Convicted Fort Hood Gunman Begins Sentencing Phase

The Army psychiatrist convicted of the Fort Hood rampage that killed 13 people begins the sentencing phase of his trial Monday facing a possible death sentence for the deadliest mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation.

Maj. Nidal Hasan showed no reaction after being found guilty last week by a military jury, which will now decide whether the Virginia-born Muslim who said he opened fire on unarmed American soldiers to protect insurgents abroad should be executed.

Twelve of the dead were soldiers, including a pregnant private who pleaded for the unborn child’s life. More than 30 others were wounded in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post, where investigators collected more than 200 bullet casings.

At the minimum, the 42-year-old Hasan will spend the rest of his life in prison.

“This is where members (of the jury) decide whether you will live or whether you will die,” Col. Tara Osborn, the trial judge, told Hasan on Friday following his conviction.

She then again implored Hasan, who represented himself during the 14-day trial, to consider letting his standby attorneys take over for the sentencing phase. He declined.

Jurors deliberated for about seven hours before finding Hasan guilty on all counts. He gave them virtually no alternative, as he didn’t present a defense or make a closing argument, and he only questioned three of the nearly 90 witnesses called by prosecutors.

His silence convinced his court-ordered standby attorneys that Hasan wants jurors to sentence him to death. Hasan told military mental health officials in 2010 that he could “still be a martyr” if he is executed.

The sentencing phase will be Hasan’s last chance to say in court what he’s spent the last four years telling the military, judges and journalists: that the killing of American soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan was necessary to protect Muslim insurgents.

Hasan was prohibited from making a “defense of others” strategy during the guilt or innocence phase of his trial, but he will have more latitude during the sentencing portion. This has led legal experts and his civilian lawyer, John Galligan, to believe that Hasan could put himself on the witness stand this week.

Osborn didn’t ask Hasan whether he might testify following his conviction. But she did ask whether Hasan felt he had been subject to “illegal punishment” or been unfairly restricted since being put in custody after the shooting.

He told Osborn he wasn’t ready to answer.

“I’m still working on that,” Hasan said.

Prosecutors want Hasan to join just five other U.S. service members currently on military death row, and are planning to put more than a dozen grieving relatives on the witness stand. Three soldiers who survived being shot by Hasan but were left debilitated or unfit for service are also expected to testify.

But most will be widows, mothers, children and siblings of the slain, who are expected to tell a jury of 13 high-ranking military officers about their loves ones and describe the pain of living the last four years without them.

What they won’t be allowed to talk about are their feelings toward Hasan or what punishment they think he deserves.

Osborn told military prosecutors Friday to make sure their witnesses understood what topics were out of bounds. She was also considering excluding some family photos that could be considered duplicative, such as two different pictures of a victim in uniform.

“I understand the family members have memories of their loved ones,” Osborn said. “But that’s not part of the ruling I must make in a court of law.”

Jurors must be unanimous to sentence him to death.

No American soldier has been executed since 1961. Many military death row inmates have had their sentences overturned on appeal, which are automatic when jurors vote for the death penalty. The U.S. president must eventually approve a military death sentence.

___

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Newsmax – America

Convicted Fort Hood Gunman Begins Sentencing Phase

Convicted Fort Hood gunman begins sentencing phase

Tavis Smiley: Slow justice on sentencing

• Tavis Smiley: I’m underwhelmed at Holder’s decision to avert mandatory minimum sentences


• What took so long? Such sentences have been a disaster from the beginning, he says


• He says tough-on-crime laws made incarceration jump 800%; blacks, Hispanics bore brunt


• Smiley: Why is U.S. no longer willing to do this? Not morals, sadly — it just got too expensive

Editor’s note: Tavis Smiley is host of the “Tavis Smiley” show on PBS, Public Radio International’s “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “Tavis Talks” on BlogTalkRadio.

(CNN) — “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Why so long?

As I watched the announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder this past week in San Francisco — that federal prosecutors would no longer invoke mandatory minimum sentencing laws for certain low-level, nonviolent drug offenders — I kept asking myself: “Why so long?”

Pardon me if I am underwhelmed by the sudden turnaround, especially in light of the evidence having been overwhelming for the past 40 years that we have been on the wrong path. These mandatory minimums were a bad idea when they were first proposed. Not because I say so, but because the evidence leads to almost no other conclusion.

