Bradley Manning hearing, 4/10/13: partial victory for defense, new media restrictions
Supporters rally outside Ft. Meade, April 10, 2013, calling for an end to the secrecy surrounding Bradley’s trial.
Updated below
By Nathan Fuller. April 10, 2013.
Judge Denise Lind denied one government motion and one defense motion in Bradley Manning’s one-day pretrial hearing at Ft. Meade, MD.
The government charged Bradley under the information clause (section e) of the Espionage Act, which requires prosecutors to prove that Bradley had “reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” Prosecutors then tried to lower the burden to remove that “reason to believe” requirement, but Judge Lind denied that motion, retaining the burden of proof.
That ruling will play a key role in how the defense is allowed to proceed: lawyer David Coombs will contest the argument that Bradley believed that this information would harm the U.S.
Bradley has made clear that he released information to expose “bloodlust” in America’s wars and “backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity” in its diplomacy. As he said of the State Department documents in his statement last month,
“I believed that the public release of these cables would not damage the United States; however, I did believe that the cables might be embarrassing, since they represented very honest opinions and statements behind the backs of other nations and organizations.”
Government allowed to present provocative evidence
In another ruling, Judge Lind denied the defense’s motion to preclude the government from showing evidence that Osama bin Laden received documents that WikiLeaks released. The government says it has to prove that the enemy actually received intelligence to prove that Bradley “aided the enemy,” citing case law supporting that contention.
But the defense argued that receipt is not mentioned in the ‘giving intelligence’ subsection of Article 104 itself, and that under another subsection, it explicitly states, “No response or receipt by the enemy is required.”
The defense says that the government is attempting to over-prove its own case just so that it can introduce the politically and emotionally loaded – if not destructively misleading – documents from bin Laden’s compound. The defense argued the material is not only legally irrelevant, it’s also prejudicial to Bradley and likely to distract from the essential issues of this case.
Judge Lind disagreed, siding with the government and ruling that it does need to prove that the enemy received the information for the “aiding the enemy” offense to have been committed.
The government will therefore be allowed to call on ‘John Doe,’ presumed to be a member of Navy SEAL Team 6, whose identity remains classified. The government has invoked a classified privilege on John Doe, attempting to block the defense from interviewing him before trial. It is also trying to prevent the defense from cross-examining him – which is Bradley’s due process right.
Media threatened following audio leak
Additionally, before this morning’s rulings were announced, a military representative came into the media operations center to announce a new rule for journalists following last month’s release of a recording of Bradley’s statement. Cell phones are no longer allowed into the media room. ‘This media facility is a privilege not a right,’ she said. ‘Privileges can be taken away.’
Update, 4:00 PM ET: Court is in recess until May 7-8, when the parties will hold a closed session with sample government witnesses, to determine whether the classified information that they intend to divulge at trial will require closing those sessions or whether an alternative is feasible. Alternatives include summarizing, substituting, or redacting classified information, or using code words to refer to classified names, dates, or places.
Judge Lind ruled that the government will be allowed to call their ‘John Doe’ witness in a different location, with a disguise, as long as the defense will be able to view his demeanor.
If other issues arise before May 7, those will be addressed in a brief open session before the court closes. The next open session after that is scheduled for May 21-24. Trial is still scheduled to begin June 3.
Didn’t Bin Laden watch CNN, read the New York Times, The Washington Journal, and an avast array of other western journalism?? Why are they not on trial for espionage?
What Bradley Manning and Wiki Leaks did was journalism. Our government just doesn’t recognize what it looks like any more considering the American media is under the control of The Few!
We do have FREEDOM of the PRESS in this country. Why are they able to dictate to our journalist what they can and cannot do? The American people are entitled to the truth!
Considering the merits of Bradley Manning’s case we MUST know what our government is presenting and what the defense has to offer.
This is “The People’s Case” WE ARE BRADLEY MANNING!
“Why are they able to dictate to our journalist what they can and cannot do?”
There’s an important word in that sentence: “dictate”.
Patricia,
I share your outrage.
Unfortunately, there are some situations where citizens agree to restrictions on their first amendment rights, like non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements or, in Pfc. Manning’s case, having a “security clearance.”
From CNN, 8/2/10:
“Manning had ‘top secret’ and ‘sensitive compartmentalized information’ clearance, according to a military official. Top secret is a lower-level of clearance, but SCI-level information is on a ‘need to know’ basis …”
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/02/wikileaks.suspect/
The loophole that SHOULD logically apply here is whistleblower status. But in one of the most egregious and disillusioning of Obama’s unexplained policy reversals, he’s actually made it HARDER rather than easier for whistleblowers to come forward.
It’s probably wishful (bordering on delusional) thinking to imagine that Obama might at least partially redeem himself — by granting a FULL PARDON to Manning on his way out of the White House.
I mean, if people like Richard Nixon, G. Gordon Liddy and Scooter Libby were deemed worthy of presidential pardons, SURELY Bradley Manning is too !
Also, you said: “Considering the merits of Bradley Manning’s case we MUST know what our government is presenting and what the defense has to offer.”
If that means you’re looking for more info and you haven’t already seen it, Alexa O’Brien’s blog has a TON of info, all presented so clearly even I could understand it:
http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/hack_the_constitution_usg_builds_conspiracy_in_the_trial_of_bradley_manning.html
The United States cannot win its war on Bradley Manning. Though it sent a somewhat fragile young man off to war in Iraq, it produced instead a committed humanitarian; though it has caged him without trial for three years, one of them in torturous solitary confinement, it produced instead a fine, free spirit; though it brings its full weight to bear on a man who stands but five-foot two and tips the scales at one hundred and five pounds, it simply steeled his spine; though it restricts public access to pre-trial hearings and, in contradistinction to the First Amendment, threatens the meager group of gathered journalists and witnesses by stating today that access is not a right but a privilege, it produces instead a hunger for truth.
This last suppression of our First Amendment rights was the government’s response to the leak of Manning’s clean, clear voice as he read his statement of actions and intentions, his hopes that the documents he released would stir debate about our government’s actions on behalf of we the people. The Commander in Chief for whom I voted does not want citizens to hear this solitary voice for truth and real justice because regardless of the punishment the court eventually imposes on Manning (and anything other than release for time served would be an outrage), the United States fears Bradley Manning.
The Real leak, the Big secret that’s been exposed and cannot be redacted is that Goliath fears this David. And because that’s been revealed at Fort Meade to the witnesses gathered there and the rest of us who are paying attention, the United States has already lost this war too.
John Doe’ A Tool and Puppet of the prosicution and a Fool to think anything should be secreeted away frome the Public and that the enemy is aded by it , The military and this Judge Lind only need a Mirror to see there true Enemy..If they were to look into it they could see the Enemy and it would be temselvs looking back ..
We can only gather from all this that whoever Bradley was exposing has friends in high places, so consequently Bradley is taking the rap for blowing the whistle while the individual/s that he has exposed can go on committing war crimes with impunity. Whatever the US military wants to do to Brad is surely an indication of what they would do to Julian Assange should they get their hands on him. The Bush/Cheney-era mentality still applies it seems.
A letter from the Army Command expressing a level of aggravation caused by Pfc Mannings’ actions maybe helpful to construct a meaningful separation.