Lucille
05-26-2011, 06:50 PM
That would be so great!
Bradley Manning Supporters Say Obama Comments Compromise Fair Trial (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/bradley-manning-supporters-say-obama-comments-compromise-fair-trial.html)
Obama told a group of Manning supporters who confronted him, “If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law. … We’re a nation of laws.”
"We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate,” Obama said of the Manning case, according to video of the encounter posted online. “He broke the law.”
Since no court has heard evidence against Manning or rendered judgment on any charges, some legal experts say Obama’s comments could be grounds for a mistrial.
“This amounts to unlawful command influence,” Kevin Zeese, a lawyer with the Bradley Manning Support Network, told reporters Wednesday.
“How are these officers [on a jury] going to rule against their commander in chief?” Zeese said.“Any officer that finds Manning not guilty will have no chance of advancing his career after doing so.”
Zeese said military legal precedent recognizes high-level command influence on judicial proceedings as a “cancer” on the justice system and one to which judges are highly sensitive.
“The only way the military can claim that there’s no undue command influence in this case is to create a charade,” he said. “A charade where the officers involved say they’re not listening to their commander in chief.”
Bradley Manning Supporters Say Obama Comments Compromise Fair Trial (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/bradley-manning-supporters-say-obama-comments-compromise-fair-trial.html)
Obama told a group of Manning supporters who confronted him, “If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law. … We’re a nation of laws.”
"We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate,” Obama said of the Manning case, according to video of the encounter posted online. “He broke the law.”
Since no court has heard evidence against Manning or rendered judgment on any charges, some legal experts say Obama’s comments could be grounds for a mistrial.
“This amounts to unlawful command influence,” Kevin Zeese, a lawyer with the Bradley Manning Support Network, told reporters Wednesday.
“How are these officers [on a jury] going to rule against their commander in chief?” Zeese said.“Any officer that finds Manning not guilty will have no chance of advancing his career after doing so.”
Zeese said military legal precedent recognizes high-level command influence on judicial proceedings as a “cancer” on the justice system and one to which judges are highly sensitive.
“The only way the military can claim that there’s no undue command influence in this case is to create a charade,” he said. “A charade where the officers involved say they’re not listening to their commander in chief.”