Pfc. Bradley Manning offers guilty plea in Wikileaks case
| FORT MEADE, Maryland
The U.S. Army soldier charged with sending reams of government secrets to WikiLeaks is offering to plead guilty to some less serious offenses.
Pfc.聽Bradley聽Manning's聽civilian defense attorney, David Coombs, revealed the offer Wednesday during a pretrial hearing that continues Thursday.
Coombs says聽Manning聽isn't pleading guilty to the offenses charged by the government. He's offering to take responsibility for less serious offenses that are encapsulated within the charged crimes.
Even if the court accepts the offer, military prosecutors could still try to prove聽Manning聽guilty of the more serious charges. They include aiding the enemy, punishable by life imprisonment.
Coombs also says聽Manning聽has elected to be tried by a military judge, not a jury, at his trial in February.
