Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Sunday Shooter has been indicted for murder
17 times.
The U.S. military on Friday formally charged Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of premeditated murder, meaning the 38-year-old soldier could face the death penalty if convicted of a March 11 rampage in southern Afghanistan.The Army is clinging to the single shooter story. Given the logistics of dealing with Afghan witnesses, the only thing slower than the US withdrawal from Afghanistan will be the trial.
The military also said for the first time that nine children were killed and four were wounded in the early morning incident in southern Kandahar province. Their ages were unspecified and the manner of their deaths wasn't released, nor was any motive for the killings, which have shocked Americans and Afghans alike and raised new challenges for an orderly U.S. exit from the decade-long war in Afghanistan...
Bales was informed of the charges against him at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he's been held since March 16, officials said. The next phase of his case will be what is called an Article 32 hearing — the equivalent of a preliminary hearing in a civilian court — which will take place at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash., where Bales has been based for the past decade.
Under military rules, that hearing, where an investigating officer will determine whether there's sufficient evidence to bring Bales to trial, must take place within 120 days of his arrest, which was March 11. The military court can, however, add to that time based on lawyers' requests.
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