Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 12:12:23 PM EST
Tags: Bradley Manning, Wikileaks (all tags)

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Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years today. The Government asked for 60. The maximum was 90. He will be eligible for parole after 1/3. He gets credit for the time already served. He also will get another 112 days of credit for the harsh conditions he endured during in the early days of his confinement.

In all, he received 1,294 days of credit, and will be eligible for parole in 8 /12 years.[More...]

Manning was convicted of 20 criminal charges last month, including six violations of the Espionage Act. But Lind also acquitted him of the far more serious charge of aiding the enemy, which could have sent Manning to prison for life.

...His defense team asked that he be sentenced to no more than 25 years so that he could attend college some day.

His underlying offense conduct:

In all, he copied and disseminated more than 700,000 war logs, terror detainee assessments and State Department cables from a forward operating base in Iraq.

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Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years | 54 comments (54 topical)

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All things considered... (5.00 / 4) (#1)
by Dadler on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 12:40:45 PM EST

...I think he's looking at less real time now than he probably imagined he would have. I know I am surprised.

Me too... (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by kdog on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 12:49:57 PM EST

it's still a god damn perversion of justice, but he can still have a life under the best case parole scenario...if the torture hasn't broken him irrevocably.


Indeed (5.00 / 2) (#6)
by Zorba on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:08:51 PM EST

Only four months "off" the sentence for the "harsh conditions"? How about voiding the entire sentence because of that extreme mistreatment? Not that they would ever have done that. I'm actually surprised that the judge even acknowledged, in some small way, what he endured. I wish him well, and hope that he can get some semblance of a decent life back after he is finally released.


That's actually fairly typical (none / 0) (#14)
by Payaso on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 04:47:13 PM EST

How about voiding the entire sentence because of that extreme mistreatment?

Most of the treatment that Manning has endured is fairly typical for maximum security confinement. Prison is no picnic under the best of circumstances.

Supermax is even worse.


Maximum security prisons (5.00 / 3) (#48)
by Peter G on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 07:26:46 PM EST

are awful places, but in decades of representing people convicted of crimes, a decent number of whom have been in maximum security, I can honestly say I've never had a client report conditions similar to those endured by Manning pretrial. So frankly, Payaso, I don't know what basis you have for saying those conditions are "fairly typical" of maximum security.


: To your knowledge, (5.00 / 1) (#52)
by NYShooter on Fri Aug 23, 2013 at 12:38:15 AM EST

has there been a nonpartisan, reputable review of Manning's pretrial treatment? And, if so, has it been made public?
Quite frankly, after reading some of the accounts of Manning's ordeal I just couldn't believe it. I don't mean "couldn't believe it," cognitively, but, "couldn't believe it" because it was so far beyond the pale, so far beyond anything required for security purposes, and so far into the realm of sadistic aberration that it took on "A Clockworld Orange" aura for me.
I'd be interested to hear what sort of pretzel-twisting logic was used (other than the patented and demented, "for his own safety," lie) that could justify such inhumane treatment.

We really (none / 0) (#43)
by sj on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 05:51:25 PM EST

are gruesome and vengeful and heartless as a society, aren't we?


Certainly over here the media (none / 0) (#12)
by gbrbsb on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 03:46:15 PM EST

made constant reference to the hundred or so years possible sentence so it must be rather a let down for them. It makes me wonder if what Manning did was as serious as the establishment claimed or just a lot of huffing and puffing at having been found out.


Ditto (none / 0) (#20)
by Mikado Cat on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 12:43:28 AM EST

They are saying out in 8.5 years with time served etc. Amazing to say, but it "sounds" like a fair sentence all things considered.


While it's farcical (5.00 / 4) (#3)
by fiver on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 12:50:51 PM EST

that those who tortured, kidnapped, pillaged and murdered hundreds of thousands of Arabs won't see a day in jail, I'm still very relieved. He'll most likely be a free man in his 30s, which is far better than many of us had thought would happen.

I have a comprehensive rundown (5.00 / 9) (#4)
by bmaz on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 01:24:26 PM EST

...of Manning's sentence, appeal and parole/early release framework here. In a nutshell, it is a surprising sentence, and with the extensive flexibility ofr parole and release under the UCMJ, he is in way better shape than many thought possible.

bmaz, what does this mean? (none / 0) (#16)
by Teresa on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 06:25:20 PM EST

There is no interplay between parole and good time credit as good time credit affects the adjusted maximum release date, and parole consideration is annual after a specified time frame as explained above. If a prisoner is not paroled, s/he may be released earlier than initially expected as a result of good time credit.

Does he get an early release on any "good time credit" whether or not a parole board gives him parole? That's what it sounds like to me, and I hope that's right because I don't trust a military parole board to be too kind toward him. He still needs parole to get the 8+ years, even with the good credit time, though?

I hate to celebrate anyone getting locked up 8+ (more) years, but that's sure better than what I believed would happen based upon media reports. I'm glad for that. I never expected to read the military has opportunities for parole the fed prisons no longer have. The federal prison system needs to go back to that.


