A U.S. federal judge vacated a 2017 court-martial conviction against Bowe Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who abandoned his post in Afghanistan in 2009 only to be captured by the Taliban and held for five years.
Reggie Walton, a U.S. district judge, ruled on Tuesday that the military judge who presided over his court-martial proceedings failed to disclose an apparent conflict of interest. Bergdahl was convicted in 2017, which left him with a dishonorable discharge, a reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade, and an effective fine of $10,000.
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Judge Jeffrey Nance, who handed down Bergdahl’s conviction, had applied to become a federal immigration judge and failed to disclose it. Walton determined that the then-undisclosed application could create an appearance of possible bias because then-President Donald Trump was heavily critical of Bergdahl publicly.
"He should have disclosed his job application as a potential ground for his disqualification," Walton wrote. "In reaching this conclusion, the court does not mean to opine that there was actual bias in this case or that the military judge's orders were not the product of his considered and unbiased judgment. ... Rather, the facts in this case present an appearance of partiality and, while appearance may be all there is, that is enough."
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Several U.S. service members were wounded searching for Bergdahl, who said he was trying to get outside his post so he could report what he believed to be poor leadership within his unit, but he was abducted by the Taliban.
Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 involving the release of five Taliban leaders held by the United States in a deal that drew heavy criticism from Republicans. All five of the “Taliban Five” were named to key roles in the Taliban’s new government following the U.S. military withdrawal.