US staff sergeant facing 17 murder counts
Source: Agencies |
March 24, 2012, Saturday
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ARMY Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is facing 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with other charges, in connection with a shooting rampage in two southern Afghanistan villages that shocked Americans back home and soured US-Afghan relations.
The charges come almost two weeks after the massacre in which Bales is said to have left his base in the early morning and shot Afghans, including women and nine children, while they slept, then burned some of the bodies.
Bales was being read the charges at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he has been held since being flown from Afghanistan last week, a US official said.
Bales' lawyer, John Browne, said he believed the government would have a hard time proving its case and that his client's mental state would be an important issue.
In addition to murder and attempted murder, the charges will include six counts of aggravated assault as well as other violations of military law.
The 38-year-old father of two faces trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it could be months before any public hearing.
Legal jurisdiction in the case is expected to be switched from US Forces-Afghanistan in Kabul to Bales' home base of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, US officials said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said Bales could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, but it is unlikely. The US military has not executed a service member since 1961.
Browne told CBS' "This Morning" program yesterday that he had spent a total of 11 hours with Bales at Leavenworth and found him to be shocked by the accusations against him.
"He has some memories about what happened before the alleged events and some memories after the alleged events and some windows here and there into things, but he really doesn't have any memory," the lawyer said. "My meetings with him clearly indicate to me that he's got memory problems that go back long before that." Browne said Bales had earlier suffered a "concussive injury which is serious" and that it was "not treated for a variety of reasons."
The lawyer said his reaction to the government's allegations was: "Prove it." He said he believed the government would have difficulty because "there is no crime scene" and a lack of important physical evidence such as fingerprints.
Military authorities had originally said Bales was suspected in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers - nine children and seven adults. They changed that on Thursday to 17, raising the number of adults by one without explaining how the change came about. It's possible some of the dead were buried before US military officials arrived at the scene of the carnage. Six Afghans were wounded in the attack.
The slaughter of the villagers was yet another blow to US-Afghan relations, following a series of missteps, including the burning of Qurans, which prompted violent protests and revenge killings of American troops in the war zone.
The charges come almost two weeks after the massacre in which Bales is said to have left his base in the early morning and shot Afghans, including women and nine children, while they slept, then burned some of the bodies.
Bales was being read the charges at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he has been held since being flown from Afghanistan last week, a US official said.
Bales' lawyer, John Browne, said he believed the government would have a hard time proving its case and that his client's mental state would be an important issue.
In addition to murder and attempted murder, the charges will include six counts of aggravated assault as well as other violations of military law.
The 38-year-old father of two faces trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it could be months before any public hearing.
Legal jurisdiction in the case is expected to be switched from US Forces-Afghanistan in Kabul to Bales' home base of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, US officials said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said Bales could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, but it is unlikely. The US military has not executed a service member since 1961.
Browne told CBS' "This Morning" program yesterday that he had spent a total of 11 hours with Bales at Leavenworth and found him to be shocked by the accusations against him.
"He has some memories about what happened before the alleged events and some memories after the alleged events and some windows here and there into things, but he really doesn't have any memory," the lawyer said. "My meetings with him clearly indicate to me that he's got memory problems that go back long before that." Browne said Bales had earlier suffered a "concussive injury which is serious" and that it was "not treated for a variety of reasons."
The lawyer said his reaction to the government's allegations was: "Prove it." He said he believed the government would have difficulty because "there is no crime scene" and a lack of important physical evidence such as fingerprints.
Military authorities had originally said Bales was suspected in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers - nine children and seven adults. They changed that on Thursday to 17, raising the number of adults by one without explaining how the change came about. It's possible some of the dead were buried before US military officials arrived at the scene of the carnage. Six Afghans were wounded in the attack.
The slaughter of the villagers was yet another blow to US-Afghan relations, following a series of missteps, including the burning of Qurans, which prompted violent protests and revenge killings of American troops in the war zone.
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