for more we turn to eugene fidell, the lawyer for army seargent bowe bergdahl. joins us from yale university, where he is the florence rogatz visiting lecturer in law at yale law school. fidell is a cofounder and former president of the national institute of military justice. welcome to democracy now!. can you talk about the charges against your client? mr. fidell: there are two charges, one is a charge of desertion. let me back up. there are a lot of cases of desertion and they are typically handled at a very low level in the military justice system. the other charge is misbehavior before the enemy in that he left and, that is the gist of it. simply that he left and was in a battle zone, that is the allegation. those cases are rare. it's under a statute that is kind of a museum piece that dates back to the early days of the republic. there's probably something like it in the articles of war george the third signed in 1774. it's a rare charge and frankly i have been doing this since 1969, i cannot remember a case of an actual prosecution for that charge. amy: ex

eugene fidell, welcome.ow sergeant bergdahl got the news while he was at if fort sam houston texas. was he expecting the charge? what was his reaction? >> i can't tell you his reaction because that would be breeching the attorney-client privilege, but he was -- what i can tell you, i think in fairness, is that he's philosophical about this entire controversy. you know, it's lasted many, many months more, i think, than any of us anticipated. it's something that he and all of us would like to see over but, at the same time, we have to make sure that we're protecting his legal rights. >> woodruff: is he guilty? (laughter) judy, i'm not going to go into that. i've made a point over the time that i was asked to represent sergeant bergdahl of not attempting to try the merits of the case in the media. i'm going to hold to that rule, if you don't mind. >> woodruff: why did he leave his post? what was he trying to do? >> i'm also not going into that except to say that major general kenneth daal who conducted the inve

we will talk to eugene fidel about his client and what bergdahl was doing when he wandered off. >> the stalled confirmation for lynch. why it isn't a good sign for the president's pick. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. taking a look at today's top stories. u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is in talks with iraq key prime minister al abadi. >> prosecutorses expect to rest their case in the boston marathon bombing trial. >> president obama will be in bossboss tan today. several senators including john mccain and listen beth warren along with the vice president will be there. >> wisconsin governor scott walk are is doubling down on his hard line immigration stance amid questions he reversed his position. the possible 2016 presidential candidate is opposed to any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. those comments come 24 hours after he visited the mexican border in texas. during that visit fellow texas governor greg abbott introduced walker as someone who governs like a texan. >> in terms of citizenship if someone wants citizenship they need to go to the country of origi

joining me now is sergeant bergdahl's attorney, eugene fidell. is your client a deserter? >> i'm not going to get into that kind of thing, chris. you know, i'm here to represent a client. i don't want to try the case on television. so if you'll forgive me, there's a time for me to go into that. this is not the time. >> what then can you say about how this process will play out for your client? >> that i can help you with. basically, what has happened is a general officer has decided to send some charges, two charges that you mentioned, to a -- basically a probable cause hearing. it's in some ways like a grand jury, but in more ways it's not like a grand jury, since unlike grand juries, that hearing will be open to the public, and the media will have ample opportunity, except perhaps if there's classified information involved, to cover the matter and help inform the american people. i think at that hearing, people will learn many things that they have not yet been privy to about sergeant bergdahl's conduct, his motivation, his intentions, as well as the details of his capti

. >> attorney eugene fidel said that bergdahl had been trying to bring concerns about his unit to a higherlevel of authority. >>> a bash lash against the so-called freedom religion bill. itthe critics say the measure will be used to discriminate against gays and lesbians. state lawmakers on both sides the issue went on the offensecy. >> the governor and the republican leaders won't say it, but we will. discrimination is wrong and it should be illegal. >> the same law that 30 other states have does not discriminate against anyone. it is not the intent the law to discriminate against anyone and it will not be allowed to discriminate against anyone. >> indiana republicans say the bill received bipartisan support and pointed out that president obama and democratic leaders like nancy pelosi have supported similar legislation. >>> apple ceo tim cook is speaking out against the indiana law and talking about discrimination against the gay community. cook publicly confirmed that he's gay last year hoping to make a difference for others. he writes in the "washington post" that our message to people

he is represented by eugene fidell, a former military attorney and current lecturer at yale law school the case has been politicized in the sense that some people in our democracy have seen this case as a way of hammering the president of the united states for any reason and every reason.r: >> reporter: officials say bergdahl, who cooperated with the army's investigation, will probably need psychiatric care for the rest of his life. w that would appear to set thel stage for a plea deal whichhe would spare the army the spectacle of a court-martial in return for a lighter sentence.te >> pelley: david martin at the pentagon this evening, david thanks very much. today, yemen's president, who is backed by the united states, fled his country as yemen slides closer to a civil war between the two main branches of islam. shiite rebels trained by iran have taken much of southern yemen, including an airbase that housed u.s. special forces until they evacuated last weekend. yemen is a major concern. the al qaeda branch there tried to blow up airliners headed to the united states. today, a former u

his lawyer, eugene fidel and a lot of us know this guy one of the best military defense lawyers in thentry retired admiral, used to do the prosecuting, gets a chance to cross-examine the government witnesses at the grand jury, the article 34 hearing long before there's ever actually a jury trial. this is an enormous advantage which ayou loss the defense to explore the knowledge ofi- the witnesses in ways that wouldn't be permitted at an actual trial for guilt. >> the argument on the part of the government may be, we haven't heard it yet but it could very well be that someone died while trying to help rescue him. therefore, will make the argument possibly he deserves the death penalty is that what you're saying? >> that is the trigger for the death penalty. the government would have to prove the manner of this soldier's death and that it was directly related to the government's efforts to find him or rescue nm/ short of that because they've charged him with this high level of desertion, they have to prove that he left intending never to return and left intending to help the enemy. these

the convening authority who charged bergdahl with desertion and endangering his fellow soldiers, eugene fidellawyer writes that bergdahl is a truthful person albeit naive and somewhat realistic, but he points out in this letter that it was proven in some of the evidence that bergdahl himself did not act out of any bad motive. and he raised an interesting defense saying that perhaps bergdahl should be charged only with awol because he was apparently freed from that base only a few hours before he was captured by the taliban. that timing alone would qualify for being awol and not a deserter. and then, of course, there was his time in captivity. the code of military conduct says that as a military person if you are captured, you have to try to escape. both bergdahl himself and his lawyer report that bergdahl attempted to escape at least 12 times. he was mentally and physically tortured, often kept chained in a cage and one time beaten so hard with the butt of an ak-47 that it broke off. now, clearly, general milley didn't buy these arguments because he did file those serious charges against berg