Robert Bales, Suspect In Afghanistan Shooting Rampage, Recalls Little: Lawyer

In this Aug. 23, 2011 Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. (AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock)

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — The lawyer for the Army staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians questioned Tuesday the quality of the evidence against his client and said he planned to travel to Afghanistan to gather his own.

John Henry Browne said he met with Robert Bales for 11 hours over two days at Fort Leavenworth, where his client is being held. He added that there was still a lot he didn't know about the March 11 shootings.

"I don't know about the evidence in this case. I don't know that the government is going to prove much. There's no forensic evidence. There's no confessions," Browne said outside his hotel near the post.

"I'm certainly not saying that we're not taking responsibility for this in the right way, at the right time. But for now, I'm interested in what the evidence is," he said. "It's not like a crime scene in the United States."

Browne said there were legal, social and political issues linked to the case and how it will be prosecuted. "The war's on trial. I'm not putting the war on trial," he said. "I'm not putting the war on trial, but the war is on trial."

Bales, 38, has not been charged yet. Browne expects that he will be charged this week. The killings sparked protests in Afghanistan, endangered relations between the two countries and threatened to upend American policy over the decade-old war.

Browne met with his client behind bars for the first time Monday to begin building a defense.

On Tuesday, Browne described Bales as "a soldier's soldier" who followed orders, including deploying to Afghanistan despite not wanting to go. Bales has been reported to have had financial troubles.

"That doesn't mean anything. Sure, there are financial problems. I have financial problems. Ninety-nine percent of America has financial problem," he said. "You don't go kill women and children because you have financial problems."

Browne has said Bales has a sketchy memory of events from before and after the killings but recalls very little or nothing of the time the military believes he went on a shooting spree through two Afghan villages.

"He has some memories of before the incident and he has some memories of after the incident. In between, very little," Browne said.

Browne said there were potential mental health issues for his client, but that he didn't have expertise to make a qualified judgment. "Dragging parts of bodies around is not something that really you forget very often," he said. "He's in shock."

Also Tuesday, a police report obtained by The News Tribune newspaper in Tacoma, Wash., said Bales was arrested in 2002 in the drunken assault of a casino security guard. The details are at odds with a description of the arrest by Browne, who had said it was an incident involving a woman Bales dated before his wife. An assault charge was dismissed after Bales completed 20 hours of anger management training.

Browne, a Seattle attorney who defended serial killer Ted Bundy and a thief known as the "Barefoot Bandit," has said he has handled three or four military cases. The defense team includes a military defense lawyer, Maj. Thomas Hurley.

After their investigation, military attorneys could present charges to a commander, who then makes a judgment on whether there is probable cause to believe that an offense was committed and that the accused committed it.

That commander then submits the charges to a convening authority, who typically is the commander of the brigade to which the accused is assigned but could be of higher rank.

Comments

[JohnMavis41]

04:49 PM on 03/21/2012

F the Troops - they're all like this, a bunch of psychotic well-fed, self-entitled goons.
Anyone who joins when there's no draft is either a fool or a lunatic.
BTW - your freedom ends when the Constitution gets burned -- and that ain't gonna happen any time soon. Burn in H* ll you POS.

[Wehms2]

07:51 PM on 03/23/2012

I joined when there was no draft......of course, when I joined there was no war either (that I knew of in 1977) and being neither a fool or lunatic, realized within a few months that I was "not suited to military lifestyle" and was allowed an Honorable Discharge after a total of 11 months. I was "sold" on joining because of the opportunity 2 retire after a minimum of, I think 19 years and 4 months or so with 50% of my pay and medical benefits for the rest of my life!!! Given the number of times I could have been shot at, and then the possibility that I could have been "recalled" after 9/11, I think I made a good choice getting out.

HOWEVER, I DO support the men & women who stay in....freedom is NOT free......fact is, we're giving up way too many freedoms now because the Government is so effective selling people on FEAR that the ONLY way to save us from "them" is to elect Ron Paul!!! VOTE (4 him) EARLY & OFTEN :o)

[brian464]

02:10 AM on 03/21/2012

From the report : " His legal troubles included charges that he assaulted a girlfriend "

Comment :

The US government should seriously think about creating a national database so that all people in authority and in contact with dangerous individuals can update the database.

Every school counselor, therapist, police officer, judge and social worker should be able to update a national database in order to make sure that violent/abusive/mentally unstable individuals are entered into the database,

A gun license to purchase a gun would only be issued by the nearest police department if the person's name does not appear on the database.

To remove a person's name from the database, the person will have to go before a special ATF judicial tribunal to plead his or her case

and if he/she is certified by a panel of therapists as being stable, non-violent or non-abusive, the tribunal would remove his/her name from the database.

[Matthew Tesfai]

07:42 AM on 03/21/2012

you must have never heard of COINTELPRO

[Marliss]

01:52 AM on 03/21/2012

Anybody wanna bet Lil' Bobby Bales was a bed wetter?

