FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A military judge questioned whether jurors would reach unfair conclusions about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if they’re allowed to consider serious wounds to two soldiers who searched for him after his 2009 disappearance in Afghanistan. ADVERTISING
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A military judge questioned whether jurors would reach unfair conclusions about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if they’re allowed to consider serious wounds to two soldiers who searched for him after his 2009 disappearance in Afghanistan.
The judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, heard arguments Tuesday about whether to allow the evidence, but ended a pretrial hearing without ruling.
Trial is set to open in April 2017 for Bergdahl. He is charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, the latter of which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Prosecutors argue that two wounded soldiers’ injuries should be allowed to show Bergdahl put soldiers in harm’s way when he walked off his post in July of 2009. The soldiers were wounded in a firefight — one shot in the head — as they searched for Bergdahl, according to testimony earlier this week.
Prosecutors have said evidence of injuries will help them show that Bergdahl endangered his comrades, one of the elements of the misbehavior before the enemy charge.
“Individuals were in fact harmed, and that’s the best evidence of endangerment,” said Capt. Eileen Whipple, a prosecutor. Leaving out evidence of the injuries “leaves us with a gap in how dangerous these missions were.”
The judge posed tough questions for the prosecutors about such evidence.
“You’re not entitled to use that evidence if it’s unfairly prejudicial,” Nance told them. “This trial becomes a trial about that operation, that mission, and not a trial about what’s on the charge sheet.”
