{"id":796,"date":"2011-04-27T10:37:28","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T14:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=796"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:57:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:57:41","slug":"the-backwards-prosecution-of-bradley-manning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/04\/27\/the-backwards-prosecution-of-bradley-manning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Backwards Prosecution of Bradley Manning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Laperruque<\/em><\/p>\n

Our criminal system has a straightforward structure:\u00a0 First, the defendant is tried.\u00a0 Next, a verdict is rendered.\u00a0 Finally, if found guilty, a sentence is carried out.\u00a0 However, for Pfc. Bradley Manning, this process has gone in reverse.\u00a0 For his alleged role as a key Wikileaks source, Manning is being subjected to the Bizarro World Rules of Criminal Procedure, first facing imprisonment then being declared guilty, all before being given a trial.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bradley-Manning\"<\/a>This week Wikileaks stormed back into the news by\u00a0releasing a series of documents about Guantanamo Bay<\/a>.\u00a0 But while its founder, Julian Assange, continues to put forward documents with\u00a0limited threat of legal repercussions<\/a>, Bradley Manning \u2013 the Army Private accused of providing Wikileaks with confidential documents \u2013 remains in a dire situation.\u00a0 For nine months, Manning was held in solitary confinement, regularly denied sleep, and deprived basic living amenities, a detainment situation so extreme that it\u00a0raised serious questions regarding its legality<\/a>.\u00a0 Last week Manning was\u00a0moved to another facility<\/a>.\u00a0 However, his problems continue to grow.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Several days ago at a fundraiser President Obama was caught on camera describing Manning as a criminal.\u00a0 Here is the a transcript of the conversation:<\/p>\n

Obama<\/strong>: \u201cWe\u2019re a nation of laws. We don\u2019t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate. No, he\u2019s doing fine, he\u2019s doing fine; I mean, he\u2019s being courteous, and he\u2019s asking questions. He broke the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donor<\/strong>: \u201cYou can make it harder to break the law, even to tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama<\/strong>: \u201cWell, what he did was he dumped\u201d\u2014<\/p>\n

Donor<\/strong>: \u201cIsn\u2019t that just the same thing as what Daniel Ellsberg did?\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama<\/strong>: \u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t the same thing. What it was, Ellsberg\u2019s material wasn\u2019t classified in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This conversation \u2013 which has now become a\u00a0widely circulated news story<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 has raised questions about the objectivity of Manning\u2019s future trial.\u00a0 In general, this sort of comment has the potential to contaminate the jury pool and bias trial proceedings.\u00a0 However, as noted by\u00a0Veterans for Peace<\/a>, this effect is amplified here, where Manning will face a military trial, with President Obama serving as the Commander-in-Chief to the military personnel who will act as judge and jury.<\/p>\n

The bias that has been injected into Manning\u2019s future trial should be condemned for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

First, while everything we have read and seen in the media might lead us to assume Pfc. Manning is guilty, we do not know all the details of his conduct, his circumstances, and the legal rules and requirements that will determine his guilt or innocence.\u00a0 The extent of our knowledge becomes all the more questionable in a case involving sensitive information, where critical facts might remain hidden from the public. \u00a0Second, regardless of his guilt or innocence, Manning \u2013 like all Americans \u2013 is entitled to Due Process.\u00a0 This right is a pillar of democracy, and we go down a dark path by denying it to those who we presume are likely guilty.\u00a0 Finally, there are diplomatic issues to consider.\u00a0 President Obama came into office promising to improve America\u2019s image in the world after the damage caused by the detention policies of the Bush Administration.\u00a0 Yet the treatment of Manning is eerily reminiscent of those policies, and is\u00a0garnering attention abroad<\/a>\u00a0as well as at home.<\/p>\n

In a situation involving the leaking of sensitive military information, it is easy to fall into the belief that safety is the only concern and speedy punishment the only priority.\u00a0 However, it is not only in the interest of justice, but also our national welfare, that Bradley Manning be given the legal rights and protections that all Americans are entitled to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jake Laperruque Our criminal system has a straightforward structure:\u00a0 First, the defendant is tried.\u00a0 Next, a verdict is rendered.\u00a0 Finally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-cQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}