Soldier in Afghan Massacre Gets Prominent U.S. Lawyer

A prominent Seattle defense attorney who once represented Ted Bundy said Thursday he will represent the Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan.

John Henry Browne said he talked to the still-unnamed soldier, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, by phone early Thursday morning and is making arrangements to meet with him soon, possibly in Kuwait, where is reportedly being held, the Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune reported.

“We’re making contingency arrangements right now,” said Browne, who was at a government building in Tacoma on a separate matter. “We don’t know where he’s going to be tried.”

At a later news conference in Seattle, he said the soldier had been very upset when somebody in his unit was gravely injured the day before the rampage, the Associated Press reported. He said the suspect had been wounded twice in Iraq and had no prior disciplinary record.

The attorney said the staff sergeant, a married father who was trained as a sniper, asked for him specifically during talks with military officials.

“He’s from here, and he knows who I am,” said Browne, who has represented a number of high-profile clients in the past, including infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, and more recently, “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore.

The staff sergeant currently has a military attorney, Browne added. He declined to divulge any more information about his client or his state of mind, saying he’s worried for the safety of the soldier and his family.

Browne said he was girding himself for a case he called “more political than legal.”