Manning sentencing: judge rejects claim leaks had 'chilling effect'

[kpete]

Source: Guardian

Manning sentencing: judge rejects claim leaks had 'chilling effect'
Judge rules that State Department testimony is admissible only if the effect came directly after leaks were published


The judge at US soldier Bradley Manning's sentencing hearing rejected some government evidence Wednesday that the classified information he disclosed through the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks had a "chilling effect" on US foreign relations.

The judge ruled that such testimony is admissible only if the effect came directly after the information was published.

She threw out State Department undersecretary Patrick Kennedy's testimony that leaked information published more than two years ago continues to hurt US foreign relations and policymaking.

The judge also has rejected acting assistant secretary Michael Kozak's testimony that the leaks had made some foreign citizens, including human rights activists, less willing to speak privately with US diplomats.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/07/manning-sentencing-rejects-chilling-effect

[iemitsu]

1. Maybe Manning will recieve a minimal sentence?

[cstanleytech]

3. Hopefully so. Of course he going to do some time there is no escaping that

because he did plead guilty to other charges and was found guilty on still others but hopefully the judge will be lenient and he will get off with only 5 - 15 years with time served and I say 5 because I honestly dont believe that there is any hope of him getting any less than that.

[elleng]

10. including 'time already spent.'

[iemitsu]

13. I hope you are right or that he gets off with time served.

Maybe the judge will give him time served plus the 164 days off for good behavior that he has already received in compensation for being tortured.
It would be the first example of actual justice we've seen in America for a long time.

[Sotf]

15. I thought he already got 20...

... for the charges he plead guilty to before the rest of it went through...

Could be wrong...

[cstanleytech]

17. He has not been tortured or atleast not the thumb screw

and waterboard type torture that involves actual physically inflicted pain to coerce a confession.
But as for the rest I wouldnt count on him getting that light of a sentence, minimum will probably be 5 years and thats a longshot as well.

[iemitsu]

18. While sleep deprivation, being stripped of one's clothing, and

being kept of suicide watch for 9 months is not waterboarding, it is recognized as torture by "the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the US Constitution.". http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33330.htm
While I may think that Bradley Manning is a patriot and not a traitor, I am not holding my breath for a light sentence. I don't see our current political climate as promoting leniency and I can't see a military judge ignoring that climate.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

2. Cool

Sounds like Manning might get off pretty easy.

[markpkessinger]

4. Telling, isn't it . . .

. . . that virtually all of the substantive coverage of the details of the trial and sentencing are covered in a British, as opposed to a U.S., daily.

[emulatorloo]

5. AP has a similar story, believe it or not.

And I have a very low opinion of the AP


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023424880

[markpkessinger]

6. Glad to hear it! n/t

[emulatorloo]

9. Now I see it is the same story, i.e. guardian picked up AP story

Hopefully US papers will do the same.

At any rate, glad to hear judge seems sane.

[Hydra]

7. I'm glad the Judge is mostly not on the same team as the Obama Admin

It's bad enough that she has to go off the skewed rules that required her to keep their flimsy charges when asked for a dismissal.

Still, this has to be embarrassing for the Admin- they made him out to be a monster, and this is actually making the case for his humanity and belief that we needed to see the info he leaked.

[elleng]

8. Hate to say/write anything 'cause my teams often lose

but I will say: I like what I've read about this judge's rulings.

[G_j]

11. word

[blackspade]

12. I have some hope now that he might walk with time served.

That would tie some of the wing nuts in knots.

[Solly Mack]

14. K&R

[Ash_F]

16. This is the same judge that gave that birther officer a stiff sentence...

...because he wouldn't serve without seeing Obama's birth certificate. I am sure there is now a lot of pressure on her, from the right, to rule harshly on this one.

Funny how 5 years is considered ''getting off easy". He has suffered more than enough for doing Americans a service.