: No... (5.00 / 2) (#18)
by bmaz on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 07:41:35 PM EST

Good time credit, by my understanding, does not effect parole, supervised release etc. It is simply credit off the base sentence; but he will be much more likely to be gone before that really helps him....even if, as you fear, he is not granted parole at the first or second opportunity.
The caveat is, as I hope I explained (probably better in my first Manning sentencing post) I have a little, but not that much, experience in military courts (all Air Force). My opinion that the UCMJ system is, overall, surprisingly fair and protective of rights is mine; however, overall on the substantive descriptions, I had help from very senior level counsel in the military system with much of both of my posts. I checked everything, but I had a lot of help.

Every (5.00 / 5) (#5)
by lentinel on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:06:59 PM EST

single news outlet - in one way or another - is touting this as some sort of victory for Manning - like he'll be out in ONLY 8 and a half more years.

What a herd.

Isn't there any rag out there that considers what 8 + years in one of those freaky ratholes is like - and that he will spend all of his youth there...

And how undeserved this punishment is.

while - as many are commenting - the torturers, sadists and those who gave them orders or license to do what they did - they are free with no threat of legal consequences.

This is not one my country's finest hours.

People are hoping that Obama will commute his sentence to time served. I hope so too, but given Obama's insanely feverish crusade against Snowden, I just don't see it happening.

This is not going to happen, but (5.00 / 6) (#7)
by Zorba on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:13:02 PM EST

I would really, really like to see the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee grant this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Bradley Manning. And, while they're at it, shared with Edward Snowden. Not that either of them would be able to travel to Norway to receive it.


That is not "herd" mentality (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by bmaz on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:45:41 PM EST

It is the truth. Just because you and/or I disagree with a sentence foes not make it untrue that it is a relative victory under the circumstances compared to what easily could have been.


He might be (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by Militarytracy on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 06:16:29 PM EST

I think it is possible. He seems to be a model prisoner. He has to be a good prisoner or I don't think his judge would have sentenced as she did.

Manning has many individuals interested in his early release. And so far they have served him and advised him well.


The chances of Obama commuting (4.00 / 3) (#9)
by Anne on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:40:00 PM EST

Manning's sentence are quite possibly less than zero. I can almost hear them gnashing their teeth over the possibility that Manning could get out in less than 10 years, so I fully expect that when and if he comes up for parole, there will be a government lawyer or seven arguing for denial.

And the media's calling this a victory for Manning must be really frosting their cupcakes. They don't want him to have a victory - how could they possibly want that based on how they treated him before they were made to stop?

I mean, how offensive is it, really, that the government thinks the way it treated Manning is only worth 112 days? They probably consider having to knock 112 days off his sentence as an excellent trade-off for being able to treat him the way they did for as long as they did.

And people still wonder why we are hated.

So, there's no way in hell Obama's going to look upon Manning with compassion. Just no way.


Maybe (none / 0) (#10)
by jbindc on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:45:24 PM EST

or maybe it's just lip service (or a nicer way - standard boilerplate language):

The White House said Wednesday that it would consider a clemency petition for Bradley Manning "like any other application" after the Army private was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking a cache of documents to WikiLeaks.
"There's a process for pardon applications or clemency applications, I believe they're called," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "And I'm not going to get ahead of that process. If there is an application that's filed by Mr. Manning or his attorneys, that application will be considered in that process like any other application."
Manning's attorney said shortly after his sentencing that he would ask the White House for a pardon. He added that even if the president did not do so, Obama should commute Manning's sentence to time already served.

: Imo, (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by lentinel on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 07:44:18 AM EST

pure boiler plate.
Something you could buy in a stationary store.

Bradley Manning gets (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by KeysDan on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 02:14:25 PM EST

112 days credit for the "harsh conditions he endured during the early stages of confinement." Yes, harsh conditions. The military judge, Col. Denise Lind ruled that Manning was subjected to illegal pretrial punishment during nine months at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, VA (Manning was in the Army at the time). Col. Lind found that the conditions of his pretrial confinement "became excessive in relation to legitimate government interests."

Woke up, it was a Chelsea Manning (5.00 / 4) (#25)
by Peter G on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 12:02:56 PM EST

First thing that I heard.

Joni Mitchell (5.00 / 1) (#34)
by Zorba on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 03:31:49 PM EST

You're showing your age, Peter. ;-)


Happy to say I saw Joni Mitchell (5.00 / 2) (#35)
by Peter G on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 03:42:17 PM EST

sing and play her early songs at the Second Fret, a coffee house in Philadelphia, in September (I think it was) 1967, before she was a national sensation.


: Lucky you! (none / 0) (#36)
by Zorba on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 03:53:32 PM EST

:-)

Another little factoid about the song (none / 0) (#49)
by Peter G on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 07:31:30 PM EST

is that Bill and Hillary say that they named their daughter after it, being particularly fond of Judy Collins' rather well-known version.