A military judge on Wednesday morning sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Manning, 25, was convicted last month of multiple charges, including violations of the Espionage Act for copying and disseminating the documents while serving as an intelligence analyst at a forward operating base in Iraq. He faced up to 90 years in prison.
According to the military, Manning is required to serve one-third of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.
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Prosecutors asked for 60 years. He faced up to 90 years. He'll end up with a dozen.
Given Mannings lack of service with distinction, the sentence is appropriate in my view. He will serve 12 years or so, and I would think with good behavior get paroled. That is appropriate punishment considering he was uniformed member of the armed forces, and not a civilian.