Army prosecutors seek death penalty for Sgt. Bales

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. Army prosecutors on Tuesday asked an investigative officer to recommend a death penalty court-martial for a staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a predawn rampage, saying that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales committed "heinous and despicable crimes."

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales

/ AP Photo/DVIDS

Prosecutors made their closing arguments after a week of testimony in the preliminary hearing. Prosecutors say Bales, 39, slipped away from his remote base at Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan to attack two villages early on March 11. Among the dead were nine children.

The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

"Terrible, terrible things happened," said prosecutor, Maj. Rob Stelle. "That is clear."

• Children give graphic account of Afghan murders
• Testimony, much of it dramatic, wraps up in hearing on Afghan massacre
• Army agent: Afghan anger delayed U.S. probe of massacre

Stelle cited statements Bales made after he was apprehended, saying that they demonstrated "a clear memory of what he had done, and consciousness of wrong-doing."

Several soldiers testified that Bales returned to the base alone just before dawn, covered in blood, and that he made incriminating statements such as, "I thought I was doing the right thing."

An attorney for Bales argued there's not enough information to move forward with the court-martial.

"There are a number of questions that have not been answered so far in this investigation," attorney Emma Scanlan told the investigating officer overseeing the preliminary hearing.

Scanlan said that it's still unknown what Bales' state of mind was the evening of the killings.

An Army criminal investigations command special agent had testified last week that Bales tested positive for steroids three days after the killings, and other soldiers testified that Bales had been drinking the evening of the massacre.

"We've heard that Sgt. Bales was lucid, coherent and responsive," Scanlan said in her closing argument. "We don't know what it means to be on alcohol, steroids and sleeping aids."

The investigating officer said Tuesday that he would have a written recommendation by the end of the week, but that is just the start of the process. That recommendation goes next to the brigade command, and the ultimate decision would be made by the three-star general on the base. There's no clear sense of how long that could take before a decision is reached on whether to proceed to a court-martial trial.

If a court-martial takes place, it will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Washington state base south of Seattle, and witnesses will be flown in from Afghanistan.

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Child witnesses testify in Afghanistan massacre case

Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder. The preliminary hearing, which began Nov. 5, included nighttime sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the convenience of the Afghan witnesses. Bales did not testify.

The witnesses included a 7-year-old girl, who described how she hid behind her father when a gunman came to their village that night, how the stranger fired, and how her father died, cursing in pain and anger.

None of the Afghan witnesses were able to identify Bales as the shooter, but other evidence, including tests of the blood on his clothes, implicated him, according to testimony from a DNA expert.

After the hearing concluded, Scanlan spoke with reporters, saying that in addition to questions about Bales' state of mind, there are still questions of whether there were more people involved.

During testimony, a special agent testified that months after the killings, she was able to interview the wife of one of the victims, who recounted having seen two U.S. soldiers. Later, however, the woman's brother-in-law, Mullah Baraan, who was not present at the shootings, testified that the woman says there was only one shooter. The woman herself did not testify.

"We need to know if more than one person was outside that wire," Scanlan said.

Scanlan also raised the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury, noting that Bales had received a screening at the traumatic brain injury clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center during a period of time that the center is under investigation for reversing hundreds of PTSD diagnoses of soldiers since 2007.

"We're in the process of investigating that," she said.

When asked if Bales had ever been diagnosed with PTSD, Scanlan said, "I'm not going to answer that right now."

Dan Conway, a military defense lawyer based in New Hampshire, said Tuesday that PTSD must be considered as a factor in the case.

"I think the defense team has an obligation to meet with doctors and determine if PTSD affected Bales' ability to premeditate the murders," Conway said. "It could play a very important role."

No U.S. service member has been executed since 1961, CBS correspondent John Blackstone reported Monday. Army private John A. Bennett was hanged for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.

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Robert Bales' wife: He's innocent

Bales' wife, Kari, and her sister, Stephanie Tandberg, met with reporters briefly after the hearings concluded. Tandberg read a statement, saying "we all grieve deeply for the Afghani families who lost their loved ones on March 11, but we must all not rush to judgment."

