On Friday, March 23, 2012 United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was formally charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. These are capital charges that can carry a death penalty sentence if found guilty of the crimes brought forth.
The 38 year old soldier is accused of walking off a U.S. military base with his 9mm pistol & an M-4 rifle and opening fire on the general civilian public surrounding the post. The resulting firefight left 17 civilians dead including nine children. It is considered the worst allegations of the decades old war in Afghanistan and has strained relations between Afghanistan and the United States.
It is unclear what prompted the shootings but it has brought national attention to the debate over mental health care for our troops which includes record suicide rates and a high incident rate of PTSD due, in part, to repeated tours to the conflicts overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is a 38 year old husband and father of two. He is currently stationed at Fort Lewis, WA but is being held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. He was in the process of serving his fourth tour overseas after completing three previous ones in Iraq. On his last tour, he suffered an IED blast resulting in a diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury as well as losing half of his foot in a non-combat injury during the deployment.
Altogether, SSG Bales is being formally charged with 29 charges with the possibility of further charges in the days ahead as the investigation into the shooting continues.
The maximum punishment for a premeditated murder conviction is death, dishonorable discharge from the armed forces, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade and total forfeiture of pay and allowances. The mandatory minimum sentence is life imprisonment with the chance of parole.
