Well, That's Mighty White of Them

The judge at the Bradley Manning trial has issued a ruling that reduces his maximum potential sentence from 136 years:

Bradley Manning's maximum possible sentence for leaking state secrets to WikiLeaks was cut from 136 years to a possible 90 years on Tuesday, marking a rare victory for the defence in a trial that has so far swung almost exclusively in the US government's direction.

The judge presiding over the court martial, Colonel Denise Lind, granted the most elements of a defence motion calling for some of the 20 counts for which Manning has been found guilty to be merged on grounds that they repeat each other. In the motion, defence lawyers argued that the government had taken single acts of criminality and split them into several separate violations – thus multiplying the possible sentence.

"By dividing this ongoing act into two separate specifications," the motion says, referring to the soldier's transmission of the US embassy cables to WikiLeaks, "the government takes what should be a 10-year offence and makes it a 20-year offence and unfairly increases Pfc Manning's punitive exposure".

FYI, this isn't justice, this is, this is the illusion of justice, and it is telling that the judge read her ruling too fast for professional stenographers to record what she said.