Libby Looking at 15 Months to Three Years, Experts Predict

Chief legal affairs correspondent Chitra Ragavan caught up with two legal experts who both predicted that, if he is eventually found guilty after all motions and appeals are exhausted, Scooter Libby will be sentenced to somewhere between 1 and 3 years in prison in a minimum-security facility.

The University of Richmond's Carl Tobias predicted 1 1/2 to 3 years and told Ragavan he does not think Libby has a good chance of escaping the charges. "The judge was extremely careful in trying the case, so it seems there will be few grounds for appeal," he said.

Meanwhile, Barry Boss, a former federal public defender and former cochair of the United States Sentencing Commission's Practitioners' Advisory Group, says the defense appeal could be based on the Judge precluding Libby from presenting his lack of memory defense, including his denying Libby the right to call an expert. Regarding his sentencing, Boss says Libby is likely to get between 15-21 months in prison. If that sentence is upheld on appeal, he likely will serve it in a mininum security prison. The defense will ask that Libby be released pending a decision by the appellate court. If this motion is granted, then Libby likely would not start serving any sentence for at least another year or more.

Etc.: No Libby Legacy for the Press, on USNews.com