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United States News

Judge Orders Chelsea Manning Released From Jail (npr.org) 104

A federal court on Thursday ordered Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who has jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, must be released. From a report: Judge Anthony Trenga of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said in court documents it was discharging the grand jury. He noted that "Ms. Manning's appearance before the Grand Jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose." The court order also canceled a hearing on Manning scheduled for Friday afternoon. The news comes a day after lawyers for Manning said she attempted to commit suicide while in federal custody. "On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, Chelsea Manning attempted to take her own life. She was taken to a hospital and is currently recovering," Manning's attorneys said in a statement. Alexandria, Va., Sheriff Dana Lawhorne confirmed that "an incident" took place at the adult detention center in Northern Virginia just after noon on Wednesday.
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Judge Orders Chelsea Manning Released From Jail

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  • by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @07:14PM (#59824360)
    The suicide attempt did a lot of damage, and the government doesn't want to pay the bill. In prison, Uncle Sam foots the bill. Out of prison, good luck. Especially if you aren't employed.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by gosso920 ( 6330142 )
      Manning has something in common with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein didn't kill himself, either.
      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        In Epstein's case, the message was "no matter what you have on us, we can destroy you anyways". The situation here seems to be a bit different.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @08:03PM (#59824540)

      Unlikely. Ms. Manning will have no problem getting donations. More likely they do not want to have her blood on their hands. It may not come off easily.

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Nope they are sheer unadultered arseholes. The attempt at suicide makes Manning an unreliable witness and the testimony questionable ie as a result of the suicide attempt Manning can not be considered of sound mind and body. So just being arseholes right to the end and the only reason for the release, the testimony would now be considered unreliable.

        • Grand Juries have different standards of evidence, since they aren't seeking a conviction (Which is also why they can compell you to speak). Its more of an open investigation than a trial, with no defence lawyers allowed , just. a prosecutor trying to convince a jury to let him indict someone (who may not even be aware of the grand jury)

        • Someone committing suicide is insane?

          Next time she should do it at the front lines, we usually hang a CMOH on people who do it there.

        • " So just being arseholes right to the end and the only reason for the release, the testimony would now be considered unreliable."

          She should have testified like Jefferson Beauregard Jeff“ Sessions III.

          I do not recall.
          I do not recall.
          I do not recall.
          I do not recall.
          I do not recall.
          I do not recall. ...

    • Well, considering Manning was in jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury and that grand jury is over, it kind of makes that Manning should no longer be held in contempt.

      • Well, considering Manning was in jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury and that grand jury is over, it kind of makes that Manning should no longer be held in contempt.

        There had already been one, a second was empaneled.

        • ...And she refused to testify there, too, and went through the whole contempt process again.

          For those of you following along at home, she's now leaving jail for the third time.

    • And if you are expected to pay $250,000 in fines, which are still being assessed.

      • Manning has a *lot* of supporters. It shouldn't be too hard to raise that cash via crowdfunding.

      • A fine which is "Due Immediately". They didn't have cause to continue holding her for refusing to testify to the Grand Jury, however now she will be in contempt of court for not paying the $250,000 fine which will likely end her up right back in jail.
    • I assure you that bureaucrats don't care about how much tax payer dollars are spent.

      The public relations damage is really what they are trying to avoid. And they don't want to pay the political price of another high profile suicide with conspiratorial fervor around it. It's much easier for them to release someone who is likely to fade away as they spiral out of control.

  • Disgraceful (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hoofie ( 201045 ) <(mickey) (at) (mouse.com)> on Thursday March 12, 2020 @07:26PM (#59824408)

    I'm no fan of Manning, Snowden or Assange [Assange especially is a monumental cowardly prick] but Mannings' treatment AFTER she served her sentence and subsequent jailing for not assisting the Grand Jury is outrageous and makes the US look like a banana republic.

    • Re:Disgraceful (Score:5, Informative)

      by Retired ICS ( 6159680 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @07:30PM (#59824422)

      Look like a banana republic? The US *is* a banana republic and has been for a number of years.

      • Look like a banana republic? The US *is* a banana republic and has been for a number of years.

        Another framing is a bloc of nations the US claimed to protect and guide under the Monroe Doctrine (now as dated as Manifest Destiny) and client United Food subsidiaries.

        The terms are like referring to a car as an automobile, but to disparage. Primitive. Not ready for democracy. The distinctions of 1st, 2nd, 3rd "world" nations were convenient to economic planning policies of how a global north would fairly and justly develop its south, but are now used as epithets to rationalize and maintain western cons

    • That can happen to any of us.
    • The hand of government is heavy. They hate it when you make them look bad so its punishment and nothing more. Whether you have an R or D in front of your name you're still playing for the same team at the end of the day.

    • You needed Manning to know that?