I came of age during America’s crack epidemic and I have seen the results of this scourge on our society in my own family, where family members have suffered, their lives affected and dreams shattered. But putting them on lockdown because a judge had no discretion whatsoever was never the answer to any prayer. Not for my family, not for the millions whose “lives have been wasted due to the drug war and the types of police tactics that have been deployed in the get-tough-on-crime movement,” as author and law professor Michelle Alexander noted.

As reported last week, amid the crack epidemic a generation ago, state and federal lawmakers had enacted a wave of tough crime measures that resulted in a nearly 800% increase in the number of prisoners in the United States, even as the population grew by only a third.

The result? An increase in the number of African-American and Hispanic men convicted of drug crimes, with black men about six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated.

Fmr Bush AG on ending mandatory minimums

Holder: ‘Vicious cycle’ traps too many

Stop-and-frisk debate part 2

‘Fuzzy’ numbers behind ‘stop-and-frisk’?

Or in the vernacular we used back in the day when fighting against these discriminatory laws, “Crack is used in the streets, cocaine in the suites.” And yet, one had to get caught with 100 times more powder cocaine than crack to get the same sentence.

I call that racist. Even in the Obama era, although President Obama initially campaigned on a one-to-one ratio in this area of sentencing, what he signed into law in 2010 was 18-to-1. Better, but not nearly good enough.

The attorney general chose the right place to make his announcement. In California the impact these draconian laws have had on prison overcrowding and related issues is front page news almost daily. The once “Golden State” has been ordered to release nearly 10,000 inmates from its overcrowded prisons by the end of the year to resolve a problem of “cruel and unusual punishment” that’s been brewing for years due to, what else? You guessed it, an overly aggressive increase in sentencing.

So, with all of this data, why so long for this major shift on crime? The answers are plentiful but the motive may be singular.

I would like to believe that it’s about a shift in our morals; that our nation has finally come to the conclusion that being the world’s leader on lockdowns is neither socially sustainable nor a just way to treat fellow citizens. But, alas, I’m not that naive.

It’s about money. Pure and simple. As a nation, we have a habit every bit as addictive as the habits of many of the folk we’ve locked away. We’ve been addicted to the drug of incarceration, and now we can no longer afford our expensive habit. Things are “breaking bad” for us too. Time for rehab.

Of course, like most addictions, this habit won’t be easy to break. But let’s hope this time around we get the help we need and come to our senses about how to better spend our dollars.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tavis Smiley.

CNN.com – Top Stories

Tavis Smiley: Slow justice on sentencing

LEWIS STILL MARCHING ON WASHINGTON – Booker wins big – Will Labrador announce run for guv? – Jacksons" sentencing today – HOOTERS BANS FILNER – Tweets can predict elections – trivia

50 YEARS LATER, LEWIS STILL MARCHING ON WASHINGTON – Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports for the New York Times:” John Lewis was the 23-year-old son of Alabama sharecroppers and already a veteran of the civil rights movement when he came to the capital 50 years ago this month to deliver a fiery call for justice on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. Lewis’s urgent cry — ‘We want our freedom, and we want it now!’ — was eclipsed on the steps that day by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. But two years later, after Alabama State Police officers beat him and fractured his skull while he led a march in Selma, he was back in Washington to witness President Lyndon B. Johnson sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

– “Today Mr. Lewis is a congressman from Georgia and the sole surviving speaker from the March on Washington in August 1963. His history makes him the closest thing to a moral voice in the divided Congress. At 73, he is still battling a half-century later. With the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy now that the Supreme Court has invalidated one of its central provisions, Mr. Lewis, a Democrat, is fighting an uphill battle to reauthorize it. He is using his stature as a civil rights icon to prod colleagues like the Republican leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, to get on board. He has also met with the mother of Trayvon Martin and compared his shooting to the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till.

