During the recent federal trial of former Vice President Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Chancellor Sean O’Keefe wrote a letter to U.S. Judge Reggie Walton in defense of his longtime colleague’s character, urging leniency in his sentencing.
The May 1 letter details O’Keefe’s experiences and admiration for Libby as a public servant.
“[Judge Walton], I earnestly submit to you that Scooter Libby is a very different man than the sketch that has been presented in the public accounts of the recent legal proceedings,” the letter states. “In your desire to secure a fair and reasoned judgement as to the proper sentence, I implore you to consider the perspective I have offered of consistent, high moral character and integrity of Scooter Libby as a public servant, husband, father and friend.”
The Chancellor’s office released the letter and it is also a public record of the Federal Judiciary. O’Keefe stressed the letter was personal correspondence and not related to his position as Chancellor. The letter did not bear the Chancellor’s official letterhead.
Walton received more than 150 similar letters from concerned individuals prior to Libby’s sentencing.
O’Keefe told The Daily Reveille that he did not follow the trial proceedings closely, but felt the sentencing was an “extraordinary tragedy” and a “shock in [his] mind” based on his relationship with Libby.
“[Libby] is an extraordinarily talented public servant and also a personal friend,” O’Keefe said.
According to the letter, O’Keefe met Libby in the late 1980s while serving in the Department of Defense. They continued their relationship over the past few years while O’Keefe worked under the Bush Administration as Libby served as the vice president’s chief of staff.
In March, Libby was convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators. The crimes stemmed from an investigation regarding the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003.
According to the New York Times, Libby is the highest level government official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s.
Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and given a $250,000 fine.
The speculation surrounding his indictment has alleged that Libby was a scapegoat used to protect higher level officials including Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney.
“There is a cloud over the vice president . . . And that cloud remains because this defendant obstructed justice,” said special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald during his prosecution of Libby, according to the New York Times.
O’Keefe said his letter was not written to “question the propriety” of the case but simply to provide the judge with an insight into his personal experience with Libby.
Libby has appealed Walton’s decision that denied a delay in the serving of his two and a half year prison sentence, citing a high probability that the original conviction could be overturned.
President Bush has been under pressure by some Republicans to either pardon or commute Libby’s sentence.
—Contact Mark Macmurdo at [email protected]