Verdict likely Tuesday in WikiLeaks court-martial

FORT MEADE, MD. — A military judge says she expects to announce a verdict Tuesday in the court-martial of an Army private charged with aiding the enemy for giving U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks.

Col. Denise Lind gave the heads-up notice Monday, her third day of deliberations in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade. Manning faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the charge.

The 25-year-old also faces 20 other counts, including espionage, computer fraud and theft for admittedly sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents and some battlefield video to the anti-secrecy website while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

In closing arguments last week, the defense portrayed Manning as a naive whistleblower who wanted to expose war crimes. Prosecutors call him an anarchist hacker and a traitor.