Bradley Manning Trial Verdict Reportedly Reached

The judge presiding over the Bradley Manning trial has reached a verdict, military officials told NBC News on Monday. The Army private has been charged with 21 counts–including the most serious one, aiding the enemy–in connection with leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. If convicted, Manning could be sentenced to life in prison.

NBC News is reporting that the judge in the case, Army Col. Denise Lind, is expected to announce her decision Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET.

NBC News:

Lind started her deliberations on Friday after nearly two months of evidence and testimony about the 25-year-old intelligence analyst. Sentencing was expected to be decided starting on Wednesday.

A judge is deciding the case, not a jury, at Manning’s request.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that if Manning is convicted of aiding the enemy it will be “the end of national security journalism in the United States.”

Whatever verdict and sentence is handed down, it will be reviewed and could be reduced by the commander of the Military District of Washington, currently Maj. Gen. Jeffery S. Buchanan.

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— Posted by Tracy Bloom.