    • but Mannings' treatment AFTER she served her sentence and subsequent jailing for not assisting the Grand Jury is outrageous and makes the US look like a banana republic.

      That's fine the rest of the world doesn't judge considering contempt of court is a thing in pretty much every country with a legal system.

    • Assange especially is a monumental cowardly prick

      Publishing dirt on the rich and powerful is the polar opposite of cowardice, you incompetent boob.

      • Assange especially is a monumental cowardly prick

        Publishing dirt on the rich and powerful is the polar opposite of cowardice, you incompetent boob.

        Seems his time spent in the Equadoran embassy would argue against that. Courage of convictions and all, you know.

        He's a muckraker, and not much more. A brave person would dare the country he hates to put him on public trial.

        • by Uberbah ( 647458 )

          Seems his time spent in the Equadoran embassy would argue against that. Courage of convictions and all, you know.

          More dumbfuckery. While Assange was granted asylum, Chelsea Manning was tortured with solitary confinement for eighteen months for working with Assange. And after the toady Ecuadorian president kicked him out, DO TELL why Assange is still in a British gulag to this day and wasn't back in Sweden by the end of last April. So Assange is a "coward" because he didn't want to be tortured, convicted in

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Because around these parts we support freedom. Your rights online.
    • It's just part of the whole Wikileaks saga. I'm sure that we'll have more stories about Assange and Snowden in the future as well.
    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Speaks to freedom of the press, freedom of speech, what press freedom is, the role of the US court system and the security services in the USA...
      The USA escaped the UK legal system long ago but is now looking a lot like Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand with its use of laws to protect the security services...
      Thats why it is news.. the right to speak, publish, to be the press, what happens when the US security services want more and more from US courts...
    • When you see a completely off-topic SJW story, ir some sort of indignant PC bullcrap, you can almost always find msmash

    • by fred911 ( 83970 )

      Because just because the guy's got mental or physiological issues doesn't negate the public benefit of the actions he did. Without those actions (criminal or not), our government would to this day be able to negate all the unconstitutional (probably criminal) behavior that the documentation he liberated proves without question.

      His personal issues are just that, his personal issues. But with or without intent, his actions benefited the public and changed government behavior for the good of all US citizen

    • Because /. has followed her story for 15 years now. Why is it that you are now complaining?

  • by H_Fisher ( 808597 ) <[h_v_fisher] [at] [yahoo.com]> on Friday March 13, 2020 @07:07AM (#59825578)

    Hey, Slashdot editors. I posted two comments on this story yesterday: one, posted anonymously, that was a complete and utter trolling comment that did exactly what I wanted it to do - get a reaction out of people... and then, when I'd thought better of it, another, more reasoned, comment under my actual username, which (while also being a bit snide) said something that I truly mean:

    On a more serious note, I really do hope Manning finds help to overcome the mental stress of what has happened over all these years. Suicide is a sign of mental distress, even if gender dysphoria is considered normal by many today.

    Editors, if you want those of us who've been coming to this site for years to keep coming here (and noticing your advertisers, and taking part in the discussions), please answer:
    Why was my non-trolling, posted-under-my-actual-name-for-all-to-see-and-dox comment detached from this article?
    And why is my valid opinion -- a belief that Manning's transgenderism is not a legitimate case, but a gambit made to try to get him/her off his/her charges -- being removed from the conversation?

    Was my named comment removed because I had also just posted an anonymous comment that I thought better of, but had no way to delete? Or is it because my opinion didn't agree with your agenda?

    Either way, it's your sandbox, and your rules. I just want to know if my opinions, and my time, are welcome in your walled garden.

    • Yes, over the last few months, I've posted only to have the posts never appear. The posts were unoffensive, so I think it's a bug (I doubt it's due to a personal vendetta).
      • The difference in my case is that both comments (the anonymous, snide one and the named one) did show up on the site and were visible for some time last night. The one that I posted under my own name still appears on my user page, but it is no longer attached to this article, and the acts like a broken link. [slashdot.org]

        I know it's not a personal vendetta. I'm just trying to decide if it's a sitewide policy to delete comments that add to the discussion just because they're not politically correct. (I totally understan

    • You think that's bad, a few months ago Slashdot posted a story that was false. The day after they corrected that story by reposting it, editing the post itself without any reference to the original false claim and putting it at the top of the feed anew with all comments intact.

      The result was a story that makes all Slashdot posters and moderators look like raving lunatics commenting on some non-existent conspiracy theory. They changed the context and in the process completely changed how every reply looked.

      I

    • I think it's a combination of having buggy muti-servier code and tools that don't work anymore. I have the suspicion that they are just putting duct tape over most of the code now and it keeps dropping references. I have also noticed any lack of blogs talking about code improvements anymore.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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