The Justice Department is fighting a federal judge’s decision to dismiss the court-martial sentence of former Staff Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, asking the U.S. District Court of Washington to “leave intact the orders of the military courts.”
Bergdahl’s conviction and sentence, which included a dishonorable discharge, monetary fine and demotion to private, should be preserved, the Justice Department has argued in court filings.
Bergdahl’s attorneys have also asked in court that the decision handed down by Senior Judge Reggie Walton on July 25 be altered or amended.
In July, Walton ruled in favor of Bergdahl’s argument that the military judge in his case failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest, and then Walton vacated all orders and rulings issued by the judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, when Bergdahl pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
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Bergdahl’s attorneys have asked Walton to reconsider a ruling that there was no unlawful command influence by former President Donald Trump — in light of his ruling that the Army judge in Bergdahl’s court-martial failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest.
Nance was asked on Oct. 17, 2017, when Bergdahl pleaded guilty whether he had any reasons why he might not be impartial in the case. He said at the time that he was a “terminal colonel” and that he wasn’t heading anywhere…
