Travis King, US soldier who fled to North Korea, sentenced for desertion
Al Jazeera
Military judge releases King for good behaviour and time served after sentencing him to 12 months of confinement.
United States soldier Travis King, who fled to North Korea and was taken into custody there, was sentenced to one year of confinement and then freed based on time already served, according to his lawyer.
King pleaded guilty to five charges – including desertion, assault on a noncommissioned officer and three counts of disobeying an officer – as part of a plea deal that was accepted on Friday by a military judge in Fort Bliss, Texas, said his lawyer Franklin Rosenblatt.
The soldier was facing at least 14 charges – including desertion, assault and solicitation of child pornography – filed by the US Army under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The government moved to dismiss nine offences after he pleaded guilty to five charges.
King was stationed in South Korea and was supposed to fly back to Texas last year to face disciplinary hearings after spending nearly two months in a South Korean jail on assault charges following a drunken bar fight.
