The US soldier accused of one of the most notorious atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has appeared in a military courtroom, where prosecutors were laying out their case against him.
Prosecutors allege Staff Sergeant Robert Bales killed 16 people on March 11, including children, during a pre-dawn raid on two villages in the Taliban's heartland.
Prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Jay Morse testified on Monday that Bales returned to his base the night of the killings wearing a cape and with the blood of his victims on his rifle, belt, shirt and pants.
The suspect was incredulous when fellow US soldiers drew their weapons on him when he returned to Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan last March, Lt Col Morse said.
Bales, 39, is accused of slipping away from a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan with an M-4 rifle outfitted with a grenade launcher to attack the villages of Balandi and Alkozai in Panjwai district of Kandahar Province.
A married father-of-two from Lake Tapps, Wash., Bales is facing 16 counts of premeditated murder, as well as other charges of attempted murder, assault and steroid use.
Nine of the dead were children, and 11 were members of the same family. Six others were wounded, and some of the bodies were set on fire.
The prosecutor said on Monday that Bales returned to the base at one point, telling a colleague about shooting people at a village.
The soldier apparently took it as a bad joke and responded: "Quit messing around."
Prosecutors played for the first time a video captured by a surveillance blimp that showed a caped figure running toward the base, then stopping and dropping his weapons as he's confronted. There is no audio. Lt Cl Morse said Bales was the caped figure.
According to Lt Cl Morse, after being taken into custody Bales said: "I thought I was doing the right thing."
The session at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord marked the start of a preliminary hearing before an investigative officer charged with recommending whether Bales' case should proceed to a court martial.
During such hearings defendants have the right to make sworn or unsworn statements, but Bales' lawyers said he would not speak because they do not think he would gain anything by doing so.
"This hearing is important for all of us in terms of learning what the government can actually prove," said Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne.
Part of the hearing was to be held overnight to allow video testimony from witnesses in Afghanistan.
For his appearance, Bales wore green military fatigues and said "sir, yes, sir," when asked if he understood his rights.
Bales joined the Army in late 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and as his career as a stockbroker imploded.
He was serving his fourth combat tour after three stints in Iraq, and his arrest prompted a national discussion about the stresses posed by multiple deployments.
No motive has emerged in the attacks. Bales remembers little or nothing from that time, his lawyers have said.
American officials have said they believe Sgt Bales broke the slaughter into two episodes - walking first to one village, returning to the base and slipping away again to carry out the second attack.
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