[Yasser Yousufi]

05:59 AM on 03/21/2012

He looks kinda sissy.......

[dracula1532]

01:24 AM on 03/21/2012

POp goes the "lone nut" nonsense. It was a planned massacre.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0320/Afghan-villagers-say-shootings-were-revenge

[Marliss]

01:53 AM on 03/21/2012

Thanks for posting this.

[Ante Jutronic]

12:59 AM on 03/21/2012

How convenient... Terrorist Anders Behring Breivik's lawyer argued the same: his client was a wacko!

[Marliss]

12:28 AM on 03/21/2012

"The Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers was arrested and prosecuted in 2002 for a fight while he was drunk at a Tacoma casino.

A police report released Tuesday by the Tacoma Police Department detailed an incident in which Robert Bales charged a security guard with a garbage can lid and slugged the guard in the chest with his fist.

He was wrestled to the ground and held until police arrived, according to the report.

The report said Bales was drinking in the bar of the Silver Dollar Casino about 1 a.m. on July 14, 2002, and had threatened another customer, who called security.

Two guards arrived and “told Bales to leave the casino,” according to the report. Bales left and got into a cab, but then got back out. The guards again told him to leave but Bales “picked up a trash can lid and came at” the guards, punching one of them in the chest.

The guard, identified as Joe Hanna, told the News-Tribune newspaper in Tacoma that he doesn’t recall the incident.

According to Tacoma Municipal Court records, Bales represented himself against a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.

The case was dismissed in February 2003 after Bales agreed to pay $300 in fees and obtain an anger management assessment, which he successfully completed."
Seattletimes.com

[born 2b different]

11:58 AM on 03/21/2012

Successfully completed?

[Marliss]

12:23 AM on 03/21/2012

Looks like Lil' Bobby Bales likes throwin' down an awful lot:

http://today.seattletimes.com/2012/03/massacre-suspect-bales-arrested-in-2002-fight-in-tacoma/

[florencephoenix]

12:07 AM on 03/21/2012

Isn't the Army re-investigating a case where he killed civilans before under questioning conditions?

[Marliss]

01:36 AM on 03/21/2012

Not being sarcastic ... do you have a link? Thanks. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case.

[florencephoenix]

05:56 PM on 03/21/2012

Marliss
I believe it was a newspaper article about Sgt Bales.

[Doug Sandlin]

11:23 PM on 03/20/2012

Spun like a defense attorney.

Meaningless.

[piul05]

10:50 PM on 03/20/2012

Yeah...right...financial problems...stress...amnesia...trauma...he "snapped".

He's the callous murderer of innocent little children just like the perpetrator in Toulouse - and he should have the same fate.

[doriath22]

10:01 PM on 03/20/2012

Something about the entire narrative is starting to stink like week-old fish

[Angelaaaa]

09:51 PM on 03/20/2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-soldier-accused-gunning-16-afghans-a-man-feds-bilked-elderly-couple-a-million-article-1.1047563
http://www.smh.com.au/world/massacre-soldier-owes-fraud-victims-14m-20120321-1vijp.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9154733/Soldier-Robert-Bales-owes-1.5m-after-he-defrauded-elderly-couple.html


"Sergeant Bales was working as a stockbroker in Ohio in 2000 when Gary Liebschner asked him to sell his stocks to pay for medical bills. Mr Liebschner and his wife never received the money. Sergeant Bales faced no criminal charges but the case against him and several colleagues went to arbitration in May 2000. Sergeant Bales never turned up at a hearing and, 18 months later, enlisted in the army.

According to records from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) the case was resolved in 2003 when an arbitration panel found that Sergeant Bales had "engaged in fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, churning, unauthorised trading and unsuitable investments". The arbitrator ordered payment of $US637,000 in compensation, plus interest, $US637,000 in punitive damages and $US216,500 in legal fees. With interest the total is now $US1.5 million. The arbitrator described Bales's conduct as "fraudulent and malicious" and, when the fines were not paid, he was suspended from the industry."

Maybe he's not THAT saintlike.

[Randy1949]

11:28 AM on 03/22/2012

Ahem. So we should of course believe him when he says he remembers very little of the actual shooting incident. Sounds like classic sociopathic behavior.

[Marliss]

09:05 PM on 03/20/2012

Here's some really, erh, "cute" photos of Lil' Bobby that you Lil' Bobby fans might want to hang on your bedroom walls.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117354/Robert-Bales-Wife-U-S-staff-sergeant-accused-Afghanistan-massacre-breaks-silence.html

[Marliss]

08:58 PM on 03/20/2012

Here's a photo of Lil' Bobby's handiwork. I think it's the toddler that threatened him - forcing Lil' Bobby to take her out. I'm sure Lil' Bobby's fans will agree that she deserved it.

http://www.latitudenews.com/story/should-soldier-accused-of-afghan-killings-be-tried-in-afghanistan/

[Steve-o-k]

08:47 PM on 03/20/2012

SImple solution. Waterboard him.