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Soldier's lawyer plans trip to Afghanistan

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Staff Sgt. Robert Bales
In this Aug. 23, 2011 Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. A senior U.S. official, Friday March 16, 2012 identified Bales as the man accused of killing 16 civilians in an attack on Afghan villagers five days ago.
Spc. Ryan Hallock/AP

By JOHN MILBURN
Associated Press

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — The lawyer for the Army staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians is questioning the quality of the evidence against his client and plans to travel to Afghanistan to gather his own.

John Henry Browne says he doesn't know the evidence against Robert Bales, saying there is no forensic evidence or confessions. Browne says the villages where the military believes Bales went on a shooting rampage on March 11 is ``not like a crime scene in the United States.''

The 38-year-old Bales 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.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Staff Sgt. Robert Bales
In this Aug. 23, 2011 Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. A senior U.S. official, Friday March 16, 2012 identified Bales as the man accused of killing 16 civilians in an attack on Afghan villagers five days ago.
Spc. Ryan Hallock/AP