Convicted leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning took the stand on Wednesday and apologized for "hurting his country," pleading with a military judge to enable him to go to college and become a productive citizen, the Associated Press reported.
"I understood what I was doing was wrong but I didn't appreciate the broader effects of my actions. I only wanted to help people, not hurt people," Manning said during his sentencing hearing at Maryland's Fort Meade. A psychologist treating Manning also said that he felt extreme mental pressure in the 'hyper masculine" military because of his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body, a gender-identity disorder.
Manning could be sentenced to 90 years in prison for leaks he gave to WikiLeaks. While Manning has acknowledged and fully understood what he was doing, he did not believe his actions would cause harm to the U.S. The former Army intelligence analyst was convicted in July of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.
Manning was found guilty of 20 of 22 charges against him, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, CNN reported. He was found not guilty of aiding the enemy, which was the seen as the most serious charge against him.
"I should have worked more aggressively within the system," Manning conceded.
Manning's sister, Casey Major, and his aunt, Debra Van Alstyne, asked for leniency in sentencing after providing the court with an intimate look at his upbringing, one in which was marked by absent and alcoholic parents.
During the court-martial, prosecution witnesses testified Manning downloaded and leaked 400,000 Pentagon field reports from Iraq and 90,0000 similar documents from Afghanistan.
Manning supporters, including his civilian attorney David Coombs expressed hope that the judge would see that "Bradley is certainly a person who had his heart in the right place."
