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Libby Judge Grants Jury Early Leave

WASHINGTON — Jurors in the perjury trial of ex-White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have much work to do and expect to deliberate into next week.

They asked U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton for a dictionary and more office supplies and asked to leave early on Friday for the weekend. Walton denied the request for the dictionary but told jurors they could take off at 2 p.m. Friday.

"So I assume they will not have a verdict tomorrow either," Walton told lawyers as jurors finished their seventh day of deliberations.

Before bringing the jurors into court, Walton advised lawyers they "will not be happy about coming into court because they don't think they are dressed appropriately."

Earlier in the day, it appeared the seven women and four men were handcrafting their own visual aids to help sort out the complicated case.

Jurors asked for a large flip chart, masking tape, Post-it notes and pictures of the witnesses almost immediately after beginning deliberations last week. Late Wednesday afternoon, they emerged to ask the judge for large, easel-sized pages that can be stuck on walls.

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CNN: Libby jury asks judge if he said Libby had lied, then write back saying they answered their own question

A question sent from the jury to the judge in the trial of former Cheney chief of staff I Lewis "Scooter" Libby has apparently been answered by the jurors themselves. The question -- which CNN says "essentially" asked if the judge had asserted Cheney's former aide had lied.

CNN's Brian Todd: A bit of activity in Libby trial... The jury sent another note back to the judge essentially saying "We've answered our own question, no clarification needed. We apologize. We are going to get back to work." ... The original question had to do with Count #3 of the Libby indictment ... that is Libby made false statements about a conversation he had with Time Mag. reporter Matt Cooper in July of 2003.

Libby told Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that administration's critic Joe Wilson worked for the CIA but Libby didn't know if it was true. The prosecution contends that Libby did know it was true and confirmed it unequivocally in that conversation ... the question from the jury, verbatim, "Is the charge that the statement was made or about the content of the statement itself?"

Essentially [they were] asking the judge, "Are you saying that Scooter Libby lied that the conversation even happened or is he lying about the content of the conversation."... but after further discussion they said "We are clear on what we have to do. No further clarification needed. Thank you. We apologize." ... There was a lot of laughter in the courtroom from attorneys on both sides.

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Keeping Up With The Scooter Libby Trial...

From Firedoglake Live Blogging:

Bonamici: To the extent we were able to digest them (jury instructions) WRT elements instruction, govt concerned about summarization of false statements as part of elements instruction. We understand that the precise charge statements will be appended to the back. It was our understanding that the summaries of the false statements would only be provided at preliminary and that the false statements would be read for the final instructions.

Jeffress stands.

Bonamici: Is the perjury quoted as well.

Walton: Perjury is. I wouldn't be inclined to read all that, I would say it's going to get lost. I'd give a short statement about that and the jury will have an opportunity to read it.

Bonamici: We're of the view that the charged false statements are the core of the case.

Walton: I was only talking about the perjury.

Bonamici: They're shorter. I do see the distinction. We took from the first instruction that you were struggling with just reading them allowed.

Walton: As far as the false statements are, I thought I had indicated I would summarize what the false statements were.

Jeffress: [I think he says he was under the same understanding as Bonamici, too]

Bonamici: In the seventh circuit, the indictment goes back so it is never the practice to presesnt the false statement in the instructions.

Walton: I'm okay to have those portions of the indictment appended. I have a problem with the entire indictment going back bc there's a lot of stuff in there that should not be submitted to the jury.

Bonamici: That would be acceptable to the govt and would probably solve the problem.

Walton: I'm looking at the false statement instruction. I thought that was everything.

Bonamici: I don't, I don't. Have you figured out what page it's one.

Wells is up. Shows it to her. [Guess we have nice Ted today]

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