extends that an additional year and Vratil (R-Leawood), said he expects legislators eventually will make the ban permanent.
"I know it's politically advantageous to say we need to keep sex offenders away from schools and parks. But when we know the facts, we know it's counterproductive; said Senate Judiciary Chairman
The 32-8 vote sends the measure to the House, where its judiciary Committee is considering a bill to abolish such restrictions for cities and counties.
John Vratil.
"It restricted local governments
TOPEKA — A ban on local governments restricting where sex offenders can live would be extended an additional year under a bill passed Tuesday by the Senate. Supporters said that while restrictions sound like a good idea, they really aren't.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bruce Crouch, 27, smells the roses at Smith's Grocery Store as he picks out a gift for his valentine in Farmington, N.M., on Tuesday.
Scents of the season