Last week, the lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Jay Morse, said on the night of the killings Bales watched a movie about a former CIA agent on a revenge killing spree, with two fellow soldiers, while drinking contraband whiskey. Morse said Bales first attacked one village, Alkozai, returned to the base at Camp Belambay, then headed out again to attack a second village, Najiban. Bales returned to the base covered in blood, Morse said, and his incriminating statements indicate he was "deliberate and methodical."

In the family statement, Tandberg said: "We all want very much to know how, why, and what happened ... Much of the testimony was painful, even heartbreaking, but we are not convinced the government has shown us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about what happened that night ... We know Bob as bright, courageous and honorable, as a man who is a good citizen soldier, son, husband, father, uncle and sibling. We in Bob's family are proud to stand by him."

[CanisMajorisSetsuna]

Here are the facts:

1) Bales left his base equipped with an M4 and night vision equipment. These are the facts

2) Bales walked over a mile and proceeded to methodically shoot unarmed civilians, including children, at point blank range with his standard issue weapon. This was confirmed by both Afghan and U.S. officials. These are the facts.

A guy who just "snapped" doesn't methodically walk several miles with combat equipment and unload on civilians. There was clear intent and sign of guilt in his action based on what he did before and after the massacre.


I could understand if Bales was in the middle of a heated combat situation where he just snapped when one of his comrades died in his arms. That I could understand. But a guy going from drinking with his army buddies to walking several miles down the road to wipe out a village? That's premeditated murder. I hope he burns both in this world and whatever world he's destined to go into once he's dead.

[ugacrew]

Free this soldier based on mitigating circumstances.......COMBAT!

[npbstl]

As you probably don't know is the Military does not care, nor should it, that this was done in a war situation. When troops took out a whole village during Vietnam they were all found guilty.

[marcie10000]

I do not know how we can expect our soldiers and marines not to snap. Especially after multiple tours.

[CuriousServant]

Kudos to those honorable vets who set the records straight with the soot from the hipsters. Responses overall to the diatribes have been measured, rational. Thank you.

[timpcfcgrv]

I will say what most are thinking but too afraid to say for fear of being ostracized....this guy deserves the medal of honor and purple heart and any other medal deserving of the honor to get rid of these pieces of ****, cold-blooded haters of Americans and their way of life.

[CuriousServant]

You, and anyone else who believes shooting children in their own country, in their own homes, dragged from their own beds deserves a medal, are seriously messed up. "We are children! We are children!" they shout. These people did not hate Americans. Though they might now. How can someone claim these children and women, farmers in a small corner of the world, deserve to be shot to death. Well my friend. men with honor know different. Which is why the recommendation from the military prosecutor is death.

This man should not have served so many tours. This man should not have been put in such a situation. But still, this man wore a uniform and carried an oath and the penalty for dishonoring both is clear to him and to others who served.

[matt6052]

"Late summer-autumn 1968 :
Kurtz's patrols in the highlands coming under frequent
ambush. The camp started falling apart...November: Kurtz orders
the assassination of three Vietnamese men and one
woman. Two of the men were Colonels in the South
Vietnamese army. Enemy activity in his old sector dropped
off to nothing. Guess he must have hit the right
four people. The army tried one last time to bring him back
into the fold. And if he pulled over, it all would have been forgotten.
But he kept going, and he kept winning it his way, and they called
me in."

[reshavo]

they are rushing him to death row, what about the army phyco at fort hood he's not even at trial yet they are still stuck on his beard, he killed 13 people, and they are still woried about his beard stupid. they ought to have 1 trial for the 2 of them 2 for 1.

[longtime2123]

16 human beings? Let a Dr pat him on the head for a few months and send him home a hero? He made choices and should pay for it, if found guilty. I am ex military too, VietNam, but this is beyond stressed out. Maybe you all who want to say sorry,go home, can chip in and pay the $1m he swindled before he joined the Army.

[Jesus_to_ground_control]

Mock Trial

That's the way Obama, keep him alive for the trial and then sacrifice him to the Afghan pigs to feast on his corps!

[dadrees-2009]

as a ten year vet i can say with certaanty that the us army is not a terrorist organization. if this seargent is found guilty he MUST be punished. that isn't sacrificing anyone to the afghan "pigs" those "pigs" were human beings. some were women and children.obama has nothing to do with this. this a matter of military law.

[nohater]

if found guilty, he should be executed. if he is diagnosed with ptsd, then it gives strength to the belief that those with ptsd can snap and go nuts.