Wounds to be a factor at Bergdahl sentencing
RALEIGH, N.C. — Seriouswounds to a soldier and a Navy SEAL who searched for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl can be used at the sentencing phase of his upcoming trial, a judge ruled Friday, giving prosecutors significant leverage to pursue stiff punishment against the soldier.
The judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, ruled that the service members wouldn’t have wound up in the firefights that left them wounded if they hadn’t been searching for Bergdahl, so their injuries would be relevant to his sentencing if he’s convicted of misbehavior before the enemy at trial in October.
The charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, alleges that Bergdahl endangered fellow service members by walking off his remote post and triggering search missions across Afghanistan. Bergdahl also is charged with desertion, punishable by up to five years.
Bergdahl’s attorneys have argued that he can’t be held responsible for a long chain of events that included many decisions by others on how to conduct the searches after he left his remote outpost in June 2009.
But the judge ruled that neither service member would have been wounded “doing what they were doing but for the actions of the accused, assuming he is found guilty.”
Nance previously ruled that the injury evidence won’t be allowed at the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial, but the sentencing phase has a different evidence standard.
Defense attorney Eugene Fidell said hewas reviewing the Friday ruling to determine his team’s next step.
Scores of military members searched for Bergdahl, who was captured within hours and would be held captive by the Taliban and its allies for five years.
The former Navy SEAL, retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch, suffered a career-ending leg wound when he was sprayed with AK-47 fire while chasing enemy fighters on a July 2009 search mission. He testified he nearly bled to death, and has had endured 18 surgeries since then.
Ona separate search mission that month, Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen was shot in the head, suffering a traumatic brain injury that left him in a wheel chair and unable to communicate.
Bergdahl told a general during a preliminary investigation that he left his post intending to cause alarm and draw attention to what he sawas problems with his unit.
Defense attorneys wanted the misbehavior charge thrown out.