Posted on 03/23/2017 2:16:25 PM PDT by jazusamo
Lawyers for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl fulfilled a promise Thursday to appeal to the top military court to toss out their client’s case over disparaging comments made by President Trump on the campaign trail.
In a 314-page motion filed Thursday with the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, defense lawyers said the “unprecedented circumstances” of Trump repeatedly calling Bergdahl a traitor who should be executed constitute apparent unlawful command influence (UCI).
“To describe President Trump’s comments about Sgt. Bergdahl as merely ‘troubling,’ ‘made without consideration of their possible impact on the trial of the accused,’ ‘disturbing and disappointing,’ and ‘problematic,’ … does not begin to vindicate the important interest in fostering public confidence in the administration of military justice,” they wrote in the motion, quoting the judge in Bergdahl’s court-martial. “President Trump’s repeated public vilification of Sgt. Bergdahl must be explicitly acknowledged as apparent UCI and decisive remedial action taken.”
If the case is not dismissed, they continued, Bergdahl should face no punishment or his punishment should not include confinement.
Bergdahl is set to face a court-martial in April on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. He was captured by the Taliban and held until a 2014 prisoner swap. The latter charge carries the potential sentence of life in prison.
Trump referenced Bergdahl multiple times throughout the campaign, calling him a traitor who should be executed.
At a rally in October 2015, Trump said, "We're tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed"
“Thirty years ago, he would have been shot,” he added.
Bergdahl’s lawyers argued such comments coming from the commander-in-chief compromise their client’s right to a fair trial.
But the judge in the court-martial, Col. Jeffery Nance, ruled in February that while “disturbing and disappointing,” the comments didn’t prejudice the Army’s case against Bergdahl and so there’s no reason to dismiss the case.
Bergdahl’s lawyers then appealed to the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, where a three-judge panel ruled earlier in March in support of Nance.
The jerks are going all out for this deserter who caused serious wounds and probable death of fellow soldiers.
The slimes ask if the deserter is found guilty at court-martial there should be no punishment, 0bama must be proud.
I do not believe he was captured.
Someone’s opinions is certainly NOT a defense.
Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Trump
a simple citizen when those comments were made?
There is no scam, no deceit so low that these
vermin won’t use it to their own ends and to slander
the President.
Comments made during a campaign are categorized as rhetoric made by any man in the street.
What comments were made after Donald Trump became President of the United States?
Are there too many Obama moles in the military?
I don’t either, the deserter turned himself over to the enemy im my view.
The only question for Beau is firing squad or necktie party.
Exactly...Now President Trump was a civian like us when he made those comments.
civian = civilian
The plain facts of the case are these:
He is a traitor and he does need to be executed.
#FakeNews! DJT was not president on the campaign trail.
He just seemed like one compared to the jug-eared doofus.
Belongs on the business end of a rope.
What ever happened to a speedy trial?
This is the second time these lawyers and judges rule on a political opinion and not the law. It is completely nuts, but somehow now a,political opinion renders the law void to endorce according to them.
This is blackmail.
I hear you. These delays all fall on the shoulders of the deserter and his lawyers though, as I understand it.
They’re using every trick in the book to make the CM go away but I think it’ll happen and doubt the verdict will be in the deserters favor.
This case is taking forever.
When he’s scheduled for a firing squad?
Hope it’s televised!
One needs to be tolerant and forgiving in this case. If he’ll plead guilty and accept life in prison without parole, I’d be willing to take the death penalty off the table.
Otherwise, they should seek the death penalty.
Sounds reasonable to me!
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