Transcript | US v Pfc. Manning, Manning’s formal plea to the charges including excepted and substituted language, 2/28/13
- posted February 28, 2013
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.
This is a transcript of the formal plea given by lead defense counsel, Mr. David Coombs, taken at the Article 39(a) Providence Inquiry held on February 28, 2013 at Fort Meade, Maryland in US v Pfc. Manning.
Defense (Coombs)
Your Honor.
My client pleads as follows:
To ‘The Specification’ of Charge I and to Charge I, not guilty.
To Specification 1 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 2 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’15 February 2010 and 5 April 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ’14 February 2010 and 21 February 2010′. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 3 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’22 March 2010 and 26 March 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ’17 March 2010 and 22 March 2010′. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 4 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 5 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’31 December 2009 and 9 February 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘5 January 2010 and 3 February 2010’. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 6 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 7 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’31 December 2009 and 9 February 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘5 January 2010 and 3 February 2010’. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 8 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 9 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ‘between on or about 8 March 2010 and on or about 27 May 2010’ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘on or about 8 March 2010’. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 10 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’11 April 2010 and 27 May 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ’10 April 2010 and 12 April 2010′. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 11 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 12 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Specification 13 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’27 May 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘4 May 2010’. Further excepting the words ‘knowingly exceeded authorized access’ substituting therefore the words ‘knowingly accessed’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, in violation of 18 US Code Section 1030(a)(1),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 14 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ’15 February 2010 and 18 February 2010′ substituting therefore the words and figures ’14 February 2010 and 15 February 2010′. Further excepting the words ‘knowingly exceeded authorized access’ substituting therefore the words ‘knowingly accessed’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, in violation of 18 US Code Section 1030(a)(1),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 15 of Charge II, guilty except the words and figures ‘between on or about 15 February 2010 and on or about 15 March 2010’ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘on or about 8 March 2010’. Further excepting the words ‘information relating to the national defense, to wit:’. Further excepting the words, ‘with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted’; substituting the words ‘did willfully communicate’. Further excepting the words and figures, ‘in violation of 18 US Code Section 793(e),’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Specification 16 of Charge II, not guilty.
To Charge II, guilty.
To Specification 1 of Charge III, not guilty.
To Specification 2 of Charge III, not guilty.
To Specification 3 of Charge III, not guilty.
To Specification 4 of Charge III, not guilty.
To Specification 5 of Charge III, guilty except the words and figures ‘1 November 2009’ substituting therefore the words and figures ‘8 January 2010’. To the excepted words and figures, not guilty. To the substituted words and figures, guilty.
To Charge III, guilty.
See Transcript of US v Pfc. Manning, Article 39(a) Providence Inquiry, 02/28/13