LIBBY PAYS $250,000 FINE Posted: Thursday, July 05, 2007 1:32 PM by Mark Murray
Categories: White House, Courts
From NBC's Joel Seidman and Mark Murray
Convicted former top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has paid the fine of $250,400.00. The U.S. District Court has posted the canceled check on the docket this afternoon. (Our question: Where did Libby get this money to write this hefty check?)
In commuting Libby's sentence, President Bush said that the former vice presidential aide had suffered enough, and that the 30-month prison term ordered up by a federal judge was "excessive." The White House still wanted Libby, however, to pay a fine of $250,000.00 and a $400 special assessment. But now there is a question on whether he will have to serve two years of supervised probation imposed by the trial judge.
The federal judge who presided over the Libby trial said by commuting his prison sentence, the probation period may be called into question. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who was appointed by President Bush, said Tuesday that federal law "does not appear to contemplate a situation in which a defendant may be placed under supervised release without first completing a term of incarceration."