Bradley Manning Found "Not Guilty"

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Bradley Manning found not guilty of aiding the enemy as court-martial judge reads verdict.

The planned announcement of the verdict follows an eight-week trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, where military prosecutors argued that Manning, 25, betrayed his oath and his country, and assisted al-Qaeda because the terrorist group was able to access secret material once WikiLeaks posted it.

Hours before the verdict, about two dozen Manning supporters demonstrated outside Fort Meade wearing “truth” T-shirts and waving signs proclaiming their admiration for the former intelligence analyst, the Associated Press reported.

“He wasn’t trying to aid the enemy,” said Barbara Bridges, 43, of Baltimore. “He was trying to give people the information they need so they can hold their government accountable.”

As dozens of journalists were admitted to the installation amid tight security, dogs trained to sniff out explosives searched their vehicles before they were escorted to a media room where the court proceedings were to be broadcast live on a screen.

The government’s pursuit of the charge of aiding the enemy under a theory that had not been used since the Civil War troubled civil libertarians and press-freedom advocates. They said the publication of secret defense information online could expose any leaker to life in prison and will chill press scrutiny of the military.

The government relied on a case from the Civil War to bring the charge: In that trial, a Union Army private, Henry Vanderwater, was found guilty of aiding the enemy when he leaked a Union roster to an Alexandria newspaper. Vanderwater received a sentence of three months hard labor and was dishonorably discharged.

Manning has pleaded guilty to a number of lesser charges, including unauthorized possession of information relating to the national defense.

The sentencing phase of the trial at Fort Meade outside Baltimore would begin Wednesday, if Manning is convicted. If there is a conviction, the prosecution is expected to press the judge, Col. Denise Lind, to impose the maximum sentence. The government would present in a closed session of the court the classified damage assessments conducted by government agencies after the disclosures by WikiLeaks.

Defense attorney David Coombs would also be able to offer mitigating evidence about Manning’s motives and his state of mind when he turned the material over to the group.

Manning would be likely to serve any sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Manning, of Crescent, Okla., enlisted in the Army in October 2007, hoping to fund his college education through the G.I. Bill. He trained as an all-source intelligence analyst at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and was stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y.

Source.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/judge-to-announce-verdict-in-bradley-manning-case-today/2013/07/29/e894a75c-f897-11e2-afc1-c850c6ee5af8_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

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Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity Plea from Colorado Theatre Shooter - Judge Accepts

DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado judge is expected to rule on Tuesday on whether to accept a not guilty by reason of insanity plea from accused theater gunman James Holmes, who faces execution if convicted of killing 12 moviegoers last summer.

Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. had delayed ruling on the matter until legal issues surrounding the plea were resolved.

Among those issues was a challenge to the state's insanity-defense law by public defenders. They argued that a provision of the statute that requires a defendant mounting an insanity defense to submit to an examination by court-appointed psychiatrists is unconstitutional.

Compelling a defendant to divulge information that could be used against him at trial and at sentencing violates his right against self-incrimination, they argued. But Samour upheld the law last week, setting the stage for Tuesday's hearing.

Holmes could still decide against entering an insanity plea after the judge advises him of its ramifications.

Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He is accused of killing 12 moviegoers and wounding dozens more in a gun rampage inside a suburban Denver cinema during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" last July.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the former University of Colorado-Denver graduate student if he is convicted.

Public defender Daniel King said in court last month that defense psychiatrists had a complete "diagnosis" on Holmes' mental illness.

Twice since his arrest Holmes has been hospitalized, his lawyers said, once for apparent self-inflicted head injuries and again when he was held in restraints in a psychiatric ward.

At a preliminary hearing in January when he was bound over for trial, investigators testified that Holmes spent months amassing firearms and bombmaking materials in preparation for committing mass murder.

At the same time has was assembling his arsenal, Holmes failed his oral examinations and was told by a university professor that perhaps he was not a good fit for the neuroscience doctoral program, prosecutors said.

Also expected to be decided on at Tuesday's hearing is the issue surrounding a package Holmes sent to a university psychiatrist who treated him that was delivered to a university mailroom two days after the killings.

A notebook included in the package sent to Dr. Lynne Fenton reportedly contained details of the upcoming massacre.

Holmes' lawyers have argued that the package is protected by physician-patient privilege and should not be turned over to prosecutors.

Source... http://news.yahoo.com/judge-colorado-shooting-case-expected-rule-insanity-plea-100612785.html