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| Manning testifies at pretrial hearing; defense plans plea to some charges |
| 2012-11-29 |
| Pfc. Bradley Manning has begun testifying at his pretrial hearing about alleged abuse he suffered while held at Quantico Marine Corps base. The Army private, accused of stealing thousands of classified documents that were then published online by WikiLeaks, spoke in a clear voice at the start of his testimony. He was wearing his Army service uniform and wire-rimmed glasses. Manning's defense team wants to make the case that his harsh treatment in prison should count as time served and subtracted from whatever his eventual sentence is. Earlier Thursday, a military judge ruled that new charges would have to be filed before Manning could enter a guilty plea to some lesser charges. The defense has said it plans to have Manning plead guilty to lesser offenses and fight other charges as being too extreme. At a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade the military judge, Col. Denise Lind, noted that only some of the offenses Manning is proposing to plead to are included in the current list of charges. If he were to plead guilty to these charges he would face a maximum of 16 years in prison, loss if pay, demotion to private and a dishonorable discharge. |
| Posted by:tipper |