Private First Class Bradley Manning’s maximum sentence for working with WikiLeaks to disclose hundreds of thousands of U.S. military documents was reduced by 46 years, the Guardian reported.
Originally, Manning was facing up to 136 years in military prison after being convicted of leaking reports of civilian and non-civilian casualties in the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Manning also leaked trove of American State Department cables and a video of a U.S. helicopter firing on journalists and civilians in Iraq. Last week, Manning was convicted of most of the charges against him, with the exception aiding the enemy.
In Manning’s motion to reduce his maximum potential sentence, his lawyers accused the court of an “unreasonable multiplication of charges,” arguing that he was essentially being charged multiple times for the same offenses.
“The Government takes what should be a ten year offense and makes it a twenty year offense and unfairly increases PFC Manning’s punitive exposure,” the motion argued.
In a rare victory for Manning’s legal team, the judge ruled in favor of all but one of its requests to combine specific charges.
Manning still faces a potential 90 years in prison.
Photo by Casey Konstantine/Flickr
