WASHINGTON – Lawyers for a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made their first request to use classified evidence at his trial, launching a highly secretive court process that could bog down the case.
In the filings made under seal in federal court, lawyers for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby put the judge and prosecutors on notice that they want a jury to hear evidence the government now says is classified.
Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, was indicted last year on charges that he lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity and when he subsequently told reporters.
The defense team hinted court document last Friday that they will want to disclose to a jury the nature of Plame’s work as a CIA operative.
Colorado: Soldier gets reprimand
A military jury at Fort Carson recommended a simple reprimand Monday for an Army officer who killed an Iraqi general by stuffing him headfirst into a sleeping bag and sitting on his chest during an interrogation. Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. faces no jail time, the forfeiture of $6,000 in salary and what amounts largely to a restriction to his barracks for 60 days.
D.C.: DeLay manager subpoenaed
A former campaign manager of Rep. Tom DeLay who also ran an organization linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was subpoenaed by a Texas prosecutor Monday. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed documents in Austin seeking records from Robert Mills in connection with a probe of DeLay, who is awaiting trial in Texas on money laundering charges. Earle wants information about a $500,000 political contribution made in 1999 by the National Republican Congressional Committee to the U.S. Family Network, a now-disbanded nonprofit advocacy group of which Mills was president.
Florida: Passenger jumps off jet
An airline passenger in Fort Lauderdale bit a fellow traveler Monday, then jumped out of a jetliner as it was moving to take off, authorities said. He was later subdued with a stun gun. The man was taken to a hospital from the Fort Lauderdale airport, the Broward County sheriff’s office said. It was unclear whether he was injured. The other passenger suffered minor injuries from the bite. The man will be charged with criminal mischief, criminal trespass, battery, resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer, in addition to an outstanding warrant for marijuana possession, the sheriff’s office said.
New York: Sainthood for judge
Episcopalians from a church where the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall worshipped are asking their denomination to name him a saint. Marshall, who died in 1993, was a towering figure in the civil rights movement and the first black justice to sit on the nation’s highest court. Members of St. Augustine’s Church in Washington, D.C., will seek initial approval for the honor Friday.
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