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Gold9472
09-29-2005, 07:10 PM
NY Times reporter Judith Miller released from jail

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12775934.htm

By John Shiffman and Steve Goldstein
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
9/19/2005

WASHINGTON - Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to identify a source, has been released, The Inquirer has learned.

Miller left an Alexandria, Va. jail late this afternoon, a jail official said.

She was released after she had a telephone conversation with the Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, sources said. In that conversation, Libby reaffirmed that he had released Miller from a promise of confidentiality more than a year ago, sources said.

The special prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, has sought to compel Miller to reveal her source to a grand jury investigating whether Bush administration officials leaked the name of a CIA covert officer, Valerie Plame.

A 1982 federal law makes it a crime to disclose the name of American covert agents.

Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, has said he believes his wife's name was leaked as part of an effort to discredit his criticsm of the Administration's build up to the war in Iraq.

Columnist Robert Novak's July 2003 column sparked the controversy by naming Plame as a CIA operative who worked on weapons-of-mass-destruction issues.

Prosecutors have interviewed President Bush and Cheney and the federal grand jury has taken testimony from senior Bush aides, including advisors Karl Rove and Libby.

In July, a federal judge ordered Miller jailed for refusing to testify about her sources before the grand jury. Miller never wrote an article about Plame.

It could not be immediately determined whether Miller has now agreed to testify.

The judge also threatened to jail Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper, but Cooper was spared incarceration after agreeing to testify at the last minute, saying Rove had given him a personal release to identify him as a source.

A spokesman for Fitzgerald did not immediately return phone calls.

Libby's lawyer, Joseph A. Tate of Philadelphia, declined to comment.

Since July, Miller had been held in suburban Virginia at the Alexandria Detention Center. According to The Washington Post, her visitors included former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, U.N. ambassador John R. Bolton and former senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.).

beltman713
09-29-2005, 07:27 PM
Did she talk, or did they just release her?

Gold9472
09-29-2005, 07:29 PM
Did she talk, or did they just release her?

I don't know... Why would she need to talk to the Vice President's office?

beltman713
09-29-2005, 07:33 PM
You got me. I don't know.

Gold9472
09-29-2005, 07:39 PM
You got me. I don't know.

I wonder if she was pardoned? Nah...

Gold9472
09-29-2005, 07:51 PM
Abrams Hopeful that Judith Miller Will Be Released Next Month, But Not So Sure

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001138944

(Gold9472: I guess she served her time?)

By Joe Strupp
Published: September 19, 2005 11:25 AM ET

NEW YORK Judith Miller of The New York Times, who's been incarcerated for two and a half months for refusing to testify about her source in the Valerie Plame case, is supposed to get out of jail late next month at the latest.

But at least one of her lawyers is not certain it will happen.

Although Miller is due to be released when the federal grand jury closes its investigation of the case on Oct. 28, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could seek an extension or ask that a new grand jury be convened.

"The prosecutor in open court talked about the possibility of convening a new grand jury," Miller's lawyer, Floyd Abrams, told E&P Monday, referring to the original sentencing hearing. When Miller was put behind bars on July 6, the sentence was for 18 months or until the grand jury ends its investigation.

"The sentence imposed by the judge would end on the 28th," Abrams said. "We're hoping that it will end then. I am just not going to go beyond that."

Abrams would not comment on previous reports of plea negotiations being done on Miller's behalf, but said he had not spoken with the prosecutor about Miller.

Miller is one of several reporters sought by Fitzgerald as part of his long-running investigation into who leaked the name of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose identity was first revealed by columnist Robert Novak in 2003. Miller, who never wrote a story about Plame's identity, had been subpoenaed along with Time magazine writer Matthew Cooper last year.

Cooper avoided jail after revealing that his source was White House aide Karl Rove, a revelation that came about after Rove consented to be identified. Miller, however, has continued to decline to name her source or sources.

Abrams said he visited Miller last Friday at the Alexandria (Va.) Detention Center, where her visitors list has reportedly included the likes of current and former senators, Times executives and reporters, and embattled United Nations ambassador John R. Bolton.

"She's about the same, It's a difficult situation," Abrams said of her condition. "She's doing the best she can in a very difficult situation."
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P