Lawyers for I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide, promise to fight for a public trial. Libby pleaded not guilty to charges in the CIA leak probe Thursday. Richard Beckler, a defense lawyer at the firm of Howrey LLP in Washington, D.C., looks at Libby's possible defense strategies.
MELISSA BLOCK, host: For more on how Lewis Libby and his lawyers will try to, as they said      today, `clear his good name,' we called on Richard Beckler.  He's an      attorney who's both prosecuted and defended those charged with perjury.      He also represented Admiral John Poindexter during the Iran Contra      investigation.  Beckler, who has no connection to the Lewis Libby case,      says perjury is harder to prove than one might think.</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Some prosecutors may      view it as sort of a shortcut; I'm sure that Mr. Fitzgerald is not      looking at it this way.  But it's a lot easier to prove a perjury case if      there's an extrinsic fact.  For example, somebody lies and says, `I'm 21      years old' and it turns out they're only 17, and maybe it's in a crucial      form submitted to the government.  Well, that's pretty easy to prove.      You're either 21 or you're 17.  A case like this, it's a little more      difficult because it seems to me that the perjury and the false      statements and obstruction are all dependent on statements that he may or      may not have made to a reporter...</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: Or that a reporter made to him.</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Or that a reporter made to him.  So you have to look at the      notes of the reporter, if there are any.  There's no clear written      transcript, if you will, under oath that says what he said or what he did      not say.  And there's a lot of political environment involved in this      case, so I would say it's not going to be an easy case to prove.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: And as the defense attorney, would you be thinking, you know, the      best defense here is an `I just didn't remember' case, a confused memory,      `I'm a very busy, high-government official, and this is not intentional;      it's just a pure lapse of memory'?</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Well, I'll tell you the truth, that is a defense that he      could use, `I don't remember.'  But my experience has been--is I don't      think it's a great defense.  I think there are better defenses, such as      what was actually in those notes.  If you base a prosecution on the notes      that an FBI agent takes in an interview, and you're also basing it on the      notes that a reporter takes, you're not necessarily going to have the      highest degree of accuracy.  I think that's the better line of attack,      frankly, than `I just don't remember.'</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: So you'd be working against--you'd be trying to impugn the      testimony of those witnesses--of, say, Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper, Tim      Russert.</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): That's correct.  I'm not saying I would completely      eliminate the `I don't remember' defense, but my personal feeling is that      `I don't remember' is not going to take you all the way there if you're      looking for an acquittal.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: You know, if you think about these perjury counts and the false      statements counts against Lewis Libby, there's a lot of specificity in      this indictment.  It's not just one thing he said to one investigator,      and especially when he testifies about his conversation with Tim Russert      of NBC. There are whole paragraphs of specific things that he said that      Tim Russert had told him.  Doesn't that make his defense more      complicated, that it wasn't just one throwaway line; it was line after      line after line?</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): It certainly does make it more difficult.  You know, in a      way I'm surprised, frankly, that he spoke as much as he did to the grand      jury and to the FBI.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: You are?</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Yeah.  I think that--I mean, he wanted to cooperate, which      most people do, but at some point you have to pull the plug.  By      necessity, the more you speak about a situation to more people, the      accounts tend to start to differ.  I mean, I can only go back to Admiral      Poindexter and other cases--I've had similar cases with less-notable      people.  Rarely will I allow them to speak to the FBI before.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: And what about a grand jury, though?</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Well, you have no choice in a grand jury.  If you're      subpoenaed to a grand jury, you have to testify, unless you assert the      Fifth Amendment, which Mr. Libby, of course, had a right to do.  Now      clearly, as this indictment shows, if he had never spoken to anybody, he      probably wouldn't have been indicted.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: If Lewis Libby were convicted on all counts, he could get a      30-year sentence.  Do you see any room for a plea bargain here?</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): I would say there probably doesn't seem to be much room for      a plea bargain.  After all this investigation, it'd be tough for a      prosecutor to take a plea bargain to something less, unless he had good      reason to do so. And the good reason to do so, of course, would be      whether or not Mr. Libby could testify against other officials or other      higher officials within the government, the vice president, whomever.      And I don't see that happening.  I don't know Mr. Libby individually, but      the history suggests to me that he's not going to be one to go in and,      quote, "turn in his boss."</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: Richard Beckler, thanks for coming in.</s>Mr. RICHARD BECKLER (Defense Attorney, Howery LLP): Thank you.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, host: That's defense attorney Richard Beckler, a senior partner at the      firm Howery LLP.