JUSTICE

Closing Arguments in Bales Hearing

Admitted to killing 16 Afghans.

The final arguments are expected today in the sentencing hearing of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty to murdering 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, last year. "I'm truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away," Bales said yesterday, addressing the court. "I can't comprehend their loss. I think about it every time I look at my kids." Bales's defense has argued the massacre was the result of post-traumatic stress, a brain injury, and a breakdown associated with four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His guilty plea took the death penalty off the table. The court will soon decide whether his life sentence will carry the possibility of parole.