International Courant
Travis King, the US soldier who crossed the border from South Korea into North Korea final 12 months, will plead responsible to desertion and assault as a part of a plea settlement, his lawyer stated.
Throughout a Sept. 20 court docket listening to at Fort Bliss, Texas, King is anticipated to plead responsible to 5 of the 14 prices towards him. The 5 counts embody one rely of desertion, three counts of disobeying a lawful order and one rely of assault on a noncommissioned officer.
King’s lawyer, Franklin Rosenblatt, introduced the plea settlement in an announcement supplied to ABC Information at the moment. The potential for a plea deal in King’s case first surfaced in mid-July.
“U.S. Military Non-public Travis King will take duty for his conduct and enter a responsible plea,” Rosenblatt’s assertion stated. “He was charged by the Military with 14 violations underneath the Uniform Code of Army Justice. He’ll plead responsible to 5 of these, together with desertion.”
“He won’t plead responsible to the remaining violations, which the military will withdraw and drop,” he added.
“Travis’ responsible plea will probably be entered earlier than a normal court-martial, the place he’ll clarify what he did, reply questions from a army decide about why he pleaded responsible, and be sentenced,” Rosenblatt stated. “Travis is grateful to his family and friends who supported him, and to everybody outdoors his circle who didn’t decide his case primarily based on the preliminary prices.”
On the September 20 listening to, a army decide will decide whether or not the deal is accepted and the way a lot time King should spend in a army jail.
In July 2023, King crossed into North Korea, inflicting a global incident when he was detained by North Korean authorities for greater than two months after he stormed into North Korea on the Joint Safety Space within the DMZ. Earlier than becoming a member of the tour group that took him to the DMZ, King escaped his army escort on the airport the place he was to board a flight again to the USA.
Travis King, Military soldier who fled to North Korea, will plead responsible to desertion: lawyer
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