Inside Afghan Killer’s “Emotional” Talk With Lawyer

When lawyer John Henry Browne met with accused Afghan killer Robert Bales at Fort Leavenworth, he may have gotten more than he bargained for. The attorney representing the U.S. soldier who is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians met with his client, Staff Sgt Bales today and described the encounter as “emotional.”

“What’s going on on the ground in Afghanistan, you read about it, I read about it, but it’s totally different when you hear about it from somebody who’s been there,” said John Henry Browne, who has represented several infamous members of America’s rogues gallery, including serial killer Ted Bundy and the teenage robber named the Barefoot Bandit.

Earlier, Browne’s team had said that it was “too early” to know what factors “may have played into this incident” (the alleged mass murder of 16 Afghan civilians to be precise), but a former army doc gave a possible preview of trial testimony, saying: “It is PTSD plus something,” he said. “To kill innocent women and children indicates to me that something happened during these killings that was simply more than the product of PTSD.”

Among things that may have been getting to the Army sniper? His Washington state home was in default and set to sell for less than $50k, a lot less than what he and his wife had originally paid for it.

Do you think Staff Sgt Robert Bales will be found innocent or guilty of the charges leveled against him?