It won’t just be that one sergeant on trial

Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: It won’t just be that one sergeant on trial

The as-yet unnamed soldier who opened fire on 16 civilians in Afghanistan is being represented by Seattle Attorney John Henry Browne (AP Photo/file)

The as-yet unnamed soldier who opened fire on 16 civilians in Afghanistan is being represented by Seattle Attorney John Henry Browne — who has actually defended a suspect in a massacre before: Benjamin Ng, one of three men accused of executing 13 people in a Seattle Gambling club in 1983. He got him off with life in prison.

But in this case, he’ll find himself dealing with the military justice system. Which he says is already leaking inaccurate information, saying his client’s marriage was in trouble. Implying there was domestic violence. All untrue, he says.

I asked him why they’d say that.

“I think that there’s going to be an effort to characterize my client as some sort of a rogue soldier, taking the focus off the fact that there’s probably a lot of people who have PTSD and other things perhaps,” said Browne.

Listen to full interview with Seattle Attorney John Henry Browne

And will this end up putting the war itself on trial?

“Personally, I’ve for some time questioned why we’re involved in the longest war in history in Afghanistan,” said Browne. “If there is a dialogue that comes out of this about being there and why we should be there then I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to that. That’s completely different than representing my client.”

That’s his job, representing his client. For an attorney who’s handled a lot of high profile cases, it doesn’t get any bigger than this.

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