Criminal Contempt Could Lengthen Millers Jail Stay

[Quixote1818]

By Howard Kurtz and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 16, 2005; Page A06

Lawyers in the CIA leaks investigation are concerned that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald may seek criminal contempt charges against New York Times reporter Judith Miller, a rare move that could significantly lengthen her time in jail.

Miller, now in her 10th day in the Alexandria jail, already faces as much as four months of incarceration for civil contempt after refusing to answer questions before a grand jury about confidential conversations she had in reporting a story in the summer of 2003. Fitzgerald and Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan have both raised the possibility in open court that Miller could be charged with criminal contempt if she continues to defy Hogan's order to cooperate in the investigation of who may have unlawfully leaked the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media.

The unusual threat in the case underscores the sensitivity of an investigation that has reached the highest levels of the White House and the prosecutor's determination to extract information from reluctant journalists even though he has yet to charge anyone with a crime. What secrets Miller can unlock for Fitzgerald -- and the reasons he has so doggedly pursued her -- have been a subject of considerable mystery.

While media coverage in recent days has focused on conversations White House senior adviser Karl Rove had with reporters, two sources say Miller spoke with Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, during the key period in July 2003 that is the focus of Fitzgerald's investigation.

Continued at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071502080.html

[TahitiNut]

1. She should be glad the US doesn't torture people for information.

(I like my sarcasm laced with irony.)

[TahitiNut]

2. I hope she rots in jail if she doesn't testify truthfully.

:shrug:

[H2O Man]

3. Crimininal contempt

would change her stay from a jail to a state prison.

[TahitiNut]

4. Sadly, it'd probably be "Club Fed"

:shrug: I'd prefer seeing her and her neocon cronies in abu Ghraib.

[H2O Man]

5. I don't think so.

The judge in this case denied attempts for "home confinement," and then rejected attempts to get poor Judith in a nice comfortable "jail." I think she is facing serious consequences. Judges are funny: they don't like people who defy federal judges, including the Supreme Court.