At Libby's plea, an impressive defense team

Timing
Once the charges were read and the judge asked for his response, Libby said they would be ready for trial. The timing of the trial, and the motions hearing leading up to it, took up the bulk of the next five minutes.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald estimated it would take two weeks for the government to present its case against Libby (the exact timing would depend on pretrial motions by his attorneys).

Jeffress told the judge that it "may be a little early" to predict when the defense team would be ready for trial.

At issue is the delivery of what Fitzgerald described as "voluminous" amount of discovery documents, many of them classified. It would take at least four weeks just to get the defense team clearance to read the material.

The judge raised the issue of rules requiring a speedy trial and asked Libby is he would waive them. Libby said he would.

A date was set for the first motions hearing — Feb. 3, 2006 at 9:30 a.m. The judge said he wanted the case resolved as expeditiously as possible.

Fingerprinted
After the hearing, Libby was taken by marshals for "intake" processing. This is a procedure in which defendants typically are fingerprinted and have their photograph taken.

Court officials said it was done by the book, following the orders of Chief Judge Thomas Hogan. Officials said nothing was changed. "It was done like every other defendant processed here," said one.

But the wait — in the first floor lobby of the courthouse — lasted more than 30 minutes, and was somewhat awkward due to media attention, leading the defense team as well as Libby and his wife to pace the hallway in an attempt to avoid a scrum of reporters peppering them with questions.

Jeffress declined to say how long a trial might take. "It's too early to say," he told reporters. 

Plea, a declaration of innocence
After being processed, Libby, escorted by his defense team and wife, exited the courthouse to be greeted by a throng of reporters outside.

"In pleading not guilty," said Wells, "he has declared to the world that he is innocent. He has declared that he intends to fight the charges in the indictment and he has declared that he wants to clear his good name, and he wants a jury trial."

Back in the 4th-floor pressroom, filled with wire reporters and sketch artists putting the finishing touches on their work, a judge whose chambers are in the same hallway dropped by.

"Pretty impressive legal team," he said, "especially Wells."

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