By Jay Sekulow
The left's outrage over the IRS turns to a plea to 'move on'
The American soldier charged with killing 16 Afghan civilians during nighttime raids on two villages last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to avoid the death penalty, setting the stage for him to recount the horrific slaughter in a military courtroom.
Lawyers for Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier who stands accused of killing 16 citizens while in Afghanistan, say he has struck a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
The U.S. soldier accused of carrying out the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians during nighttime raids on two villages last year deferred entering a plea Thursday to charges that could bring the death penalty.
Army prosecutors on Tuesday asked an investigative officer to recommend a death penalty court-martial for an Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a predawn rampage, saying that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales committed "heinous and despicable crimes."
The soldier accused of killing 16 villagers in a nighttime rampage in Afghanistan returned to his base wearing a cape and with the blood of his victims on his rifle, belt, shirt and pants, a military prosecutor said Monday.
The U.S. soldier accused of carrying out one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is due to appear in a military courtroom Monday, where prosecutors will lay out for the first time their case that he slaughtered 16 people, including children, during a predawn raid on two villages in the Taliban's heartland.
The Army dropped a murder charge, but added others, including steroid use, against a soldier accused in a deadly shooting rampage in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Friday.
The soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers was on his way to a U.S. military prison, a senior defense official said Friday, as the soldier's attorney spoke of the impact the fighting had on his client.
The young man who gained international notoriety as the "Barefoot Bandit" while evading police in stolen planes, boats and cars during a two-year crime spree pleaded guilty Friday to dozens of state charges that could keep him in prison for the next decade.
He's set to plead guilty to premeditated murder, attorney Emma Scanlan said in an email to Reuters.
U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghanis strikes deal to avoid death penalty →
For the last five U.S. courts-martial in which the death penalty was a possible punishment, the average elapsed time from date of referral to date of trial was one year and eight months, she wrote.
