JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A brother of the U.S. soldier who slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians last year began making the case Wednesday for why he should one day be eligible for release from prison, portraying him as a patriotic American and indulgent father who let his son put ranch dressing on chocolate chip pancakes.
“There’s no better father that I’ve seen,” William Bales said of his younger brother, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. “If you brought the kids in here today, they’d run right to him.”
Robert Bales, 39, pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty, acknowledging that he slaughtered 16 people, mostly women and children, during unsanctioned, solo, pre-dawn raids on two villages March 11, 2012. A jury is deciding whether he should be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it.
The picture painted by the first defense witness, William Bales, 55, contrasted with that portrayed by the soldier’s admissions, as well as by the testimony of nine Afghan villagers — victims and their relatives — about the horror Bales wrought.
William Bales described how as a teenager his brother cared for a developmentally disabled neighborhood boy. He also described how the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed “good-time Bobby” and how he soon thereafter enlisted in the Army.
