Here's the note from the jury:

[originalpckelly]

We would like clarification on the charge as stated under Count 3 specifically:

Page 74 of the jury instructions, "Count three of the indictment alleges that Mr. Libby falsely told the FBI on October 14 or November 26, 2003, that during a conversation with M. Cooper of Time Magazine on July 12, 2003, Mr. Libby told Mr. Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Mr. Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but that Mr. Libby did not know of this was true. (i.e., is the charge that the statement was made or about theh content of the statement itself)

Judge's note at the bottom — I am not exactly certain what you are asking me. Can you please clarify your question?


Why is this so hard to understand?

They're asking if Libby merely saying the statement was a crime or whether something inside the statement, a particular part maybe, is criminal.

[napi21]

1. I think I understand what the jurors were asking.

Earlier in the instructions, they were told that outing of a CIA officer was NOT the issue and was to be disregarded in this case. The only thing they were to consider was ifMr. Libby lied or not.

Count 3 describesa lie (that Libby told Cooper that reporters were telling the admin about Plame) but Libby said he didn't KNOW if that was true. I can see a juror(s) wondering if the lietjeu were to judge was that "reporters were telling the admin", or was it that Libby claimed not to know if it was true.

[Czolgosz]

2. The jurors asked "Is the charge that the statement was made or is it about the content of the

statement itself?"

Later, the jurors wrote, "After further discussion, we are clear on what we need to do. No further clarification needed. Thank you. We apologize."

To me, this suggests that the jurors were most likely confused whether they were being asked to determine if Libby knowingly lied to Cooper and then the jurors later realized that the question is whether Libby knowingly lied to the FBI about his conversation with Cooper.

It is difficuly to see how this bodes well for Libby.