– “Mr. Lewis has an answer for those who say the election of a black president was a fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream: It was only ‘a down payment,’ he said in an interview.” http://nyti.ms/19g61g4

BOOKER CRUISES TO VICTORY IN N.J. SENATE PRIMARY – Matt Friedman and David Giambusso have the story for The (Newark) Star-Ledger: “For two months, polls showed Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker and conservative Republican activist Steve Lonegan with seemingly unbeatable leads in their party’s primaries for U.S. Senate. They were right. Booker and Lonegan romped to victory tonight after brief campaigns in which they virtually ignored their opponents. The rare August election took place on a rainy day, during which a small fraction of those eligible turned up to cast their votes. ‘There are those and others who deride the vision that brought us all here together. They dismiss the idea that we can come together,’ Booker told supporters outside the Prudential Center in Newark. ‘They said that I — they say that we — are being naïve. To them I say, have you ever met us? … This is Newark, New Jersey, and we don’t do naïve.’

– “The results set up a battle between the celebrity Newark mayor and the strong-willed former Bogota mayor — whose outsized personalities inspired documentary movies about them — in a special Oct. 16 general election to succeed the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.” http://bit.ly/14KjGuD Watch Booker’s speech here: http://bit.ly/13Yjs3l

WILL LABRADOR ANNOUNCE RUN FOR GOVERNOR TODAY? – Robert Ehlert reports for the Idaho Statesman: “Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said this afternoon he will announce his future political plans during a press conference Wednesday though he gave no indication of the exact time or location. The two-term congressman from Idaho’s First District made the announcement during an Idaho Statesman Editorial Board meeting after he was asked if he would be running for Governor of Idaho. There has been speculation for months that Labrador would be among the challengers to unseat Gov. Butch Otter, who has announced his intention to run for re-election in 2014. Labrador entertained questions from the Editorial Board for nearly 90 minutes but declined to provide clues about what his political decision would be. He appeared at the meeting and introduced several new staff members — hired in the past few months — a sign, perhaps, that he was shoring up his official staff so he could begin paying more attention to something else.” http://bit.ly/13TRnu2

RUBIO’S NEW IMMIGRATION PITCH – Anna Palmer and Burgess Everett report for the hometown paper: “Marco Rubio’s back in the ring on immigration reform and he’s got a new move: Congress needs to fix the problem — or Barack Obama will. The line is meant to touch a nerve with conservatives who might dislike the idea of immigration reform, but loathe the idea of Obama taking on any major issue on his own — let alone immigration. Rubio’s goal is to re-ignite momentum behind a reform package that fizzled this summer in the House, where most Republicans have balked at the idea of a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers. The fierce House ‘no’ caucus argues its base doesn’t want immigration reform and passing it would just hand Obama a gift — and the Democratic Party millions of new voters. But if Rubio has a shot at building the urgency needed to convert enough Republicans to pass a comprehensive bill, the end of the August recess could be his best bet, since it’s a time when the news cycle is slow and lawmakers can be pressured before heading back to Washington in September.” http://politi.co/13XoblV

BLOODSHED IN EGYPT – The Wall Street Journal’s Maria Abi-Habib and Leila Elmergawi report from Cairo: “Egyptian troops staged a crackdown on protesters that turned deadly Wednesday morning in efforts to clear two antigovernment sit-ins in Cairo, a development that observers worry could plunge the already divided country further into uncontrollable violence. Ten civilians died and 98 were injured as two squares in the capital were stormed, according to Mohammed Soltan, head of the ambulance authority at the Ministry of Health. The Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the field hospitals the Brotherhood has set up in the two squares have recorded more than 300 deaths. The Egyptian Interior ministry said one police officer died and nine were injured by gunshots that were fired to disperse the sit-ins.” http://on.wsj.com/1a3xog2

McCONNELL: GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN WON’T STOP OBAMACARE – Tanner Hesterberg reports for WYMT-TV in Corbin, Ky.: “A government shutdown would not prevent the Affordable Care Act from being funded, Kentucky’s senior senator said Tuesday. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to publicly take a side as some members of his party lobby for shutting down the federal government. ‘The problem is the bill that would shut down the government wouldn’t shut down Obamacare,’ McConnell said. ‘Most of it is permanent law and not affected by that. It also wouldn’t stop the taxes. Taxes that are going in on medical devices, taxes that are going in on health insurance premiums.’ McConnell, who is also the GOP leader in the Senate, spoke to a group of healthcare workers Tuesday at Baptist Health Corbin, a hospital in southern Kentucky. During the meeting, McConnell told audience members, ‘I’m for stopping Obamacare, but shutting down the government will not stop Obamacare.’” http://bit.ly/1cAN24t

