US soldier upset by comrade's injury before rampage

The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers was en route Friday to a maximum security detention facility at a US military base in Kansas, his lawyer said.

"He's in transit to Fort Leavenworth right now," attorney John Henry Browne told CNN in Seattle.

Browne added that he spoke by phone to his client who sounded unclear of some facts in the case, leading the lawyer to say he was "concerned about his state of mind."

Browne, a high-profile defense lawyer who reportedly defended serial killer Ted Bundy, had planned to speak again by phone with the soldier at 6:00 am (1300 GMT) but learned that his client was being transferred to Fort Leavenworth.

The 38-year-old US Army sergeant had been held in Kuwait after his transfer from Afghanistan, a move which enraged many Afghans who had called for the man to be tried in the country where the massacre was committed.

Browne, a Seattle-based civilian attorney, said stress was likely a factor in the conditions which led a US soldier to allegedly walk out of his base in Afghanistan and turn his weapon on civilians in a pre-dawn rampage last Sunday.

He learned from military officials that "another soldier at this base was brutally attacked the day before this incident and actually had his leg shot off right in front of my client," Browne said.

"Anyone who's in Afghanistan right now, particularly someone who's been in Iraq three times previously and been injured, would obviously be under a great deal of stress. So stress is always a factor," he said.

Browne added that his client, who had suffered head trauma and a foot injury in two separate incidents while deployed overseas, "sounded kind of distant and like a deer in the headlights" when he spoke by phone.

When asked if he believed his client knew what he had done, he responded: "No."

"This is a very serious matter and I certainly understand why the Afghan people and Muslims in general would be upset about it, but I don't know what the facts are," he added.

"He seemed to be unaware of some of the facts that I talked to him about, which makes me concerned about his state of mind obviously."

Browne also said he would be looking into why a soldier who had been wounded twice would be sent back to Afghanistan, apparently for a fourth combat tour.

"We do know he had a concussive head injury. We also know he was injured in his leg severely, and I am somewhat confused as to why they would send him back to Afghanistan," Browne said.

"He was told he was not going to go and then overnight he was told he was going to go, and as a good soldier he did what he was told."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-soldier-upset-comrades-injury-rampage-074315700.html

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