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KABUL, Afghanistan One of the 17 murder counts that the United States military filed against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is for the death of the unborn baby of one of his victims, a senior Afghan police official said on Monday.
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Sergeant Bales was formally charged Friday with 17 counts of murder and 6 counts of assault and attempted murder. Afghan officials have said, however, that 16 villagers were killed in the March 11 massacre in a rural area of Kandahar Province.
An additional murder count for an unborn baby would explain the discrepancy between American and Afghan officials over the number of dead.
The Americans are right and one of the females was pregnant, which is why they are saying 17, said the Afghan police official, Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq, the police chief in Kandahar Province.
American officials were not immediately available for comment, and a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force referred all questions to the United States Army in Washington State, where Sergeant Baless unit was based.
The explanation came as Sergeant Baless wife, Kari, appeared in her first television interview and defended her husband, saying that he did not show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and that she did not believe he could have committed such a massacre of civilians, including women and children. He loves children, and he would not do that, she told NBCs Today Show. Its heartbreaking.
She described her husband as a very tough guy who did not appear to suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress, like nightmares. But, she said, he shielded me from a lot of what he went through.
Afghan and American officials said that American officials paid compensation to the family members of the 16 dead and 6 wounded victims last Saturday; at the rate of $50,000 for each fatality and $11,000 for each injury, that totals $866,000.
Other Afghan officials still insisted Monday that only 16 persons were killed in the rampage on March 11. The foreigners have made a mistake, said Ahmed Jawed Faisal, head of the Kandahar Media Information Center. There is no 17th person dead. According to our records, it is 16.
He released the governments list of the names of those 16 victims, and also said none of the six wounded victims had died.
American military officials also had initially reported that Sergeant Bales had killed 16 civilians.
Charging Sergeant Bales with the death of a fetus would explain the discrepancy and under a seldom-used section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the death of an unborn baby could be considered murder whether or not the killer was aware that a victim was pregnant and whether or not he had intended to kill the fetus.
Section 919a of the code, which also mirrors a similar United States federal law, states, Any person subject to this chapter who engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18) to a child who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section.
The section says, however, that the death penalty cannot be imposed in the death of the fetus, although it could be for premeditated murder of the mother. The section also exempts medical abortions from any penalty.
It was not immediately clear whether the mother of the murdered fetus was among the dead or the wounded in the case. Of the six wounded victims, three remain hospitalized. No autopsies were performed on the victims, who were buried immediately in accordance with local and Islamic customs.
The militarys charge sheet against Sergeant Bales lists 17 counts of murder with premeditation, and it lists the names of 16 of the victims although those names are redacted on copies of the sheet released by the Army. On the fifth count, or specification, of murder, however, there is no name given, and the charge reads that Sergeant Bales murdered a male of apparent Afghan descent by means of shooting him with a firearm.
An unborn victim would not yet have had a name.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/w...victim-of-killing-spree.html?ref=global-home#
Related
Afghan in Army Uniform Kills 2 NATO Troops (March 27, 2012)
U.S. Pays Families of Afghan Victims in Massacre by Soldier (March 26, 2012)
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Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines.
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Readers Comments
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Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (28) »
Sergeant Bales was formally charged Friday with 17 counts of murder and 6 counts of assault and attempted murder. Afghan officials have said, however, that 16 villagers were killed in the March 11 massacre in a rural area of Kandahar Province.
An additional murder count for an unborn baby would explain the discrepancy between American and Afghan officials over the number of dead.
The Americans are right and one of the females was pregnant, which is why they are saying 17, said the Afghan police official, Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq, the police chief in Kandahar Province.
American officials were not immediately available for comment, and a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force referred all questions to the United States Army in Washington State, where Sergeant Baless unit was based.
The explanation came as Sergeant Baless wife, Kari, appeared in her first television interview and defended her husband, saying that he did not show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and that she did not believe he could have committed such a massacre of civilians, including women and children. He loves children, and he would not do that, she told NBCs Today Show. Its heartbreaking.
She described her husband as a very tough guy who did not appear to suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress, like nightmares. But, she said, he shielded me from a lot of what he went through.
Afghan and American officials said that American officials paid compensation to the family members of the 16 dead and 6 wounded victims last Saturday; at the rate of $50,000 for each fatality and $11,000 for each injury, that totals $866,000.
Other Afghan officials still insisted Monday that only 16 persons were killed in the rampage on March 11. The foreigners have made a mistake, said Ahmed Jawed Faisal, head of the Kandahar Media Information Center. There is no 17th person dead. According to our records, it is 16.
He released the governments list of the names of those 16 victims, and also said none of the six wounded victims had died.
American military officials also had initially reported that Sergeant Bales had killed 16 civilians.
Charging Sergeant Bales with the death of a fetus would explain the discrepancy and under a seldom-used section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the death of an unborn baby could be considered murder whether or not the killer was aware that a victim was pregnant and whether or not he had intended to kill the fetus.
Section 919a of the code, which also mirrors a similar United States federal law, states, Any person subject to this chapter who engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18) to a child who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section.
The section says, however, that the death penalty cannot be imposed in the death of the fetus, although it could be for premeditated murder of the mother. The section also exempts medical abortions from any penalty.
It was not immediately clear whether the mother of the murdered fetus was among the dead or the wounded in the case. Of the six wounded victims, three remain hospitalized. No autopsies were performed on the victims, who were buried immediately in accordance with local and Islamic customs.
The militarys charge sheet against Sergeant Bales lists 17 counts of murder with premeditation, and it lists the names of 16 of the victims although those names are redacted on copies of the sheet released by the Army. On the fifth count, or specification, of murder, however, there is no name given, and the charge reads that Sergeant Bales murdered a male of apparent Afghan descent by means of shooting him with a firearm.
An unborn victim would not yet have had a name.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/w...victim-of-killing-spree.html?ref=global-home#
