(Reuters) Lawyers for Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks, sought to show during a sentencing hearing on Tuesday that the Army ignored his mental health problems and bizarre behavior.
Manning's violent outbursts and his emailing a supervisor a photo of himself in a dress and blond wig with the caption "This is my problem" were signs the gay soldier should not have a job as an intelligence analyst, defense attorney David Coombs told the court-martial.
Manning, a 25-year-old private first class, faces up to 90 years in prison after being convicted July 30 on 20 charges, including espionage and theft, in the biggest release of classified files in U.S. history.
Attorneys for Manning are expected to read a statement from him on Wednesday as they conclude their case in the last part of the trial. Sentencing by Judge Colonel Denise Lind could follow shortly after.
Manning's court-martial has drawn international scrutiny, and the trove of documents he provided catapulted WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, into the spotlight.
Coombs asked Manning's supervisor, former Master Sergeant Paul Adkins, why he did not remove Manning from his job as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010 when he showed erratic and sometimes violent behavior.
Coombs mentioned incidents in which Manning punched a soldier in the face, carved the words "I want" into a chair with a knife and flipped over a table while being reprimanded about being late to his job.
Adkins said his unit was short-staffed and needed Manning's analysis work.
"The biggest threat to our soldiers and our operational environment emerged from the Shia (Muslim) insurgent group, which PFC Manning helped to assess," said Adkins, who was demoted after the WikiLeaks release.
WRONG ASSESSMENT
He said he believed Manning was being helped by mental therapy. "I wrongly assessed that he was stable enough to continue his shift," Adkins said.
Coombs has asserted that the Army's failure to act on Manning's mental health problems contributed to his release of more than 700,000 secret diplomatic and military documents and videos.
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