June 12, 2007 (LPAC)--Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald filed papers today asking the court to deny the request of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to remain free on bond while the appeal of his conviction is pending -- which could take over a year. Fitzgerald argues that an appeals court is unlikely to overturn Libby's conviction, because of "the overwhelming evidence" of his guilt, and because none of the issues he intends to raise on appeal are likely to result in a reversal of his conviction.

After Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison at his sentencing hearing on June 5, his asked for time to present a written legal brief. This was accompanied by an amicus curiae legal brief, miraculously put together in 48 hours, in what Judge Reggie Walton sarcastically referred to as "an impressive show of public service," by "twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools" who were willing to "step up to the plate" and provide legal assistance to a criminal defendant.

One of the issues which Libby argues today, is the exclusion of certain classified information from the jury trial, some of which had been summarized in agreed-upon substitute statements worked out in weeks of pre-trial hearings under the provisions of the Classified Information Procedures Act. Fitzgerald notes that these summary statements were prepared on the expectation that Libby himself would testify at trial, and also on Libby's assurances that Dick Cheney would also be called to testify.

At the conclusion of the trial on Feb. 14, after Libby's lawyers announced that neither he nor Cheney would testify, Judge Walton banned the use of the summary statements of classified information, stating that "During the course of the CIPA hearings, it was my absolute understanding that Mr. Libby would testify," and adding that "this is what happens when you play games with the process."

Walton is unlikely to be any more sympathetic to Libby's argument's at this Thursday's hearing on Libby's motion to remain free.