SEATTLE — When Staff Sgt. Robert Bales admitted to murdering 16 Afghan civilians including several children, he still couldn’t tell the judge why.

“I’ve asked myself that question a million times since then,” Bales said. “There is not a good reason in the world for doing the horrible thing I did.”

Bales did take responsibility for the murders in exchange for a plea deal that spares him the death penalty. But when he’s sentenced, his lawyers will bring up his mental status at the time of the killings.

“I think any panel can understand that Sgt. Bales is a person who would not have done this but for a set of conditions,” Emma Scanlan, Bales’ attorney, said.

Scanlan points to Bales’ four war zone deployments, a brain injury in combat, and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress. That’s what the jury will hear about and it could give the soldier a chance at life with parole, meaning he could be out of prison in 10 years.

“They can understand that and they can decide that he deserves a chance,” Scanlan said. “It’s only a chance, but he deserves a chance to potentially someday be reunited with his family.”

With more than 200,000 soldiers diagnosed with PTSD, lawyers expect a lot more criminal cases using PTSD as a defense.

“It’s not a go-to defense, it’s the reality of having served our country,” Stephen Carpenter, a military defense lawyer, said.

Soldiers with PTSD can suffer flashbacks and outbursts of anger and violence.

On the same day Sgt. Bales admitted to the Afghan murders, an Iraq War vet in Spokane was being arraigned for murder. Jason Hart is accused of killing his girlfriend and placing her body in a tub full of acid.

His estranged wife said he had been diagnosed with PTSD and it will likely be used as part of his defense. It’s likely he won’t be the last to use PTSD as a defense.

“People who spend time outside the military before they enter, maybe they were good people,” Carpenter said. “And then as a result of them going down range they saw some horrible things, they developed PTSD, so it’s within that context that I think this issue will be played out over and over again.”

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales confessed in court Wednesday to killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of whom were women and children, in a plea deal that spares him the possibility of a death sentence.

With his wife sitting behind him, Bales pleaded guilty to 16 counts of murder.

The military judge accepted the plea deal, which means Bales now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison, either with parole or without parole. That will be determined in the sentencing phase, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 19.

Attorney John Henry Browne speaks at a press conference following his client’s — Robert Bales — guilty plea.

Bales requested his sentencing jury be composed of one-third enlisted individuals.

The court went into recess at 9:15 a.m. to allow Bales to inspect a document outlining what happened the night of March 11, 2012, outside Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan.

After the recess, the judge asked Bales why he wanted to kill his Afghan victims. Following a discussion with his attorney, John Henry Browne, Bales told the judge: “I’ve asked myself that question a million times since then and there is not a good reason in the world for doing the horrible thing I did.”

Some Afghan families of the victims have reportedly said that Bales should receive the death penalty and that a lesser sentence would be an unacceptable punishment for the crimes.

Prosecutors also brought forth some evidence that they said Bales may be leaving out of his statements, including a “tussle” with an elderly woman that reportedly took place prior to the killings.

In court, it was also noted that if Bales had been successful in killing all of his targets, there would have been 22 fatalities rather than 16. Bales admitted to the court that he intended to kill everyone he shot at. Prosecutors also said some of the bodies had been burned. He showed little emotion making this statement as his wife sat stoically behind him.

Bales told the court he did not recall setting any bodies on fire, but that he did remember a lantern and that he had matches in his pocket.

Browne told the court he wants to bring in experts to testify to Bales’ “diminished capacity” at his sentencing hearing. Such a strategy could potentially open the door to the possibility of parole for Bales.

One of Bales’ military lawyers, Maj. Greg Malson, said that if Bales were to be sentenced to life with parole, Bales would become eligible after serving 10 years in prison. But Malson said that would simply make him eligible, and his case would be reviewed on a yearly basis.

Another Bales’ attorney, Emma Scanlan, said the sergeant was using steroids that had been given him by U.S. Special Forces, who were in charge of the Afghan base where he was stationed, and that he had taken at least 7 ounces of alcohol the night of the massacre. She also noted he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after four tours of duty in war zones.

Bales told the court he currently takes Zoloft, an anti-depressant, but had no mental defect or issue that would keep him from understanding the court’s proceedings.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD — Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is to plead guilty Wednesday to the killing of 16 Afghan civilians who were shot to death in their homes outside of a U.S. army outpost last year.

Bales, 39, will enter the plea Wednesday at a military court hearing at JBLM as part of an agreement in which the government will not seek the death penalty.

The plea must be approved by the military court.  Bales’ defense attorney said the agreement called for Bales to admit to the killings as charged and present a full accounting to the court of what happened on the night of March 11, 2012. Bales is accused of slipping into two villages outside Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan and slaughtering the people inside.

A full sentencing hearing will be held in September, during which a military panel will determine whether Bales, a father of two from Lake Tapps, should be entitled to future parole. A conviction of premeditated murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

By Kim Murphy

Los Angeles Times

SEATTLE –Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has agreed to plead guilty to the killing of 16 Afghan civilians who were shot to death in their homes outside a U.S. Army outpost in a violent rampage his lawyers have said was brought on by stress fueled with alcohol and drugs.

