Exclusive: Juror hopes Libby will be pardoned
Posted: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:29 PM by Hardball
David Shuster
Tonight in an exclusive interview on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” one of the jurors who just convicted Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice, decried the narrow focus on Scooter Libby and said that because Libby was the only official charged and because he was not charged with the leak itself, Libby should now be pardoned. WATCH VIDEO
Ann Redington says she does not follow the news and came into the Libby trial with a “blank slate” about the CIA leak story. Tonight, she told Hardball, “it kind of bothers me that there was this whole big crime being investigated and he got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.” Asked if she wants a pardon for Libby “out of sympathy” and Redington replied, “Yes.”
“Whether or not he should get one, I don’t know that I have a valid opinion,” Redington said. “But I would like him to get one.” Chris Matthews then asked Redington, “Do you think he should get one now, when it might cause the president a little bit of trouble but it will keep him out of federal prison or should he get one later at the end of the term when the president can do it at midnight on Christmas even when nobody is watching? What would be more appropriate?” Redington responded, “Well, it would certainly be more interesting if he got one now. It would be more fun to follow.”
Redington repeatedly said she was “concerned” that prosecutors did not charge anybody with the act of leaking Valerie Wilson’s identity, even Scooter Libby. (Libby was charged with lying and obstructing the criminal investigation.) Redington said she was disappointed that Ari Fleischer, Karl Rove and others were involved in leaking Wilson’s identity but that Libby was the only one who faced the prospect of prison time.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spoke about this issue after the verdict was returned. Fitzgerald said, to take a case where a high-level official is telling a story that the basis of his information wasn’t from government officials but came from a reporter, the reporter had told us that was not true, other officials had told us the information came from them, we could not walk away from that.” Fitzgerald added, “None of us on the team can walk away from what we knew in December 2003 and walk away from that. And so we’ve brought charges, we went to trial and we’ve proved the case. So we think the facts justify themselves.”
Redington, who wept from the jury box as the verdict was announced by her panel, said she couldn’t bear to look at Scooter Libby or his wife. She said that she was “overcome with emotion.”
Redington revealed that all of the 12 jurors who went into jury deliberations took extensive notes during the trial. Redington said that during deliberations, when one juror couldn’t recall specifics about testimony or evidence from the case, “somebody else” always managed to have the answer in their own notes. Redington said that when the jury first entered into deliberations, they asked one another who did not want to serve as foreperson. Several jurors raised their hands. Then, after the other jurors said they “would serve as foreperson,” the jurors took a secret ballot and a staffer at a local law firm was elected foreperson. Redington said the panel spent the next seven days reviewing the evidence, evaluating the credibility of every witness, putting together timelines, and discussing the overall case. Redington said it was only on day eight when the jury took their first votes on the five counts against Libby. The verdicts were completed two days later when the jury reached a guilty verdict on four counts and a not guilty verdict on one count.
