More on Scooter’s coming sentencing

US News & World Report has this new piece discussing the preparation of Scooter Libby’s presentence report.  Here is how it starts:

Lewis “Scooter” Libby — the former top aide to Vice President Cheney who was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury, and lying to the FBI in March — will be a step closer to learning his fate next week, when the presentencing report for his case is due to be completed.

Libby’s lawyers and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will get their hands on the report May 15, but the document will not be publicly released–not before Libby’s June 5 sentencing nor after. The report will include a probation officer’s calculation of what sentence Libby should receive under federal guidelines and a judgment on whether the case merits a different sentence.  Lawyers on both sides can contest parts of the report, and the judge ultimately can depart from its findings, but it will serve as a kind of first draft of the eventual sentence.

Some Libby sentencing posts:

• First-cut Libby guideline calculations?
• More Libby sentencing speculation
• Comparing Lewis Libby and Victor Rita
• Could Libby’s decision not to testify now result in an obstruction-of-justice enhancement?
• Sentencing and pardon politics in the Libby case
• Will VP Cheney help Libby at sentencing?