US v Pfc. Manning | Defense Legal Filings, Official Response to Article 138 Complaint

• posted June 13, 2011

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UPDATE POST COURT-MARTIAL

United States v. Pfc. Manning was conducted in de facto secrecy. The public was not granted contemporaneous access to court filings or rulings during her trial. In addition to reporting on her trial, I transcribed the proceedings, reconstructed the censored appellate list, and un-redacted any publicly available documentation, in order to foster public comprehension of her unprecedented trial.

As a result of a lawsuit against the military judge and the Military District of Washington brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as my own FOIA requests and research, an official court record for US v. Pfc. Manning was released seven months after her trial. That record is not complete.

The official trial docket is published HERE and the entire collection of documents is text searchable at usvmanning.org.

*During the pretrial proceedings, court-martial and sentencing of Pfc. Manning, Chelsea requested to be identified as Bradley and addressed using the male pronoun. In a letter embargoed for August 22, 2013 Chelsea proclaimed that she is female and wished to be addressed from that moment forward as Chelsea E. Manning.

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“Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Juan M. Garcia, apparently acting under a delegation of authority, determined that CW4 James Averhart [FORMER QUANTICO BRIG COMMANDER] did not exceed his authority or abuse his discretion when he kept PFC Manning isolated for 23 hours a day in Maximum Custody and under Prevention of Injury Watch…Mr. Garcia’s [ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO THE NAVY] determination did not address PFC Manning’s amended Article 138 complaint against the current commander of the Quantico Brig, Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes. In the amended complaint, PFC Manning alleged that Chief Warrant Officer Barnes acted improperly when she ordered him to strip naked and surrender his clothing nightly.”(Source: David Coombs, Navy’s Response to PFC Manning’s Article 138 Complaint)

 

 

 

 

Special Note:

This determination was intended for the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, but he delegated authority to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Juan M. Garcia.