Nance; Trump comments won’t affect Bergdahl sentence
The Associated Press reports that Army Colonel Jeffery Nance, the judge in the Bergdahl trial, has rejected the defense lawyers’ claims that remarks by President Trump during last year’s campaign will taint the fairness of the sentencing.
The judge did say, however, that he would consider Trump’s comments as a mitigating factor in the sentencing. Other mitigating and aggravating factors that he could consider include Bergdahl’s mental health and serious wounds to service members who searched for him.
According to NPR, Colonel Nance said;
However, Nance said he was “completely unaffected” by Trump’s remarks. The judge stressed that he was close to retirement and had no plans to seek a higher military position. He says that under the circumstances, the public would have no reason to lose faith in military justice.
Nance had wide discretion on Bergdahl’s sentence — he could potentially sentence him to anything from no jail time to life in prison. The president’s comments, he says, could have some bearing as he determines the sentence.
Shannon Allen, the wife of National Guard Master Sergeant Mark Allen, who was wounded while searching for Bergdahl and was permanently disabled from the head wound, is expected to testify today in the closing hours of the sentencing hearing.
Category: Army News
The Defense Counsel’s claim is dismissed, one more obstacle down, now let’s see him get AT LEAST 20 years in the USDB and a DD!
I hope the judge looks at that picture REAL CLOSE, does it look like the queer bastard is in fear? Him and his boyfriend look pretty chummy to me!!
Best news I’ve heard all day!
And this mitigation BS because he was a prisoner for 5 years? He wouldn’t have been a prisoner if he hadn’t deserted, so tough titty; those 5 years and the suffering he may have endured were due to his own actions and stupidity. No time off for misbehavior or negligence. Throw the F’ing book at him; confinement at hard labor for life without parole, forfeit all pay and allowances, reduction to E1 and a Dishonorable Discharge might be acceptable.
I prefer that he be hung until DRT, but I’ll take that.
Justice is a process, not a result.
That being said, it’s dragged out for far too long for him to walk away with no jail time.
Don’t think “Man-Love Thursday” Berdahl is gonna wiggle out of this one, considering the current SecDef and NCA…
Ohh yeah, as soon as Trump was elected, I’m sure Bergdahl was like that kid in the Christmas Story… only he didn’t say fudge…
You’ll shoot your eye out! 🙂
The judge did say, however, that he would consider Trump’s comments as a mitigating factor in the sentencing.
That means they will affect the sentence, in a downward direction.
By that I hope, you mean in a face down/ass up kind of way.
Agreed. And I wonder whether the mitigation is based on Candidate Trump’s comments, or President Trump’s recent reaffirmation of them. If the President had simply said “It’s an ongoing case and I can’t talk about it” – or better yet, “I expect everyone involved in this case to exercise their independent judgment, and my comments as a candidate are irrelevant”, I wonder whether Colonel Nance would have deemed it necessary to consider the candidate’s comments as mitigation.
Then, there are the dead or maimed troops who were looking for his worthless hide, mitigating it up.
At least, in a Just world it would.
“Aggravating” is the word for that (I mean, “aggravating” as opposed to “mitigating,” not that the whole case is aggravating, though it is that).
According to the Yahoo link in the OP, the wife of one wounded Soldier is giving that kind of testimony today, and she is the final prosecution witness. We’ll see how much the Defense puts on.
You’re right. My bad.
What a stupid comment by a supposed judge. Trump said some things of which the defendant and his attorneys didn’t approve, so I will give him less time than he otherwise deserves. If that isn’t a perversion of what is a mitigation factor, I don’t know what is. It is almost like the judge telling you he will admit otherwise inadmissible evidence but he will consider its inadmissibility when he weighs it as evidence. It is only a sop to one side or the other. Let’s just hope he gets at least ten years.
Are you sure you understand what unlawful command influence is?
Are you sure you understand what a mitigation factor is?
So a private citizen is not allowed to voice his/her opinion now?