– But WaPo blogger Greg Sargent argues that McConnell actually isn’t taking sides in the shutdown debate happening in the GOP: http://wapo.st/19goysp

WHY MADISON PROJECT ENDORSED BEVIN OVER McCONNELL – In a USA Today op-ed, former GOP Rep. Jim Ryun explains why his PAC is backing insurgent Republicans Matt Bevin and Art Halvorson over incumbents Mitch McConnell and Bill Shuster: “If we want to win legislative battles, we have to win electoral wars first. Many of those start in primaries against establishment Republicans who have either become complicit in the endless expansion of the federal government or feckless in stopping its aggressive champions. Over the past year, my political action committee, The Madison Project has had the opportunity to help recruit a number of conservatives who understand the gravity of our public policy problems and are willing to fight for solutions that will fundamentally restore our constitutional republic. They are committed to promoting a new standard in Washington – one in which principled leaders actually fight and win battles for conservatives. They will do whatever it takes to shrink the size of government – including filibusters against harmful legislation in the Senate or voting against rules to consider bad legislation backed by GOP leadership in the House.” http://usat.ly/1cxoARx

JACKSONS TO PUSH FOR LIGHTER SENTENCE TODAY – Natasha Korecki and Lynn Sweet report for the Chicago Sun-Times: “Mental health issues are expected to take center stage at Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Wednesday’s sentencing hearing as his lawyers will ask a judge for leniency because the former congressman suffers from bipolar disorder. Portions of court filings made public on Tuesday reveal U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson (no relation) has already reviewed multiple documents involving Jackson’s health issues as well as difficulties the family has faced in recent years. Attorneys for the Jacksons had asked that some of the documents not be made public. But prosecutors argued that the public’s right to know only increases if the Jacksons are to make health reasons a central factor to ask for a break in sentencing.” http://bit.ly/1btzEva

KLOBUCHAR REACTS TO DOJ CHALLENGE TO AIRLINES MERGER – Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who sits on both the Judiciary and Commerce, Transportation and Science committees, sent along this statement: “Whether it’s a family looking for affordable flights or a small business-owner looking for the best frequent flier program, we need to make sure consumers have as many choices as possible at the lowest prices and that no airline or small group of airlines has a stranglehold on the market. As chair of the Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee I held a hearing to examine this merger’s potential impact on fares, fees, jobs, service and safety. At the hearing there were serious issues raised about the effect of the merger on prices in particular markets, and the Justice Department’s complaint reflects those concerns.”

**A message from POWERJobs: New jobs on our radar this week: Deputy Head of U.S.  Government Relations at Visa, Public Policy Specialist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Associate Director, Federal Relations at The Joint Commission. Interested? Apply to these jobs and more atPOWERJobs.com; finally, a career site made for YOU!**

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, August 14, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include @IPCPR_KipTalley and @swagodio.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – Both the House and Senate have adjourned for the summer recess.

SAN DIEGO HOOTERS BAN FILNER – Matt Smith and Kyung Lah report for CNN: “How bad has it gotten for embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner?  Even Hooters — the restaurant chain sometimes criticized for its scantily clad waitresses — says he’s no longer welcome.  The chain’s downtown location has joined a campaign by a local radio talk-show host, who’s urging businesses to post signs in their window that declare Filner persona non grata. The signs note that the mayor “will not be served in this establishment” and ‘We believe women should be treated with respect.’ In a statement posted on Twitter, the company said restaurant acted on its own. ‘Our Hooters Girls in San Diego have spoken. Not a corporate gig, but we support our girls,’ it read.” http://bit.ly/15BReax See the sign: http://bit.ly/17ncYtn

