Walk, Don't Run...

The post from Firedoglake below reminds me of a story I often tell young prosecutors. ;)

“Two U.S. Attorneys, one a very special prosecutor and the other a young and eager legal eagle, are standing on top of Capitol Hill and looking down at a herd of evildoers on Pennsylvania Avenue stretching as far as the eye can see -- all the way to the White House.

Randall says, 'Hey Fitz, what do you say we race down there and convict one of those evildoers?' And Fitz says, 'No, Randy, let's walk down there — and convict them all.'”

Guilty?

It was my impression in the courtroom (and MSNBC confirms, based on courthouse sources) that there are three new separate questions, all about Count 3, the Cooper false statement charge.

At one point, I believe Walton said (and others who heard it confirm that this was their impression as well) that the jury has reached a unanimous decision regarding the fact that Libby lied. Walton had issued some instruction, however, that they need to decide that he lied on October 14th and November 26th dates (both FBI interviews), but now says he should have used the word "or" instead of "and" — i.e., if the jury all agrees that Libby lied on either of these dates, they have reached a unanimous guilty verdict. (The indictment itself says "and.")

However, there seems to be some confusion — do they all agree on one date, or do some agree on one and not the other? Thus the defense and prosecution are arguing about language to use before they present it to the judge.

We only got 5 minutes warning about the hearing. I was standing at the door to the court when the prosecution came barelling down the hall. I pulled open the door and just stood back. In retrospect, I think they knew when they got the question that they had him.

I watched Scooter throughout the proceeding. No smiles now. He seems to have moved off into appeal land. Mrs. Libby was not in the courtroom, but was standing outside the overflow courtroom when we came out into the hall.

We won't know the contents of the questions until tomorrow, but we'll be back in the courtroom at 9:30 am. Looks like we might be getting close.

Talkleft -- New Jury Note