SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
(Photo: Associated Press/Patrick Semansky)
Whistleblower Manning Highlights 'Overcharging' in Strategic 'Guilty' Plea
Nov 08, 2012
US Army whistleblower Pfc Bradley Manning offered his first plea deal in court Wednesday, admitting to only a selection of charges against him, in a move experts say is designed to strengthen the defense's arguments that Manning has been severely "overcharged" -- or purposefully given charges that exceed what the soldier is alleged to have done.
In the plea Manning will admit to lesser charges, such as leaking US military information to the website Wikileaks, but not to charges such as "aiding the enemy" or charges of espionage, which would land him life in prison.
Manning's civilian defense attorney David Coombs stated Wednesday:
PFC Manning has offered to plead guilty to various offenses through a process known as 'pleading by exceptions and substitutions.' To clarify, PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government. Rather, PFC Manning is attempting to accept responsibility for offenses that are encapsulated within, or are a subset of, the charged offenses. The Court will consider whether this is a permissible plea.
PFC Manning is not submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government. Further, the Government does not need to agree to PFC Manning's plea; the Court simply has to determine that the plea is legally permissible. If the Court allows PFC Manning to plead guilty by exceptions and substitutions, the Government may still elect to prove up the charged offenses. Pleading by exceptions and substitutions, in other words, does not change the offenses with which PFC Manning has been charged and for which he is scheduled to stand trial.
If the court accepts Manning's plea, however, prosecutors still have the option to proceed with the full case as charged.
Coombs also says Manning has elected to be tried by a military judge, not a jury, at his trial in February.
The first pretrial hearing of Manning's case continues Thursday at Fort Meade.
Fire Dog Lake's Kevin Gosztola hashed out the details on RT:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
US Army whistleblower Pfc Bradley Manning offered his first plea deal in court Wednesday, admitting to only a selection of charges against him, in a move experts say is designed to strengthen the defense's arguments that Manning has been severely "overcharged" -- or purposefully given charges that exceed what the soldier is alleged to have done.
In the plea Manning will admit to lesser charges, such as leaking US military information to the website Wikileaks, but not to charges such as "aiding the enemy" or charges of espionage, which would land him life in prison.
Manning's civilian defense attorney David Coombs stated Wednesday:
PFC Manning has offered to plead guilty to various offenses through a process known as 'pleading by exceptions and substitutions.' To clarify, PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government. Rather, PFC Manning is attempting to accept responsibility for offenses that are encapsulated within, or are a subset of, the charged offenses. The Court will consider whether this is a permissible plea.
PFC Manning is not submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government. Further, the Government does not need to agree to PFC Manning's plea; the Court simply has to determine that the plea is legally permissible. If the Court allows PFC Manning to plead guilty by exceptions and substitutions, the Government may still elect to prove up the charged offenses. Pleading by exceptions and substitutions, in other words, does not change the offenses with which PFC Manning has been charged and for which he is scheduled to stand trial.
If the court accepts Manning's plea, however, prosecutors still have the option to proceed with the full case as charged.
Coombs also says Manning has elected to be tried by a military judge, not a jury, at his trial in February.
The first pretrial hearing of Manning's case continues Thursday at Fort Meade.
Fire Dog Lake's Kevin Gosztola hashed out the details on RT:
US Army whistleblower Pfc Bradley Manning offered his first plea deal in court Wednesday, admitting to only a selection of charges against him, in a move experts say is designed to strengthen the defense's arguments that Manning has been severely "overcharged" -- or purposefully given charges that exceed what the soldier is alleged to have done.
In the plea Manning will admit to lesser charges, such as leaking US military information to the website Wikileaks, but not to charges such as "aiding the enemy" or charges of espionage, which would land him life in prison.
Manning's civilian defense attorney David Coombs stated Wednesday:
PFC Manning has offered to plead guilty to various offenses through a process known as 'pleading by exceptions and substitutions.' To clarify, PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government. Rather, PFC Manning is attempting to accept responsibility for offenses that are encapsulated within, or are a subset of, the charged offenses. The Court will consider whether this is a permissible plea.
PFC Manning is not submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government. Further, the Government does not need to agree to PFC Manning's plea; the Court simply has to determine that the plea is legally permissible. If the Court allows PFC Manning to plead guilty by exceptions and substitutions, the Government may still elect to prove up the charged offenses. Pleading by exceptions and substitutions, in other words, does not change the offenses with which PFC Manning has been charged and for which he is scheduled to stand trial.
If the court accepts Manning's plea, however, prosecutors still have the option to proceed with the full case as charged.
Coombs also says Manning has elected to be tried by a military judge, not a jury, at his trial in February.
The first pretrial hearing of Manning's case continues Thursday at Fort Meade.
Fire Dog Lake's Kevin Gosztola hashed out the details on RT:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.