On the same day President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, Vietnam veteran Victor Rita reported for the start of his 33-month term.
The two cases are strikingly similar: both defendants were convicted of perjury and obstruction, both had a history of public service and both were sentenced to similar prison terms. Rita appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court, where he lost. Libby, of course, didn’t spend a day behind bars.
Rita’s attorney, Tom Cochran, a public defender from North Carolina, testified before a House Judiciary Committee hearing today on the president’s commutation power. Here, he lays out the similarities between his client’s case and Libby’s:
Later in the hearing Cochran explained that his complaint is not that Bush commuted Libby’s sentence.
“It’s an issue of fairness,” he said.
