Ex-wife of defense attorney in Afghan killing case: He’s not in over his head

Seattle attorney John Henry Browne is headed for Afghanistan to help build a case for his client, Sgt. Robert Bales. (AP Photo)

The Seattle attorney defending a JBLM soldier accused of
killing 17 Afghan civilians is thought to be in over his
head, but his former wife, attorney Anne Bremner,
disagrees.

“It seems to me that he’s not getting the concept that
he’s not going to have the same influence if this was a
regular civilian trial,” Retired Army Major Mike Lyons
told 97.3 KIRO FM on Wednesday.

While it’s true Browne has only worked on three military
cases, Bremner says ultimately, this case is about
saving Staff Sgt. Robert Bales’ life. She said he’s
already done
a “masterful job” with making the soldier’s life public:
family man, money troubles, seeing his friend’s leg get
blown off, deployed multiple times, and possibly a victim
of post traumatic stress syndrome.

Listen: Anne Bremner
interview

But arguing Bales suffered from PTSD and the effects of
repeated deployments won’t have much of an impact on a
military proceeding, according to Lyons.

“If he’s going to put PTSD on trial and deployments on
trial, he’s got a very big uphill battle.”

But Bremner doesn’t believe Browne is trying to take on
the military, but rather show the public exactly what
Bales was up against. She thinks there’s no arguing the
effects of war have impacted his mental state.

“He’s saying ‘I’m not putting the war on trial, but the
war is on trial,'” she said. “That’s where you capture, I
think public
sentiment and interest in terms of ‘maybe this case is
bigger than it appears and maybe there’s something more
here with this individual that’s happened to him because
of being deployed four times to Afghanistan and other
circumstances.'”

Browne has returned from Fort Leavenworth where Bales is
being held. The charges against Bales include 17 counts of
murder, six counts of attempted murder, and six counts of
aggravated assault as well as dereliction of duty and
other violations of military law, a U.S. official said
Thursday.

Now Browne plans to take off for Afghanistan in an effort
to build his case, but Bremner is worried about his
safety.

“He doesn’t know what awaits him there. There’s all kinds
of danger and someone spoke of him being potentially
arrested for being in cahoots with his client. That’s
pretty dangerous, but John’s a pretty gutsy guy.”

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