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Leaker invokes Libby for leniency
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[July 11, 2007]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
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An attorney who admitted leaking the confidential grand jury testimony of slugger Barry Bonds to the media asked a federal judge for leniency Tuesday, noting that President Bush commuted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence for a similar crime.
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In doing so, Troy Ellerman joins a growing a list of defendants across the country who have made the same arguments for leniency since Bush said the former vice presidential aide's 2 1/2-year sentence for leaking the name of a CIA operative was too harsh and commuted it to probation and a fine.
Ellerman's invocation of Libby's case Tuesday was part of a much larger court filing arguing for a prison sentence of 15 months, rather than the two years federal prosecutors are seeking.
Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White said even two years in prison was too light of a sentence, and he refused to accept Ellerman's plea deal. White said Ellerman's conduct was especially egregious because he was a lawyer and lied to judges and in court filings when discussing the leaked grand jury transcripts.
Ellerman pleaded guilty to allowing a newspaper reporter to view confidential transcripts of grand jury testimony from Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and other athletes embroiled in the government's steroids investigation. The 44-year-old Ellerman initially blamed federal investigators for leaking the testimony.
Ellerman was a successful Sacramento attorney when Victor Conte, founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, hired him following the raid of the Burlingame nutritional supplements lab, as part of the government probe.
Ellerman pleaded guilty to four felony counts of obstruction of justice and related charges in February.
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His lawyer, Scott Tedmon, urged the judge to consider Libby's commutation when he sentences Ellerman on Thursday.
"As with Mr. Libby, Troy Ellerman is a first-time offender with years of exceptional work as an attorney in both the public and private sectors," Tedmon argued in the court filing, which also noted that Ellerman pleaded guilty while Libby demanded a jury trial. "Mr. Ellerman, unlike Lewis Libby, has done everything in his power to promote the judicial process in expediting this case to a prompt resolution."
Tedmon noted that Libby and Ellerman were both convicted of leaking confidential information to reporters and then lying to investigators.
But he said there was one dramatic difference between their cases: "Mr. Libby's conduct involved matters of national security, while Mr. Ellerman's conduct has no nexus to national security."
Tedmon said in an interview Tuesday that both men have suffered embarrassment and lost professions because of their crimes and that both should be treated similarly by the judicial system.
"Ellerman and Libby are both former lawyers," Tedmon said. "Both leaked information they shouldn't have."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller, who led the Ellerman prosecution, declined comment. In court papers filed Tuesday, Miller urged the judge to sentence Ellerman to two years in prison.
[Associated Press;
by Paul Elias]
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