Staff sergeant Robert Bales, the American soldier suspected of slaughtering more than a dozen Afghan civilians, is expected to be charged today with 17 counts of murder among other charges, according to defense officials.
Military officials had previously reported that 16 civilians were killed in the apparently unprovoked shooting spree Sunday, implying there was either an initial miscount of the dead or one of the several Afghan civilians who were wounded has died. In addition to the murder charges, officials said Bales is expected to be charged with another six counts of attempted murder and six counts of aggravated assault. All of the charges are related to the 17 deaths that allegedly resulted from Bales' rampage.
Bales, 38, is accused of going out from his base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the middle of the night Sunday and walking to nearby villages where he broke into homes and opened fire on the families inside. Afterwards, he allegedly set some of the bodies on fire. When it was over, at least three women and nine children were killed, officials said.
Spc. Ryan Hallock, 28th Public Affairs/U.S. Army
A high-powered civilian defense attorney for Bales, John Henry Browne, told ABC News Tuesday that Bales does not remember all of the night in question -- just the beginning and the end, but not the period during which the murders supposedly took place.
Browne said he doubts the military's version of events, said it's not supported by eyewitnesses or forensic evidence and said he had not seen any documents that suggest Bales confessed to the crime, contrary to earlier reports.
Since his arrest, ABC News has learned Bales had been accused of bilking more than $1 million from an elderly couple and was under scrutiny in a financial probe when he joined the military in 2001.
READ: Afghan Murder Suspect 'Took My Life Savings,' Says Retiree
Overnight, The Associated Press reported that Bales had allegedly previously been involved in a 2008 incident in which a woman claimed Bales made inappropriate advances on her and then assaulted her boyfriend.
Browne has said Bales was not drunk the night of the alleged attack in Afghanistan, though military officials said alcohol was found close to his quarters.
Bales, who has a home in Washington State where his wife and children live, is now being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and though charges in his case will be announced by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say his military court proceedings will be held in the United States.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=0debf460014eb1933338c86af8d515a0
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