Former Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl scored a legal victory in his effort to erase his court-martial conviction and sentence.
More than a decade after deserting his post in Afghanistan, leading to his capture by the Taliban. And the loss of six U.S. soldiers who died searching for him.
After exhausting his appeals in military courts, Bergdahl turned to the civilian judicial system. Senior Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled partially in favor of the motion to dismiss Bergdahl's case last month.
However, Walton rejected Bergdahl's claims that comments by former President Donald Trump and former Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., influenced his case.
The Military Times reports:
On the campaign trail, then-candidate Trump described Bergdahl as a “dirty rotten traitor,” while McCain threatened congressional hearings if Bergdahl did not receive punishment, according to a report first published by Military.com.
Attorneys for Bergdahl also argued that the presiding judge over the former soldier's case failed to disclose his employment plans following his retirement from the military court system. Jeffery Nance, then an Army colonel, did not reveal he had applied for a position as an immigration judge for the Justice Department, only stating he intended to retire.
Lawyers with the Justice Department's Civil Division argued those details were too little too late, given that Bergdahl's attorneys waited two years after Nance had been sworn in to cite his failure to disclose his plans.
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In 2014, the U.S. government finalized a prisoner swap of five Taliban leaders in exchange for Bergdahl.
The detainees included Mohammad Fazl, the Taliban's deputy minister of defense, Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban minister of interior affairs, and Norullah Noori, a senior military commander wanted by the U.N. for possible war crimes.
Sen. McCain and U.S. diplomat James Franklin Jeffrey described the Taliban Five, as the detainees came to be known, as “the hardest of the hard-core.” Official records deemed them a “high” risk to the United States and recommended “continued detention.”
Additional details on Judge Walton's ruling will follow in the next two months.
In a brief statement, Walton noted it might not be the final chapter of Bergdahl's legal journey.
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Still a traitor,however u look at it.Cost 6 brothers their lives.
Since when do civilian courts have ANY jurisdiction over Courts Martial?
Why can’t fu?kfaces just go away
Why have laws when we do not follow through? Bergdahl is a traitor and is responsible for SIX American Troops death while they were looking for him. Why the hell are we worried about this traitor. I am a Vietnam Veteran, my Father is a WWII Veteran, my Daughter is a US Air Force Veteran and THREE Grandchildren and FOUR Nephews on active duty. Traitors are traitors and should be treated as such. Why does the Civilian Courts have any standing in this case? What a slap in the face to the Families of the SIX dead Service Members as well as every Veteran, past, present and future.
how is it that he’s still alive?
Bergdahl is a insult to all who have worn the uniform.
Judge Reggie Walton has no jurisdiction over our military courts and should have dismissed this traitor
case from the beginning.