Afghan Killing Charges May Be Filed Against Bales March 22

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-19/bales-shooting-charges-likely-march-22-attorney-says

The U.S. Army will probably file charges on March 22 against Robert Bales, the U.S. Army staff sergeant suspected of killing at least 16 Afghan civilians, said John Henry Browne, the Seattle attorney representing him.

“We know what they are going to say -- it’s something really bad,” Browne said today in an interview in Lansing, Kansas, near the Fort Leavenworth base where Bales is detained. The two men expect to meet “all day today and all day tomorrow,” said Browne, whose only previous contact with Bales was a brief phone call last week.

While the Army is providing Browne extensive access to Bales, the attorney, who said he opposes the war in Afghanistan, said, “I know the military is not happy with having a private lawyer involved.”

Bales, 38, was flown March 16 to a U.S. military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was being held in a medium- security facility in his own cell. Women and children were among the victims of the shootings in two villages in southern Afghanistan on March 11.