Bales, 39, will enter the plea June 5 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state as part of an agreement in which the government will not seek the death penalty, according to his lawyer, John Henry Browne.

“I didn’t think we’d be getting to this point, but if they take the death penalty off the table, we’re able to work it out,” Browne said in an interview.

The plea must be approved by the military court. Browne said the agreement called for Bales to admit to the killings essentially as charged and present a full accounting to the court of what happened on the night of March 11, 2012. Bales is accused of stealing into a series of residential compounds outside Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan and slaughtering the people inside.

A full sentencing hearing will be held in September, during which a military panel will determine whether Bales, a father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., should be entitled to future parole. A conviction of premeditated murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

“There will be many, many mental health experts who will explain Robert’s state of mind and reasons why life with parole is appropriate,” Browne said.

Defense attorneys initially had considered mounting an insanity defense, but such cases are difficult to prove, especially in military court. Military legal analysts say there has never been a successful insanity defense in a military murder case.

Bales recently underwent a comprehensive mental health review by Army psychiatrists. Following the review, Browne and his co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, decided against trying to prove he was not mentally responsible for his crimes.

During his preliminary hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, a parade of witnesses testified that Bales was seen returning to the Army compound with blood on his boots and clothing and as much as admitted that he had killed people that night outside the base.

“He said he’d just been to Al-Kozai, shot some people … shot some military-age males. And I said, ‘No you didn’t,’ ” Sgt. Jason McLaughlin testified.

Prosecutors linked DNA evidence at the crime scene to the staff sergeant and also connected his weapon to the shootings, which in addition to the 16 people dead, left six other people wounded.

Defense lawyers have said Bales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after several extremely emotional incidents during his previous three combat deployments, including a bombing that blew the legs off a colleague during his fourth deployment, shortly before the killings. He also had a concussive head injury.

The defense has also argued that Bales was muddled as a result of being supplied by fellow soldiers with steroids and alcohol at the remote special operations base in southern Afghanistan.

“We’re going to be presenting all the mitigating evidence, and all the state of mind evidence, at the September hearing,” Browne said.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD –  Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier accused of killing more than a dozen Afghan civilians, will be back in court Tuesday morning.

Army doctors recently gave Bales a mental health evaluation to try to understand his state of mind at the time of the killings and to determine if he is fit to stand trial.

Prosecutors allege that Bales left the base he was stationed at and killed 16 people, mostly women and children, during predawn raids on March 11, 2012.  The prosecution and the defense will each present their case in the motion hearing.

Bales is to be court-martialed on premeditated murder and other charges in the attack on two villages in southern Afghanistan. The trial to scheduled to begin Sept. 3.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD — Sgt Robert Bales, who is accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers and is scheduled to face a military court on Sept. 3, will undergo a sanity review, the Army confirmed.

The review will begin on Sunday. The military does not have a timeline as to how long the review will last.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCORD — Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers, is tentatively scheduled to face a  military court marital on Sept. 3.

Bales’ lawyer John Henry Browne confirmed Thursday that a military judge scheduled the court martial trial date. However, Browne said he will likely try to postpone the trial in order to give his team more time to prepare.

The charges against Bales include 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with five other charges. In the incident on March 11, Bales allegedly shot 22 Afghan civilians.

JBLM’s Gary Dangerfield could not confirm the date of trail.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD– Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 villagers in Afghanistan, deferred to enter a plea when he appeared Thursday morning for his arraignment hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Thursday was the first time Bales appeared in court since a two-week pretrial hearing in November. He faces 16 murder charges, and other counts of attempted murder. The military said in December that a death penalty against Bales will be pursued.

Bales’ attorney, John Henry Browne, said he objects to portions of a judge-mandated psychological evaluation ordered Wednesday to evaluate the mental health of Bales in anticipation of a full trial. Browne wants private neuro-psychologists to be part of the evaluation; not just military doctors.

“Keep in mind these doctors are not independent doctors these are doctors who work for the army and the army’s trying to kill my client,” Browne said. “So we have concerns about that.”

No U.S. Military member has been executed in the United States since 1961.

The Army presented evidence during a pretrial hearing in November that included surveillance video, interviews with Afghan soldiers and Afghan witnesses. DNA evidence and blood samples on his rifle were also taken from the scene.

Bales allegedly admitted the killings to his fellow soldiers, and kept saying “I thought I was doing the right thing,” the Army prosecution asserted.

Brown said his client suffered from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder that went a long way in determing the mental health of Bales in his fourth tour of duty. He said Bales won’t be able to get a fair trial unless the process is slowed down.

“Is politics driving this case? I think unfortunately it is,” Brown said. “(Bales) is a strong person, I think he would agree with what I just said… he feels a bit abandoned by the army.”