A federal judge ruled that Bowe Bergdahl, an Army Sergeant who pleaded guilty to desertion and other charges merited a new trial after defense attorneys showed the military judge who presided over the trial had applied for a job as an immigration judge in the Trump Administration, a position appointed by the sitting attorney general, Military.com reports.
Bergdahl’s lawyers argued that the judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, stated on a disclosure form that he was a “terminal colonel” and that his next position would be retirement. However, he had already applied for the immigration judge position in 2017. The lawyers argued that in seeking a political appointment, Nance may have been influenced by conservative cheering to convict Bergdahl, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2007 and was subsequently held by the Taliban for five years before returning to the US in a prisoner exchange.
The military could choose to charge Bergdahl again, or if they drop the charges, Bergdahl could petition to be reinstated at his old rank. Bergdahl could also opt to stay discharged and seek to change his discharge status from dishonorable.