A pardon can only be issued after the court has rendered a verdict of guilty. If the court deemed an innocent verdict...the pardon is not necessary. Frankly though...if you read the general text of a desertion deal and measure up Bergdahl....unless he says he was crazy and unable to comprehend what he was doing...that’s the only way to avoid a guilty verdict. His entire case will revolve around him proving himself nuts....as sad as it sounds. Will a couple of military officers sit there for a three-week trial and accept that? It’s hard to say. I would also say this...I doubt that the case would occur in 2015, and likely to be a spring 2016 episode....in the middle of an election period. If I were the Democrats...I’d be pretty hostile that the President’s whole game came in the middle of an election year.
Ford granted Nixon a pardon before waiting for Nixon to be charged with any crime. The Constitution gives the President the power to grant reprieves and pardons—it doesn’t say anything about the person having to be found guilty first. There may be rules within the military justice system about this but we know Obama’s attitude towards keeping the law.