N.Y. MAYORAL DEBATE MOVES PAST WEINER – Maggie Haberman reports for POLITICO: “The Anthony Weiner Show hit prime time Tuesday night. The lather-rinse-repeat act of asking the former congressman and current New York City Democratic mayoral hopeful about his sexting scandal and his regrets took place on a stage and over broadcast TV with his four rivals in the first televised debate of the primary campaign. But for the first time, Weiner, currently polling in fourth place in the latest public survey in the race, didn’t suck up all the oxygen in the room. In fact, three of Weiner’s rivals seemed content to ignore him and the scandal that has dominated headlines for weeks. Only City Council Speaker Christine Quinn engaged Weiner repeatedly, invoking his scandal to say he has no standing to lecture his opponents. But for the most part, the first debate in a campaign that’s been characterized by the salacious was largely a snooze. Save for Weiner revealing during a lightning round at the end that “after midnight” he plays ice hockey, there was very little new ground covered for the former Queens congressman.” http://politi.co/16JDVYg

– A Hillary Clinton spokesman said he had no idea what Weiner was talking about when he said he knew what role his wife, Huma Abedin, would play in a Clinton 2016 presidential run. Weiner says his comments were all a joke. http://politi.co/16JGwRX

STUDY: TWEETS CAN PREDICT ELECTIONS – Alex Roarty writes for National Journal: “Who needs polls? A study published Monday reports that campaigns could use Twitter to successfully predict the winner of most races, findings that might bolster the social media service’s already robust political presence. The key measure, researchers from Indiana University found, was a candidate’s ‘tweet share,’ the percentage of total tweets about a race that mention them. The more often a candidate is mentioned on Twitter relative to their opponent, the study reported, the greater their chance for victory. The findings were comprehensive: An analysis of tweets from the 2010 midterm elections found the data correctly predicted the winner in 404 of the 406 House races. ‘We plotted it and thought, ‘Holy moly, it was a very strong correlation,’ ‘ said Fabio Rojas, a sociology professor at Indiana and one of the study’s coauthors. He added that preliminary analysis of last year’s congressional elections show similar results.” http://bit.ly/16MUkx1

GOP WANTS SOME OF LERNER’S PERSONAL EMAILS – Josh Hicks reports for WaPo: “House Republicans opened a new front Tuesday in their examination of the IRS targeting issue, demanding all work-related e-mails from the personal account of agency official Lois Lerner. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) requested the communications in a letter to Lerner, who was placed on administrative leave in May after an inspector general’s report revealed that the agency had screened groups for extra scrutiny based on their political ideology. The congressman said investigators had discovered that Lerner sent documents relating to her official duties to a personal e-mail account labeled ‘Lois Home.’ ‘This raises some serious questions concerning your use of a non-official e-mail account to conduct official business,’ the letter said.” http://wapo.st/1a3TEXk

YUCCA DECISION DEALS SMALL SETBACK FOR REID –  Niels Lesniewski reports for Roll Call: “The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion Tuesday that’s a bit of a setback to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s ongoing efforts to ensure that Yucca Mountain never becomes a nuclear waste repository. The opinion noted, however, that Congress could very well continue to use the power of the purse to deny funding for the project in the Democratic senator’s home state of Nevada. Reid has long used his clout as majority leader to ensure that federal money isn’t appropriated for the project. In a split decision, a three judge panel of the Court of Appeals held that the law requires that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission comply with a law requiring the agency to consider a permit application for storage of nuclear waste at the site.” http://bit.ly/16NDmi6

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Tom Flanagin was first to correctly answer that in the film “Advise and Consent,” Henry Fonda played a Secretary of State nominee whose nomination was tainted because of his alleged past history with communism.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Rachel Gorlin has a follow-up question: Which star of a 1980s Emmy-award winning sitcom plays a U.S. senator from Kansas in Otto Preminger’s 1962 film “Advise and Consent”?  The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

**A message from POWERJobs: Tap into the power of POWERJOBS for the newest job opportunities in the Washington area from the area’s top employers, including Visa, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and The Joint Commission. Powered by names you trust – POLITICO, WTOP, WJLA/ABC-TV, NewsChannel 8 and Federal News Radio- POWERJOBS is the ultimate career site with more than2 million job searches and nearly 17,000 applications submitted this year so far. Connect through Facebook or LinkedIn, search jobs by industry and set up job-specific email alerts using POWERJobs.com, the site for Washington’s top talent.**

