Sgt. Bales' lawyer questions evidence

John Henry Browne / CBS News

(AP) 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.

Afghan villagers say massacre was retaliation
Charges expected this week in Afghan killings
Lawyer: Bales wasn't drunk and can't remember
A look at Fort Leavenworth's pre-trial jail

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is seen in this undated photo.

/ CBS

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.

[jnostromo]

Prove it beyond a reasonable doubt...reasonable doubt is the key...There will be a tainted crime scene and forensics...I would not be surprised to see him found not guilty..

[GeWay]

Frankly, I think it will turn out that George W. Bush actually committed the murders. Obama is waiting until closer to the election to reveal this.

[Bob Fitz]

Lie and deny, just like Rod Blagojevich. SYA.

[Rodeo_Joe]

If this guy walks, it is gonna get real ugly, real fast.

No Justice, no Peace.

[notparicular]

Bale's walking. No one in Afghanistan took responsibility of killing 6 Americans on the silly Koran issue.

[baileyccc]

Please CBS stop putting this news about this solder gone bad in the headlines everyday.

[AOCGUY]

Like Lerianis4 I too at first was convinced that, regardless of reason, SSG Bales had committed this act, but the more I read and hear I suspect there must be much more to this story. I am still bothered by the fact that the Army is treating this as an Art 32/Courts Martial issue rather than respecting Afghan laws that we are supposed to be there to protect. I agree that it is necessary to protect the accused, but as Rodeo Joe stated, unless there is overwhelming eveidence that SSG Bales didn't do mit, if he walks it will get real ugly.

Without a doubt we need to get our troops out of Afghanisatn. Otherwise we can expect more of the same.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
by advancing the plea of oblivion, Bales seeks to justify his acts,
it's no use, because he's perfectly lucid, a return at the crime scene will refresh his memory,
"au revoir"

[jsf14]

There is a difference between didn't do it and cannot prove it under the rules of evidence. If he did it but there is no admissible proof, and he goes free, anyone want to lay odds on his refraining from violence hereafter?

[Lerianis4]

Come to think of it, his lawyers raises some very good points there.

What physical evidence (bullet casings, etc.) do they have to prove that he shot these people? Without that, it could have easily been the Taliban drugging this guy (with the help of the Afghani guards0 and taking him to this place.

This is one case where I admittedly jumped to the "He did this!" conclusion because I dislike the Afghanistan war but.... the more I think about it, the more questions are raised.