Counselor: Manning's history showed self-harm risk
BY DAVID DISHNEAU Associated Press
Monday, December 03, 2012
12/03/12 at 5:35 AM
FORT MEADE, Md. - An Army private charged with sending U.S secrets to the website WikiLeaks had a history of suicidal thoughts and aloof behavior that outweighed a psychiatrist's opinion that he was no risk to intentionally hurt himself, two former counselors testified Sunday.
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Jordan and Marine Master Sgt. Craig Blenis testified on the sixth day of a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, Md. The hearing is to determine whether Manning's nine months in pretrial confinement at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., were so punishing that the judge should dismiss all charges.
The counselors sat on a board that recommended to the brig commander that Manning, who grew up in Crescent, Okla., remain in maximum custody and on either injury-prevention or suicide-risk status.
Jordan said under cross-examination by the defense attorney that besides the mental-health report, he considered evidence that Manning had contemplated suicide after his arrest in Iraq in May 2010.
Original Print Headline: Doctors: Manning was a risk to himself