POLITICO – Top 10 – Huddle

LEWIS STILL MARCHING ON WASHINGTON – Booker wins big – Will Labrador announce run for guv? – Jacksons" sentencing today – HOOTERS BANS FILNER – Tweets can predict elections – trivia

Bradley Manning-WikiLeaks case turns to sentencing

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after receiving a verdict in his court martial. Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after receiving a verdict in his court martial. Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

FILE – In this July 26, 2013 photo, Zach Callahan, right, and supporters of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, march outside Fort Lesley J. McNair, in Washington. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2011 file photo, unidentified Occupy London protesters demonstrate outside the High Court following news that the City of London Corporation has won its legal bid to evict anti-capitalist protesters from outside St Paul’s Cathedral, in London. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

In this July 30, 2013 photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Acquitted of the most serious charge against him, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning still faces up to 136 years in prison for leaking government secrets to the website WikiLeaks, and his fate rests with a judge who will begin hearing arguments Wednesday in the sentencing phase of the soldier’s court-martial.

The former intelligence analyst was convicted of 20 of 22 charges for sending hundreds of thousands of government and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks, but he was found not guilty of aiding the enemy, which alone could have meant life in prison without parole.

“We’re not celebrating,” defense attorney David Coombs said. “Ultimately, his sentence is all that really matters.”

The judge prohibited both sides from presenting evidence during trial about any actual damage the leaks caused to national security and troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but lawyers will be allowed to bring that up at sentencing.

The release of diplomatic cables, warzone logs and videos embarrassed the U.S. and its allies. U.S. officials warned of dire consequences in the days immediately after the first disclosures in July 2010, but a Pentagon review later suggested those fears might have been overblown.

The judge also restricted evidence about Manning’s motives. Manning testified during a pre-trial hearing he leaked the material to expose U.S military “bloodlust” and diplomatic deceitfulness, but did not believe his actions would harm the country. He didn’t testify during the trial, but he could take the stand during the sentencing phase.

Lisa Windsor, a retired Army colonel and former judge advocate, said the punishment phase would focus on Manning’s motive and the harm that was done by the leak.

“You’re balancing that to determine what would be an appropriate sentence. I think it’s likely that he’s going to be in jail for a very long time,” said Windsor, now in private practice in Washington.

The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, deliberated three days before reaching her verdict in a case involving the largest leak of documents in U.S. history. The case drew worldwide attention as supporters hailed Manning as a whistleblower and the U.S. government called him an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor.

The verdict denied the government a precedent that freedom of press advocates had warned could have broad implications for leak cases and investigative journalism about national security issues.

Whistleblower advocates and legal experts had mixed opinions on the implications for the future of leak cases in the Internet age.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said the verdict was a chilling warning to whistleblowers, “against whom the Obama administration has been waging an unprecedented offensive,” and threatens the future of investigative journalism because intimidated sources might fall quiet.

However, another advocate of less government secrecy, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, questioned whether the implications will be so dire, given the extraordinary nature of the Manning case.

“This was a massive hemorrhage of government records, and it’s not too surprising that it elicited a strong reaction from the government,” Aftergood said.

“Most journalists are not in the business of publishing classified documents, they’re in the business of reporting the news, which is not the same thing,” he said. “This is not good news for journalism, but it’s not the end of the world, either.”

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist, commentator and former civil rights lawyer who first reported Edward Snowden’s leaks of National Security Agency surveillance programs, said Manning’s acquittal on the charge of aiding the enemy represented a “tiny sliver of justice.”

But WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose website exposed Manning’s spilled U.S. secrets to the world, saw nothing to cheer in the mixed verdict.

“It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism,” he told reporters at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, which is sheltering him. “This has never been a fair trial.”

Federal authorities are looking into whether Assange can be prosecuted. He has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex-crimes allegations.

The material WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010 documented complaints of abuses against Iraqi detainees, a U.S. tally of civilian deaths in Iraq, and America’s weak support for the government of Tunisia — a disclosure Manning supporters said helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring.

