Fort Meade:
A military judge on Wednesday rejected a request to dismiss all charges against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, paving the way for him to be tried in September over the worst ever breach of US intelligence.
Lawyers for Manning argued that the government had consistently "stashed away" crucial information that could help their client mount his defence and demanded that all 22 counts against the army private be thrown out.
But Colonel Denise Lind told a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade military base that the court had found "no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct."
"The government properly understood its obligation" to share relevant information with the defence, she said, setting September 21 as a tentative date for the start of the 24-year-old soldier's trial.
Legal analysts had said in advance that a dismissal of all the charges was unlikely.
Manning is accused of passing hundreds of thousands of military field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he served as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq.
After failing to get the case thrown out, Manning's civilian counsel, David Coombs, tried to limit his client's legal exposure by arguing for some counts to be discarded because he said prosecutors had imposed multiple charges for single criminal violations.
He cited a classified memo that indicated military intelligence logs on Iraq and Afghanistan were allegedly sent to WikiLeaks at the same time and should not be prosecuted as separate criminal acts.
As both sides manoeuvre in advance of the trial, prosecutors and defence lawyers have argued at length over whether the government has met its obligation to share pertinent information with Manning's legal team.
The judge on Wednesday rejected a motion by Manning's lawyers asking for access to transcripts of federal grand jury proceedings delving into the WikiLeaks episode. But she said prosecutors were obliged to hand over any information from the grand jury inquiry that was relevant to Manning.
The defence team won a skirmish against government lawyers on Tuesday with the judge ordering prosecutors to provide her by May 18 with reports by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies looking at the damage caused by the publishing of reams of classified data by WikiLeaks.
The defence lawyers hope the assessments might undermine prosecutors' claims that the exposure of classified documents via WikiLeaks endangered national security.
The judge also ordered prosecutors to scan hard drives from the unit where Manning worked in Iraq to search for specific software.
The defence lawyers believe a search of the computers will show that other soldiers were downloading unauthorized software, including chat services and games, on purportedly secure computers.
Prosecutors allege Manning betrayed the trust of the US government and helped Al-Qaeda by divulging classified intelligence online.
Manning's lawyers are seeking to have the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy" dismissed as they say the government has no evidence to show their client intended to help Al-Qaeda.
If convicted of the charge, known as article 104 under the military code, Manning -who has yet to enter a plea in the case -faces a possible life sentence.
The Welsh-born US army intelligence officer was transferred a year ago from a military prison at Quantico, Virginia -where he had been imprisoned since July 2010 - to another in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Manning's detention conditions at Quantico, which included solitary confinement and being forced to sleep naked, drew the attention of Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and the British government.
Lawyers for Manning argued that the government had consistently "stashed away" crucial information that could help their client mount his defence and demanded that all 22 counts against the army private be thrown out.
But Colonel Denise Lind told a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade military base that the court had found "no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct."
"The government properly understood its obligation" to share relevant information with the defence, she said, setting September 21 as a tentative date for the start of the 24-year-old soldier's trial.
Legal analysts had said in advance that a dismissal of all the charges was unlikely.
Manning is accused of passing hundreds of thousands of military field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he served as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq.
After failing to get the case thrown out, Manning's civilian counsel, David Coombs, tried to limit his client's legal exposure by arguing for some counts to be discarded because he said prosecutors had imposed multiple charges for single criminal violations.
He cited a classified memo that indicated military intelligence logs on Iraq and Afghanistan were allegedly sent to WikiLeaks at the same time and should not be prosecuted as separate criminal acts.
As both sides manoeuvre in advance of the trial, prosecutors and defence lawyers have argued at length over whether the government has met its obligation to share pertinent information with Manning's legal team.
The judge on Wednesday rejected a motion by Manning's lawyers asking for access to transcripts of federal grand jury proceedings delving into the WikiLeaks episode. But she said prosecutors were obliged to hand over any information from the grand jury inquiry that was relevant to Manning.
The defence team won a skirmish against government lawyers on Tuesday with the judge ordering prosecutors to provide her by May 18 with reports by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies looking at the damage caused by the publishing of reams of classified data by WikiLeaks.
The defence lawyers hope the assessments might undermine prosecutors' claims that the exposure of classified documents via WikiLeaks endangered national security.
The judge also ordered prosecutors to scan hard drives from the unit where Manning worked in Iraq to search for specific software.
The defence lawyers believe a search of the computers will show that other soldiers were downloading unauthorized software, including chat services and games, on purportedly secure computers.
Prosecutors allege Manning betrayed the trust of the US government and helped Al-Qaeda by divulging classified intelligence online.
Manning's lawyers are seeking to have the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy" dismissed as they say the government has no evidence to show their client intended to help Al-Qaeda.
If convicted of the charge, known as article 104 under the military code, Manning -who has yet to enter a plea in the case -faces a possible life sentence.
The Welsh-born US army intelligence officer was transferred a year ago from a military prison at Quantico, Virginia -where he had been imprisoned since July 2010 - to another in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Manning's detention conditions at Quantico, which included solitary confinement and being forced to sleep naked, drew the attention of Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and the British government.
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