Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term

July 3, 2007
Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term

WASHINGTON, July 2 — President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case.

Mr. Bush's action, announced hours after a panel of judges ruled that Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, could not put off serving his sentence while he appealed his conviction, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president's inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning.