E Pluribus Unum

You knew it was coming. Well, here it is:

An attorney who admitted leaking the confidential grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds to the media in the BALCO case, asked a federal judge for leniency yesterday in San Francisco, noting that President Bush commuted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence for a similar crime.

In doing so, Troy Ellerman joins a growing a list of defendants across the country who have made the same arguments for leniency since Bush said the former vice presidential aide’s 2½ -year sentence for leaking the name of a CIA operative was too harsh and commuted it to probation and a fine.

Ellerman’s invocation of Libby’s case was part of a much larger court filing arguing for a prison sentence of 15 months, rather than the two years federal prosecutors are seeking.