“I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.”

So says the President. Scooter Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his conviction on four felony counts — one count of making false statements to the F.B.I., one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts of perjury. I looked up the average sentences for these three crimes to see how Libby’s sentence compared. Here are the statistics from fiscal years 2001 through 2005. (I included the code sections so you can look them up if you want.)

False Statement, 18 U.S.C. §1001(a)(2)

Average prison sentence: 11.82 months

Obstruction of Justice, 18 U.S.C. §1503

Average prison sentence: 46.33 months

Perjury, 18 U.S.C. §1623

Average prison sentence: 28.50 months

Again, Libby was sentenced to 30 months for his four felony convictions. Looks like his sentence was actually on the light side.