Paul Courson, FORT MEADE, Maryland (CNN) — [Breaking news update at 10:39 a.m. ET]
Bradley Manning showed little to no reaction when he was sentenced Wednesday to serve 35 years in prison.
As the former Army intelligence analyst was hustled out of the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, some spectators screamed, “We’re still here fighting for you Bradley!” and “We love you Bradley!” An aunt and a cousin of Manning’s wept openly and wiped tears.
[Breaking news update at 10:30 a.m. ET]
Former Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who was sentenced Wednesday to serve 35 years in prison for leaking classified material, will be credited for the 1,294 days — or roughly three and a half years — he’s already served.
[Breaking news update at 10:24 a.m. ET]
(CNN) — A military judge on Wednesday morning sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison.
In addition, his rank is being reduced from private first class to private, and he will forfeit all pay and benefits and be dishonorably discharged.
The former Army intelligence analyst was convicted in July of stealing 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos and disseminating them to WikiLeaks.
[Initial story, published at 12:52 a.m. ET]
Bradley Manning set to learn sentence
(CNN) — A military judge plans to announce Wednesday morning what sentence she’ll give Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst who stands convicted of what prosecutors believe was the biggest leak of classified materials in Army history.
The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, noted Manning has 1,293 days — or 3 1/2 years — of detention credit to consider. Manning’s defense attorney has said his client deserves additional consideration for the harsh conditions he suffered during part of that detention.
Lind said she intends to announce a sentence at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday.
Lind convicted Manning in July of stealing 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos and disseminating them to WikiLeaks. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges against him, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act.
Prosecutors have said Manning acted as a “determined insider” in leaking classified information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and should be locked up for at least 60 years.
Manning’s lawyer contends he can be rehabilitated and should not “rot in jail.”
“There may not be a soldier in the history of the Army who displayed such an extreme disregard” for his mission, Capt. Joe Morrow, the prosecutor, said Monday during final sentencing arguments.
Manning’s arrogance, Morrow said, meant that he “felt he alone was knowledgeable and intelligent enough to determine what information was to be classified.”
Morrow asked that Manning, 25, serve a minimum sentence of six decades behind bars, saying his actions created grave risk, disrupted diplomatic missions and endangered lives.
Defense attorney David Coombs did not ask for a specific sentence, but said that his client was an excellent candidate for rehabilitation and that he should not be left to “rot in jail.”
“Perhaps his biggest crime was that he cared about the loss of life that he was seeing and couldn’t ignore it,” he said of Manning’s decision to turn over the explosive information to WikiLeaks.
“This is a young man capable of being redeemed,” Coombs said in final remarks. “The defense requests, after the court considers all the facts, a sentence that allows him to have a life.”
Manning avoided a potential life sentence when Lind rejected charges that his actions aided the enemy.
In addition to prison, prosecutors also want Manning to forfeit pay and benefits and pay a $100,000 fine.
Officials indicated a single sentence would cover all of the guilty counts.