Bradley Manning in civilian garb. Today a military judge ruled that the Military’s obligation to indict a defendant within 120 days does NOT mean what it says. Photo from http://www.bradleymanning.org.

This is an update on the Bradley Manning case. It was written by Nathan Fuller and you can find the full version here. Emphasis mine.

 Nathan Fuller, Bradley Manning Support Network. February 26, 2013.

On PFC Bradley Manning’s 1,005^th day in prison without trial, military judge Denise Lind ruled that the government has not deprived him of his due process right to a speedy trial. Rules for court martial require the military to arraign defendants within 120 days, and more than 600 passed before prosecutors arraigned Manning. Judge Lind denied the defense motion to dismiss charges, ruling that the delays excluded by the Convening Authority were justifiably removed from the speedy trial clock.

Judge Lind repeatedly referenced the “complexity” of the case and the “voluminous” set of documents at issue. She did say that prosecutors mishandled discovery documents and were not justified in delaying 6 days from the speedy trial clock shortly following the Article 32 pretrial hearing in December 2011. However, those caveats didn’t outweigh her decision that the government was otherwise largely diligent.

The ruling, a verbose litany of dates, delays, and correspondence, took more than two hours to read and was virtually impossible to transcribe in full. Judge Lind refuses to make her rulings, or any filings or transcripts for that matter, publicly available, so reporters are left to scramble and summarize.

You can follow the link to the rest of the article. The verdict seems to give the military a free hand to hold Manning indefinitely without trial.