To prove aiding the enemy, prosecutors had to show Manning had “actual knowledge” the material he leaked would be seen by al-Qaida and that he had “general evil intent.” They presented evidence the material fell into the hands of the terrorist group and its former leader, Osama bin Laden, but struggled to prove their assertion that Manning was an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Bradley Manning-WikiLeaks case turns to sentencing

Bradley Manning-WikiLeaks case turns to sentencing

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after receiving a verdict in his court martial. Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after receiving a verdict in his court martial. Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

FILE – In this July 26, 2013 photo, Zach Callahan, right, and supporters of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, march outside Fort Lesley J. McNair, in Washington. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2011 file photo, unidentified Occupy London protesters demonstrate outside the High Court following news that the City of London Corporation has won its legal bid to evict anti-capitalist protesters from outside St Paul’s Cathedral, in London. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

In this July 30, 2013 photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md. Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarizing public figures _ admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Acquitted of the most serious charge against him, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning still faces up to 136 years in prison for leaking government secrets to the website WikiLeaks, and his fate rests with a judge who will begin hearing arguments Wednesday in the sentencing phase of the soldier’s court-martial.

The former intelligence analyst was convicted of 20 of 22 charges for sending hundreds of thousands of government and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks, but he was found not guilty of aiding the enemy, which alone could have meant life in prison without parole.

“We’re not celebrating,” defense attorney David Coombs said. “Ultimately, his sentence is all that really matters.”

The judge prohibited both sides from presenting evidence during trial about any actual damage the leaks caused to national security and troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but lawyers will be allowed to bring that up at sentencing.

The release of diplomatic cables, warzone logs and videos embarrassed the U.S. and its allies. U.S. officials warned of dire consequences in the days immediately after the first disclosures in July 2010, but a Pentagon review later suggested those fears might have been overblown.

The judge also restricted evidence about Manning’s motives. Manning testified during a pre-trial hearing he leaked the material to expose U.S military “bloodlust” and diplomatic deceitfulness, but did not believe his actions would harm the country. He didn’t testify during the trial, but he could take the stand during the sentencing phase.

Lisa Windsor, a retired Army colonel and former judge advocate, said the punishment phase would focus on Manning’s motive and the harm that was done by the leak.

“You’re balancing that to determine what would be an appropriate sentence. I think it’s likely that he’s going to be in jail for a very long time,” said Windsor, now in private practice in Washington.

The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, deliberated three days before reaching her verdict in a case involving the largest leak of documents in U.S. history. The case drew worldwide attention as supporters hailed Manning as a whistleblower and the U.S. government called him an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor.

The verdict denied the government a precedent that freedom of press advocates had warned could have broad implications for leak cases and investigative journalism about national security issues.

Whistleblower advocates and legal experts had mixed opinions on the implications for the future of leak cases in the Internet age.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said the verdict was a chilling warning to whistleblowers, “against whom the Obama administration has been waging an unprecedented offensive,” and threatens the future of investigative journalism because intimidated sources might fall quiet.

However, another advocate of less government secrecy, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, questioned whether the implications will be so dire, given the extraordinary nature of the Manning case.

“This was a massive hemorrhage of government records, and it’s not too surprising that it elicited a strong reaction from the government,” Aftergood said.

“Most journalists are not in the business of publishing classified documents, they’re in the business of reporting the news, which is not the same thing,” he said. “This is not good news for journalism, but it’s not the end of the world, either.”

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist, commentator and former civil rights lawyer who first reported Edward Snowden’s leaks of National Security Agency surveillance programs, said Manning’s acquittal on the charge of aiding the enemy represented a “tiny sliver of justice.”

But WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose website exposed Manning’s spilled U.S. secrets to the world, saw nothing to cheer in the mixed verdict.

“It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism,” he told reporters at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, which is sheltering him. “This has never been a fair trial.”

Federal authorities are looking into whether Assange can be prosecuted. He has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex-crimes allegations.

The material WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010 documented complaints of abuses against Iraqi detainees, a U.S. tally of civilian deaths in Iraq, and America’s weak support for the government of Tunisia — a disclosure Manning supporters said helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring.

To prove aiding the enemy, prosecutors had to show Manning had “actual knowledge” the material he leaked would be seen by al-Qaida and that he had “general evil intent.” They presented evidence the material fell into the hands of the terrorist group and its former leader, Osama bin Laden, but struggled to prove their assertion that Manning was an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor.

Associated Press

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Bradley Manning-WikiLeaks case turns to sentencing