One of the jurors on the Libby trial has been dismissed for having gained information about the case outside the courtroom. It could be as minor as seeing a headline, but that’s happened before (the Howie Kurtz mishap) — it seems like the information must have been more substantial than that to warrant dismissal.
In any case, the jury will now proceed with 11 members. Firedoglake has a no-nonsense readout of what this means, legally, as well as their usual quasi-transcript.
I’ve been mulling the Libby trial and its meaning for a week now, unable to come up with anything that feels like more of an insight than “gee, the press and the admin both looked bad.”
As for whether I think they’ll convict, I think it will depend on just how earnest the jury is. For them to convict, they’d have to be cynical enough to believe that a man (Libby) could sit in before a grand jury for eight hours and tell lie after lie after lie. For anyone paying attention to politics, eight hours of misdirection seems not just plausible but minor. This administration has been lying for almost eight years. But does the jury think that, or are they personally such decent people that Libby’s level of mendacity seems itself incredible? Let’s remember that these are the folks who wore matching heart t-shirts on Valentine’s Day.
I think he’s gonna walk.
UPDATE: The juror who’s been dismissed the art curator, best known for being the only juror not to wear the heart tee. Poor Fitz. Poor us.