I suspect Colonel Jeffery Nance is under a LOT of pressure. I also suspect that few, if any, will be happy with his sentencing.
No one (at least no one among his superiors) is allowed to “pressure” him–that is what the “unlawful command influence” issues were all about–though he might be feeling some moral pressure just from the nature of the case.
Fully agree that no one is likely to like the sentence.
Yes, it is the moral pressure that I referenced.
Nance needs to recuse himself if he cannot stand up and be counted.
We either live by the UCMJ or we call it a day.
The fact that things did NOT turn out as Bergdahl envisioned is a personal problem for HIM…
Concur, whole heartedly.
Sorry folks but the only hope for getting his balls slapped is the ” misbehavior” before the Enemy Charge.
If you go by the recent cases Desertion, even in a combat zone, isn’t going to get him diddly squat. Wassef Ali Hassoun The Marine who was thought to be MIA in Iraq and deserted to go to his family in Lebanon, then Deserted AGAIN while awaiting trial and was finally tried 10 years later only got 2 years and 5 days.
Thousands of US Service members have deserted since 2001, and very few ever serve any hard time.
I’m realistic in thinking that Berdscum will maybe serve 5 actual years when all is said and done.
Well, well, well.
Is da judge saying that words matter, and maybe that he can give them the value they are worth no matter who says them? If so, that’s a two way street, and I can live with it.
Meanwhile, yeah, he spent 5 years hangin’ with the enemy because he went there. And he didn’t even have to pay for the vacation.
Give him the max, and then reduce it by a couple of years due to mitigating circumstances. Then up it again due to other more mitigating circumstances.
He took the stand today and said he was sorry. So, all is good. /sarc.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/wounded-soldiers-wife-expected-testify-bergdahl-50805378
That picture always kills me. What a complete waste of a life.
This is what happens when folks raise their kids to be special snowflakes, instead of men and women.
It should not affect sentencing
what the POTUS thinks or does not think
UCMJ violation is all that counts………..
But as long as Nance is taking Trump’s remarks into consideration, does he also want to take into consideration Barry’s hijacking of Article 85 for his own personal agenda…
Barry parading his parents around in the Rose Garden and Rice pontificating about Bergdahl’s honorable service
when they knew he had deserted?
Ahem. The President of the United States is also the Commander in Chief of the armed forces.
In that case when he forcefully expresses an opinion on the guilt of someone still on trial, he is -no matter his intent- exercising command influence.
This really shouldn’t be that hard to understand.
I realize that fully, but I don’t recall taking into consideration anything but the facts when I sat on court martial boards.
The facts are what counts, not somebody’s opinion. If that were the case, then the UCMJ would be conditional and so would the articles of the Code of Conduct
And virtually every word he said regarding Bergdahl was prior to November 2016.
So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Per the 9PM Fox News report, he was sentenced to life in prison today.
I’m sure there is more to come later.
Good.
Well, apparently not. Too bad.
News this am said it’s still going on. Has the defense offered any testimony except B himself? Surely they will.
I heard that he bawled and choked up while on the stand “apologizing” for what happened to the Soldiers KIA and WIA while searching for him, I hope he gets life.
Only thing on FNC as of 0515 EDT is that he apologized in court.
I’ve seen nothing on him being sentenced yet. Think EX-PH2 was trolled by fake news.
One of the repeats commented that “he faces life…”, which may have been the source of the confusion.
Trump’s statements, since the judge says he isn’t paying any attention to them, are not mitigating factors in any way. If they have an effect, then yes, but since dipshit pled guilty, no new trial. He already admitted he did all that stuff. The apology should also count for nothing. He is doing it to try to cut down on how hard he gets hammered in sentencing. And his chief of staff needs to have a talk with Trump using small words and speaking slowly, on how he almost fucked this up royally.
I’m still not too sure Mr. Trump understands yet how much weight the Office of President gives his words.
May the Lord teach him … and soon.
Max jail time/revoke ALL badges/medals. Get this POS out of his CIB.
Revoking the CIB is mandatory, per Army Regs.