“No he won’t. Federal charges have no early release or parole. 35 years means 35 years. This means that he will be released from prison when he’s 62 years old, outside of a presidential pardon.”
The media outlets are all saying he is eligible for parole after about 10 years.
This was military court, not federal court. Eligible for parole after 1/3 of the sentence, so a little over 10 years, with time served.
Things have indeed changed.
“Manning has been in confinement for 1,294 days, including 112 days sentencing credit which he was granted when the judge found that he had been subjected to unlawful pretrial punishment during his nine months of confinement at the brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico. This time will serve as credit and reduce his sentence to just over thirty-one and a half years.
“Manning is unlikely to serve his entire sentence in prison. He will immediately be able to petition for clemency from the court martial Convening Authority Major General Jeffrey Buchanan. A clemency and parole board in the Army can look at his case after a year. After that initial review, he can then ask the board to assess his sentence on a yearly basis for clemency purposes.
“Manning has to serve a third of his sentence before he can be eligible for parole. Appeals application to the Army Criminal Court of Appeals will automatically be entered after the sentence is issued. If Manning or his lawyers do find issues to press, they can take the case to the Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces and then possibly the US Supreme Court.
There is “good behavior” credit, which can be as much as ten days for each month of his confinement.