REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File PhotoWASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday voided a 2017 court-martial conviction against Bowe Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who walked off his post in 2009 only to be captured by the Taliban and spend five years as their prisoner.
Reggie Walton, a U.S. district judge, said the military judge who presided over Bergdahl's court martial proceedings failed to disclose his application at the time to become a federal immigration judge.
That could create the appearance of potential bias, given then-President Donald Trump's denunciations of Bergdahl, Walton ruled.
"This case presents a unique situation where the military judge might be inclined to appeal to the president's expressed interest in the plaintiff's conviction and punishment when applying for the immigration judge position," Walton wrote.
The military judge who handed down Bergdahl's conviction, Jeffrey Nance, could not be reached for comment.
Persons:
U.S . Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, Jonathan Drake, Bowe Bergdahl, vacates, Reggie Walton, Donald Trump's, Walton, Jeffrey Nance, Geoffrey Corn, Corn, Bergdahl, Nance, Trump, Phil Stewart, Stephen Coates
Organizations:
U.S . Army, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S, Army, Texas Tech University School of Law, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
Fort Bragg , North Carolina, U.S, United States