Bales' attorney hits out
Source: Agencies |
April 1, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE attorney for the American soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians says the United States government is "hiding evidence" and not giving his defense team the cooperation they were promised.
The Army says officials have been following procedures and communicating with Staff Sergeant Robert Bales' defense team.
The disagreement over access to the evidence and help in getting interviews with witnesses in Afghanistan highlights the differences between military and civilian proceedings.
For one, military legal procedures don't require prosecutors to turn over certain information to the defense until several weeks before a preliminary hearing. And at this point, Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, said there is no judge to complain to, as he would in a civilian trial. "It's outrageous. What they are basically doing is hiding evidence," he added.
Dan Conway, a military attorney who represented one of four Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers convicted in the deliberate killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010, said the government doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong at this point.
Bales is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. The military says he left his base in southern Afghanistan and went on a nighttime shooting rampage through two villages on March 11. Nine of the dead were children.
The Army says officials have been following procedures and communicating with Staff Sergeant Robert Bales' defense team.
The disagreement over access to the evidence and help in getting interviews with witnesses in Afghanistan highlights the differences between military and civilian proceedings.
For one, military legal procedures don't require prosecutors to turn over certain information to the defense until several weeks before a preliminary hearing. And at this point, Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, said there is no judge to complain to, as he would in a civilian trial. "It's outrageous. What they are basically doing is hiding evidence," he added.
Dan Conway, a military attorney who represented one of four Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers convicted in the deliberate killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010, said the government doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong at this point.
Bales is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. The military says he left his base in southern Afghanistan and went on a nighttime shooting rampage through two villages on March 11. Nine of the dead were children.
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