Court Martial

An Army officer recommended Thursday that Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, be court-martialed on charges of violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy. Manning, 24, is accused of sending raw field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies around the world and a video of a U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad to be published online.

A group of journalists and freedom of information campaigners are suing in federal court in Baltimore to get greater access to proceedings in the military trial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking thousands of classified documents. The suit was brought by Julian Assange, the organizer behind WikiLeaks, Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, The Nation opinion journal and other organizations. It asks for access to filings in the case, orders of the court and transcripts or audio recordings of the proceedings.

TOKYO -- A sailor charged with battering a gay shipmate to death entered no plea yesterday during the first hearing in his closely watched court-martial, as the U.S. Navy disclosed that the defendant has said he was fending off an unwelcome sexual advance.The sailor, Airman Apprentice Terry M. Helvey, 20, said he was seeking a civilian lawyer for his criminal court-martial, which appears likely to drag out many of the stereotypes and arguments against permitting homosexuals in the military.

A former Naval Academy instructor who is accused of sexually assaulting a female midshipman will be court-martialed, an academy spokeswoman said Thursday. Marine Corps Maj. Mark A. Thompson, a former history instructor at the academy, is accused of assaulting the midshipman in his Annapolis apartment following the annual croquet match between the academy and St. John's College in 2011. Adm. Michael H. Miller, the academy's superintendent, referred the case to a general court-martial after reviewing information from a preliminary hearing that concluded this month in Washington, spokeswoman Jenny Erickson said.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. --A court-martial started here yesterday against an Army officer who refused to serve in Iraq last summer because, he has said, the war is illegal. The officer, 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada, was charged in July with missing a movement and conduct unbecoming an officer after he refused to join the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry when it was deployed. Watada gave interviews and made public comments denouncing the war. Watada has said the Bush administration has falsely used the Sept.

WASHINGTON -- Less than a week before the court-martial of the country's first female B-52 pilot on adultery and other charges, the secretary of the Air Force has told associates she would consider allowing the officer to resign with an honorable discharge, senior Air Force officials said yesterday.Reeling from the negative public reaction to the prosecution of 26-year-old 2nd Lt. Kelly Flinn, the Air Force secretary, Sheila E. Widnall, is struggling to find a way to avoid what she anticipates will be the further spectacle of a high-profile court-martial, the officials said.

The U.S. Naval Academy is pursuing a new tack in its crackdown on sexual harassment and assault: prosecuting a case with a rarely used form of court-martial that might make it easier to win convictions but metes out lesser punishments for offenders. The implications are important for the Annapolis military college, which has struggled to reform a culture that a Pentagon task force has deemed "hostile" to women. Since 2001, only one midshipman out of 37 accused of sexual assault has been convicted.

Opening statements are expected today in the Fort Meade court-martial of an Army dog handler charged with mistreating detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in late 2003 and early 2004. Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, 32, could be sentenced to 16 1/2 years in a military prison if convicted. He faces charges of assault, conspiracy, cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and making a possible false statement. Another dog handler, Sgt. Michael J. Smith, was convicted in March of several counts and sentenced to six months in prison.

A drill sergeant at Aberdeen Proving Ground has been charged with indecent assault involving a former female trainee, becoming the fifth instructor at the base to face a court-martial in the Army sex scandal.Sgt. William Jones, 34, a drill sergeant with B Company of the 16th Ordnance Battalion, faces one count of indecent assault involving a former trainee, who was a civilian at the time of the alleged offense.Jones, who arrived at Aberdeen in January 1995, also faces one charge of being drunk on duty and seven counts of fraternizing with recruits that involve six female trainees.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine lieutenant colonel and a lance corporal have been ordered to stand trial on charges stemming from the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005, the Marine Corps announced yesterday. Of eight initial defendants in the case, the two are the only ones who have been ordered to court-martial. The case constitutes the largest number of civilian deaths of any alleged abuse case involving Marines in Iraq. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, a former battalion commander, will face a court-martial on charges of dereliction of duty and failing to obey a direct order in not ordering a full-scale investigation into whether the killings constituted a war crime.

