As militarytimes blog notes, Manning and Assange look-alikes are becoming part of the aura around the case.

In conspiracy and arson trial, reversing and remanding when trial court failed “to make adequate inquiries regarding news stories” that appeared during deliberations and their impact on juror’s deliberations; the judge erroneously failed to explore “whether any juror heard any of the information” and its impact on the jury, in United States v. Waters, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. Sept. 15, 2010) (No. 08-30222)

The Ninth Circuit recently considered the trial court’s responsibilities to make specific inquiry of jurors when “adverse publicity occurs during deliberations” of the jury. The case can help clear up confusion about the role of the trial court, particularly in light of FRE 606(b) limiting inquiry into a verdict.

I would imagine the media access and media impact issues are going to have a continuing interest in court-martial cases under the UCMJ – Hasan, the Stryker Brigade cases, Wikileaks and Manning, to name a few.

Former computer hacker Adrian Lamo (who pointed federal authorities to the Army Intelligence analyst who allegedly leaked the documents, Bradley Manning), has implicated two men in the Boston area in the controversy. Lamo shared that these two men have told him through phone conversations that they provided Manning with assistance, in the form of encryption software. They also allegedly taught Manning how to use the software.

Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command, Rear Adm. Edward H. Deets III, relieved Cmdr. Mary Ann L. Giese, commanding officer of U.S. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) Bahrain Aug. 21 due to loss of confidence in her ability to command. The decision to relieve Giese comes after a preliminary investigation into allegations that she had been involved in inappropriate relationships with other Navy personnel.

Navy Times reports that:

Giese is the 13th skipper fired in 2010 and the third since Aug. 12. Fifteen commanding officers were fired in 2009, according to Navy and Navy Times records. Since 2000, 143 Navy skippers have been relieved for cause — or, from 2000 through last year, an average of 13.2 firings per year. The highest annual total over that time span, 26 firings, was recorded in 2003.

The Times Leader has several entries for this day 64 years ago, here is just one.

The court martial of Marine Sgt. Matthew McKeon was in the news. Sgt. McKeon led 74 men in his platoon on what was called an extremely unorthodox disciplinary night march into swampy Ribbon Creek on Parris Island. As a result, six of the recruits drowned. Sgt McKeon’s sentence was a $270 fine, nine months of confinement at hard labor, rank reduced to private and a bad conduct discharge.

Wikipedia has an entry for the Ribbon Creek incident. And here is a 23 April 1956 Time article.

According to AOLNews:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told a Swedish newspaper today that he believes the Pentagon could be behind a rape allegation that was filed against him on Friday, and was quickly withdrawn by Swedish prosecutors.

This follows the strange story from the other day. The Wikileaks/Manning case that is sure to have many more bizarre twists and turns as it proceeds. Michael Moore is now on board supporting Manning. All the while Manning remains confined at Marine Corps Brig Quantico.