Chelsea Manning Petitions President Obama for Shortened Sentence

Chelsea Manning, who admitted leaking secret military and government documents to WikiLeaks, has petitioned the president for a shorter prison sentence.

Manning asked President Obama to commute her current 35-year sentence down to the time she has already served, a little more than six years. Manning’s sentence is much longer than those who have been convicted of leaking secrets in the past. The New York Times obtained a copy of her petition which included a statement from Manning. She explained that while she takes full responsibility for her actions, which she called “wrong,” she did not “intend to harm the interests of the United States.”

“The sole relief I am asking for is to be released from military prison after serving six years of confinement as a person who did not intend to harm the interests of the United States or harm any service members,” Manning wrote.

The New York Times reports several people issued statements on behalf of Manning in the petition, including Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and former military commissions chief prosecutor Morris Davis.

[NYT]