By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Lawyers for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay his reporting date to prison while they appeal his conviction.
Libby, prosecuted for perjury and obstruction of justice over his testimony relating to the leak of a CIA employee's name, was ordered to prison last week to serve a 30 month sentence. Judge Reggie Walton rejected defense team arguments to let him remain free pending appeal and told Libby to report to a yet-to-be-designated federal facility in six to seven weeks.
Attorneys then made the appeals request in a paper filing on Tuesday.
"The Bureau of Prisons will shortly designate a prison facility and direct Libby to report within a period of two to three weeks after designation," his attorneys wrote. "Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the court expedite action on this application."
Libby's defense team said the career government official should be allowed to remain free pending appeal because they believe a court will rule in his favor on appeal of the conviction. Specifically, the attorneys said they should have been allowed to submit more evidence at trial, and they have taken issue with some of the classified documentation procedures that took place prior to the trial's opening.
In addition, they said lead prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was given too broad authority to prosecute the case. They say the appointment documents signed by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey skirted Justice Department guidelines by freeing Fitzgerald from reporting on the progress of his investigation to senior Justice Department officials, including the attorney general.
The request will be considered by a three-judge panel of the court. By policy, the court does not disclose which judges are on the panel until a decision is made.
FOX News' Ian McCaleb and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/lawyers-file-request-to-keep-scooter-libby-free-while-case-is-appealed