The Article 32 hearing which will determine the future course of a trial against imprisoned US Army PFC Bradley Manning — accused of releasing classified documents — recently began, about 18 months after he was initially arrested.\u00a0 Manning faces life in prison.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyer David Coombs, reportedly known for his “unique” defense strategies, has already tried and failed in its attempt to have the military judge replaced<\/a>.\u00a0 He also had many witnesses denied; he was supposedly going to question the reason documents were classified to begin with.\u00a0 The fact that Manning is reportedly homosexual<\/a> — serving at a time when that was illegal — is also expected to be brought up as an excuse<\/a> for his conduct.<\/p>\n Lawyers for Pfc. Bradley Manning began laying out a defense to show that his struggles as a gay soldier in an environment hostile to homosexuality contributed to mental and emotional problems that should have barred him from having access to sensitive material…<\/p>\n Several soldiers are expected to testify that Manning was gay and suffered from feelings of isolation and stress connected to bullying from other soldiers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While much of Coombs’ possible defense strategies are public<\/a>, none seem to actually deny Manning did, indeed, release\u00a0documents classified and restricted by the US military.<\/p>\n