Private First Class Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst awaiting a court-martial on charges of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act, will return to Fort Meade this month for his arraignment, the Army said Thursday. Manning, who is accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, appeared at the Army base in Maryland in December for a preliminary hearing. The arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 23. The decision on when and where his court-martial will be held is up to a military judge, who will be appointed by the Army Trial Judiciary.

The commander of the Military District of Washington has ordered a court-martial for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington made the decision Friday after reviewing testimony and arguments from a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade in December, officials said. There was no word on whether the as-yet-unscheduled court-martial would also be held at Fort Meade, one of three installations within the military district equipped to host such a proceeding.

An Army officer recommended Thursday that Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, be court-martialed on charges of violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy. Manning, 24, is accused of sending raw field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies around the world and a video of a U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad to be published online.

A former Naval Academy midshipman was sentenced to six months in military prison and dismissed from the Navy on Thursday after he was convicted of raping a female classmate. Midshipman 3rd Class Patrick Edmond, 20, was found guilty of raping the female midshipman in her dorm room last October and of lying to military officials. The native of Jackson, Miss., was dismissed from the academy after a seven-member military panel handed down its verdict. He was attending classes at the academy until the conviction.

Upon taking office, President Barack Obama immediately suspended the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay to give his administration time to determine the best system to try detainees suspected of terrorism and violations of the laws of war. Up until the suspension, the commissions, authorized by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, had been criticized both domestically and internationally for not protecting the rights of detainees and for being overly...

A Naval Academy midshipman accused of possessing and distributing child pornography will face a court-martial, the military college said yesterday. Midshipman First Class Michael S. Pollard, 22, of Apopka, Fla., is accused of possessing and distributing between July 2003 and August 2007 hundreds of images and videos of children having sex, according to Navy prosecutors. An Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a grand jury proceeding, was held this month at the Washington Navy Yard.

WASHINGTON - An Air Force F-16 pilot who in 2002 mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on a group of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, killing four, will not face court-martial, the Air Force said yesterday. Maj. Harry Schmidt, a decorated pilot and ex-instructor at the Navy's "Top Gun" fighter pilot school, has agreed to a non-judicial hearing for the deadliest incident involving Canadian troops since the Korean War. By avoiding court-martial, Schmidt no longer faces imprisonment. The so-called Article 15 hearing on a dereliction-of-duty charge carries a range of possible penalties - including no punishment, the loss of a month's pay of about $5,600, 30 days' confinement to quarters or a combination of those.

Lamar Owens, Navy's former standout quarterback, will face a court-martial for allegedly raping a female midshipman, the Naval Academy announced yesterday. Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the academy's superintendent, made the decision to seek the most serious form of military trial, which could send Owens to prison for life. No date was set, but Owens, a senior, might be barred from graduating next month. "Due to the severity of the charges and the time it may take for the allegations to go to trial, the accused and his family have been advised that it is unlikely that he will be allowed to graduate on time," said Deborah Goode, spokeswoman for the academy.

The Naval Academy, which has been stung by a number of high-profile sexual assault and misconduct cases in recent years, announced yesterday charges against two more midshipmen, one of whom is accused of raping a classmate in an academy dorm. Junior Mark A. Calvanico has been charged with rape, indecent assault, indecent acts and conduct unbecoming an officer, according to a news release issued by the academy yesterday. In addition, an academy spokeswoman said, Calvanico is charged with unlawfully breaking and entering with the intent to commit rape, and unauthorized absence.

WASHINGTON -- A Navy physician was sentenced yesterday to nearly four years in the brig after a military jury found that he had secretly recorded Naval Academy midshipmen having sex in his Annapolis home. The jury also dismissed Cmdr. Kevin J. Ronan from the Navy and took away his government pension. The 10-day general court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard concluded with Ronan, who turns 42 today, being escorted in handcuffs through a cold rain into a van. He declined to talk to reporters.