Manning Verdict: Military Legal Expert’s Take – wsj.com

Manning Verdict: Military Legal Expert's Take 7/30/2013 3:33PM Transcript

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the only judge has acquitted Bradley Manning of aiding the enemy in all of the Mekong from local soldier has been found guilty of more than twenty unless that counts ... the sentencing phase of the case begins tomorrow at Fort Meade outside Baltimore ... and joining us to explain what kind of penalty Manning can expect is Eugene by Dell ... the Florence broadcast visiting the Electra in war and Yale law school ... thank you Brian much for joining us today ... is my privilege ... what did you ... role for conclusions you draw from these rulings ... well first of all I'm sure the defense camp is very pleased that the most serious offence has now been ... taken off the table for good ... of ... I think Robert Manning is still in a world of trouble ... I think he's facing me be very serious sentence even though it may not reach the Foxconn numbers ... that he could achieve had he been convicted of aiding the enemy ... but more broadly I think it's such an interesting case study here The federal government ... took on ... a junior enlisted man who ... has admitted doing some you know really wrong things ... on it ... it it had an aggressive prosecution ... it tried for ... a good thing to one of the most serious offences under the uniform code of military justice ... and it fail ... and we have an army Colonel ... saying ... the federal government failed to carry its burden of proof ... really in a way it's a triumph for the military justice system ... it now that I'm usually considered a fairly critical observer of the system a night ... I'm actually quite critical of the way ... parts of the Manning ... case of been conducted such as the pre trial confinement in such as the pathetically of it ... on satisfactory ... transparency arrangements ... but ... look that from that particular perspective here we have an individual was really became a government that its own game ... in a case that that the ... government presumably did its level best to get a conviction and so and it's quite interesting to me ... and I'm understands that this will also massively go for ... an appeal right and this will go through all the way the food chain again right ... right and let's mention what the food chain is here ... the first thing is that the best of the the sentences to announce ... the case will be reviewed by the commander of the military District of Washington ... of who is the so-called convening authority his post trial rolled ... what it is very controversial right now ... in Congress because of some sexual assault the legislation is pending ... after that general ... of the acts on the record and he can reduce the charges he can adjust the settings downward said not upwards obviously ... of the case will go to the United States Army Court of criminal Appeals in Northern Virginia that's a ... court composed of Army Jag lawyers ... and then the case could potentially go to the United States Court of Appeals for the armed forces that's a civilian court ... the judges there are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate ... by and conceivably the case could go to the Supreme Court of the United States although I have to say ... that court takes very few military cases ... and the fact that there's no conviction for aiding the enemy which is that the most hotly contested ... the allegation ... makes it much much less likely that the justices would grant certiorari ... so we can be hearing about Bradley Manning folk Whitehall a long time and the Suns can be very long ... in any case one of things I find interesting about this case is the isthe privates ... on he's an unlisted manna and and it brings back thoughts of having the England's of the maverick reps this camels sheep shears to ... a private ... process prosecuted ... he's a Friday's be prosecuted well with the offices and wine ... Audi office is not being prosecuted in that's ... that's a great question the answer is I mean I gather ... that there have been fact Minson punishments handed out for people who ... permitted this ridiculous state of affairs to take place and this is astounding ... that a junior enlisted member ... of could get access to this information and then ... the unit David out of securing areas buying of the most simple means ... um ... I gather that there have been some administrative punishments handed out ... maybe people got some bad the ... performance evaluations ... but frankly I think is a ... part of the transparency and potentially given the extraordinary interest around the world in this case ... we really ought to know ... exactly who got punished for what and I don't ... think that ... it's right for the government to say well let's all subject to the privacy act and we can release it ... if the government wanted to tell us who would have punished and and why ... it could do so because this is the case of such ... great ... public moment ... not only does it look Seiyu them all six of their slight bit despondent who thought the lowest cost on the fifth sentence and it's it's new units a coal plant ... will will hand out some little bits bits and pieces to NAB slots on the wrist for everyone else is that what you would say it looks like whether or not that's the case ... no I don't I don't think it looks like that all been instructed Manning is the perpetrator here ... adhesive is no ... mystery as to why he was punished ... more severely than anybody else inside he's the actors so I know I think that's that ... the misconception ... Arkansas writes the bundle no worries was one where we ask you when we like the Xbox analysts Trafigura much Eugene find out ... all the Yale law school we appreciate time so ... my pleasure ... I'm Simon Constable and that was digits ...

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

{{data.transcript}}

{{> share_tools}} {{> related_articles}}

Read more:
Manning Verdict: Military Legal Expert's Take - wsj.com