"Rogue Soldier" Update

He will now be media cast as "Victim Soldier" ....

The US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers was upset by a serious injury sustained by an army comrade the day before the massacre, but held no animosity toward Muslims, his lawyer has said.

The 38-year-old army sergeant, being held in Kuwait, was also unhappy about being sent to Afghanistan, having earlier been told he would not be redeployed after three tours in Iraq, according to his Seattle-based civilian attorney.

  Raw Story

Wow. I'm guessing either this is not a highly paid lawyer, or he's got more up his sleeve. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, my client was unhappy and upset, but he harbors no grudge against Muslims.”

The soldier, a married father-of-two is not being named, and his family has moved to a military base south of Seattle because of security fears and concerns about possible retaliation for the attack.

No, they did it because their lawyer figured it would get more publicity and help his cause. Who the hell in this country is going to retaliate? Has any one of the war criminals to date been retaliated against on American soil?

“We have been informed that at this small base that he was at, somebody was gravely injured the day before the alleged incident, which affects all of the soldiers there,” attorney John Henry Browne said in Seattle on Thursday.

Yes, but not all of them went out and slaughtered innocent people in the middle of the night.

The New York Times said the suspect, a career soldier originally from the Midwest, had been drinking at the time of the shootings, was stressed over his fourth deployment and had been experiencing tensions with his wife.

Now, that makes more sense. He couldn't get at the wife.

But the Seattle lawyer, who has taken on high-profile cases before, questioned the report, saying there were no marital problems although stress could be a factor.

[...]

Browne is known for representing Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called “Barefoot Bandit,” who was found guilty of a string of audacious crimes across the United States and sentenced in January to six-and-a-half years in prison.

Let it be noted that Harris-Moore's crimes did not include murder or bodily injury to anyone, mostly they were stolen property and breaking and entering. Mostly he pissed people off because he evaded capture for two years. And he got six-and-a-half years for it. How good is this lawyer?

Well, at least he has more than just, “Your honor, my client was unhappy.” A lot more. Why in hell was this guy redeployed to Afghanistan?

The soldier had been injured twice during his three previous deployments to Iraq and was loathe to go to Afghanistan to begin with, Browne said.

In Iraq he had suffered a concussive head injury in a car accident caused by a roadside bomb, and sustained a battle-related injury that resulted in surgery to remove part of his foot.

  UK Guardian

And Browne's also setting the rest of the stage props, by moving the family, and shaping the backstory.

Browne and his co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, said they had met with the soldier's wife and other family members, and Browne said he spoke briefly by phone with the soldier, whom he described as stunned and distant. "[The family] were totally shocked," he said. "He's never said anything antagonistic about Muslims. He's in general very mild-mannered."

Browne said he knew little of the facts of the shooting but disputed reports that a combination of alcohol, stress and domestic issues caused him to snap. He said the family were unaware of any drinking problem and described the couple's marriage as "fabulous".

Fabulous, as any marriage might be expected to be considering the circumstances of the soldier's lot.

So maybe this lawyer isn't just a local yokel from Seattle, eh?

Browne once defended the serial killer Ted Bundy and recently represented Colton Harris-Moore, a youthful thief known as the Barefoot Bandit.

Oh-ho.  Ted Bundy.

Lieutenant Colonel Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman at the Lewis-McChord base, said the Pentagon would not release the name of the soldier until he was formally charged.

  UK Guardian

And he will not be charged until the Pentagon has had the scene, the evidence, and the witnesses (both eye and character) scrubbed as thoroughly as possible.  And that fellow soldier (the most likely source) who said the guy was having wife troubles will either shut up or recant.