U.S. lacks "proof" on Afghan shooting: suspect's lawyer

[steve2470]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. authorities lack proof of what occurred the night a U.S. soldier is suspected of killing 16 villagers in Afghanistan, the lawyer representing the serviceman said on Tuesday.

"I'm very concerned now they don't have much proof of anything," attorney John Henry Browne told Reuters after meeting with U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales on Tuesday for a second day in a military detention center in Kansas.

Browne said he has now spent 11 hours with Bales discussing the events of Sunday, March 11, when Bales allegedly walked off his base in southern Afghanistan and gunned down the 16 civilians, including nine children and three women, in a massacre that damaged U.S.-Afghan relations.

Bales, 38, a four-tour combat veteran, has not yet been charged, but Browne told reporters on Tuesday he expected his client to be charged with "homicide and a bunch of other charges" on Thursday. He added that the case could stretch over two years.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/20/us-usa-afghanistan-soldier-idUSBRE82J16C20120320?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71&google_editors_picks=true

[Turbineguy]

1. I hope that Mr Browne

takes the position that his client deserves a fair trial and should get it and not getting him off no matter what.

[tkmorris]

5. I damned sure hope he DOESN"T do as you suggest

As his lawyer it is his job to defend him as best he can, and yes that means "getting him off" if it is possible. That is what a defense lawyer is SUPPOSED to do, and in fact if they don't they are committing an ethical violation.

[MADem]

2. That's what he should be saying. He's a defense lawyer, not a shill for the Afghans or the USG.

If he wasn't vigorously defending his client, he'd be a shitbird lawyer.

USG/Afghan government has plenty of evidence in rebuttal, to include shell casings, forensic evidence, and video showing the accused leaving/returning.

We have to let it play out.

[Historic NY]

3. If its a Military trial , I'm sure eventually Bales will have a military lawyer also.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Has he been moonlighting as an advisor to the Sanford, Florida, police department?