THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013
NATIONAL
PAGE 7A
Manning sentenced to 35 years for leak
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT MEADE, Md. — Army Pfc. Bradley Manning stood at attention in his crisp dress uniform Wednesday and learned the price he will pay for spilling an unprecedented trove of government secrets up to 35 years in prison, the stiffest punishment ever handed out in the U.S. for leaking to the media.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Aug 21, before a sentencing hearing in his court martial. The military judge oversees Manning's trial sentenced Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for giving US secrets to Wikileaks.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Flanked by his lawyers, Manning, 25, showed no reaction as military judge Col. Denise Lind announced the sentence without explanation in a proceeding that lasted just a few minutes.
A gasp could be heard among the spectators, and one woman buried her face in her hands. Then, as guards hurried Manning out of the courtroom, about a half-dozen supporters shouted from the back: "We'll keep fighting for you, Bradlew!" and "You're our hero!"
With good behavior and credit for the more than three years he has been held, Manning could be out in as little as seven years, said his lawyer, David Coombs. The soldier was also demoted and will be dishonorably discharged.
The sentencing fired up the long-running debate over whether Manning was a whistleblower or a traitor for giving more than 700,000 classified military and diplomatic documents, plus battlefield footage, to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. By volume alone, it was
the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history, bigger even than the Pentagon Papers a generation ago.
In a statement from London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange decried Manning's trial and conviction as "an affront to basic concepts of Western justice." But he called the sentence a "significant tactical victory" because the soldier could be paroled so quickly.
Manning could have gotten 90 years behind bars. Prosecutors asked for at least 60 as a warning to other soldiers, while Manning's lawyer suggested he get no more than 25, because some of the documents he leaked will be declassified by then.
Military prosecutors had no immediate comment on the sentence, and the White House said only that any request for a presidential parion would be considered "like any other application."
The case was part of an unprecedented string of prosecutions brought by the U.S. government in a crackdown on security breaches. The Obama administration has charged seven people with leaking to the media; only three people were prosecuted under all previous presidents combined.
Manning, an Army intelligence analyst from Crescent, Okla., digitally copied and released Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables while
working in 2010 in Iraq. He also leaked video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that mistakenly killed at least nine people, including a Reuters photographer.
Manning said he did it to expose the U.S. military's "bloodlust" and generate debate over the wars and U.S. policy.
He was found guilty by the judge last month of 20 crimes, including six violations of the Espionage
Act, but was acquitted of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, which carried a potential life in prison without parole.
Whistleblower advocates said the punishment was unprecedented in its severity. Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists said "no other leak case comes close."
The American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International
and condemned the sentence.
Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson
"When a soldier who shared information with the press and public is punished far more harshly than others who tortured prisoners and killed civilians, something is seriously wrong with our justice system," said Ben Wizner, head of the ACLU's speech and technology project.
Institute think tank and author of the book "Necessary Secrets," welcomed Manning's punishment.
"The sentence is a tragedy for Bradley Manning, but it is one he brought upon himself," he said. "It will certainly serve to bolster deterrence against other potential leakers."
Coombs said Manning will seek a presidential pardon or a commuted sentence.
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friends mourn slain man
Twenty-three-year-old Aaron Boyer, who lives nearby, sits by the memorial for slain Australian Christopher Lane while out for a run in Duncan, Okla., Aug. 20. Lane, who was on a baseball scholarship at East Central University in Ada, Okla., was in Duncan, Okla., visiting his girlfriend, when he was shot and killed Aug. 16.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADA, Okla. — Chris Lane traveled from Australia to the United States for the love of the game—and the opportunity to secure a college degree while playing America's pastime. On the small campus of East Central University in Oklahoma, he made a home for himself in class and on the baseball field.
The 22-year-old Melbourne native, who hoped to work in real estate when he graduated next May, was fatally shot in the back last week while jogging along a tree-lined street near his girlfriend's home in Duncan. Three boys—ages 15, 16 and 17 — are charged with what prosecutors call a thrill killing, while those who knew Lane in the U.S. and Australia are trying to come to grips with the random attack.
"He achieved a lot for a 22-year-old," his father, Peter Lane, told The
Telegraph in Sydney, Australia. "He gave up a lot to follow his dream."
Lane started 14 games at catcher last year, and was entering his senior year. His coach, Dino Rosato, said in a statement that Lane was a joy to coach, and other teammates looked to him for advice and support. He hit .250 for the ECU Tigers last season, a figure that's OK but not a number that would attract scouts from professional clubs — but that's not what Lane was also.
Lane went for a jog Friday afternoon and was shot once in the back. He died along a road on Duncan's well-to-do north side. Prosecutors said the three teens, from the gutters part of town, chose Lane at random and that one of the boys "thinks it's all a joke."
"Chris was talented enough to play baseball, but he used that as a pathway to a collegiate education," Athletic Director Jeff Williams said on a tribute page.
On Tuesday, Chancey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards, Jr., 15, of Duncan, were charged with first-degree murder. Under Oklahoma law they will be tried as adults. Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, of Duncan, was charged with using a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. He is considered a youthful offender but will be tried in adult court.
Police have said the 17-year-old told authorities the boys were "bored" and decided to kill someone for the "fun of it."
Autopsy results released Wednesday say Lane died from a "penetrating gunshot wound to back."
"Not a lot of people would move half way around the world to get an education and build a better life but he did," Malchar said.
Teammate Sam Malchar said Lane was someone who could always be counted on.
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