Two Afghan National Army guards testified via a live video stream from Afghanistan, recounting what they had seen in the pre-dawn darkness outside a base the night prosecutors say a U.S. soldier massacred 16 civilians.
One guard recounted that a man had arrived at the base and did not stop even after he asked him three times to do so. Later in the night, the second guard said, he saw a soldier leave the base — laughing as he went.
The guards did not say the soldier was the same person nor did they identify the man as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of carrying out the March 11 attack on two villages near the base in southern Afghanistan.
Prosecutors say Bales broke his shooting rampage into two episodes, attacking one village, returning to the base and then departing again to raid another.
The guards testified at an overnight session of a hearing in Bales' case that will help determine whether he faces a court-martial. Bales could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
The hearing was also expected to feature testimony from two victims and four relatives of victims. Like the guards, they were scheduled to speak by live video to a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Dressed in green fatigues, the first guard, named Nematullah, testified from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday night, saying he had told the man who arrived around 1:30 a.m. to stop.
The guard said the man came toward him, said "how are you" in an Afghan language and went inside the base.
Under cross-examination from Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, who traveled to Afghanistan to question the witnesses, the guard said he saw the man but could not identify him.
Browne pressed further, asking if the guard could describe the soldier at all. The guard said he was white and well built, but those were the only details he could provide.
Nematullah also said the soldier was coming from the north, which is the direction of a village that prosecutors say Bales attacked first in the nighttime rampage March 11.
Later in the night, a second guard, Tosh Ali, said he replaced Nematullah and saw an American leaving the base around 2:30 a.m. The man greeted Ali as well with "how are you" in an Afghan language, and was laughing as he walked away.
Bales, a 39-year-old Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the attack in southern Afghanistan.
Prosecutors say that Bales wore a T-shirt, cape and night-vision goggles — no body armor — when he slipped away from his remote post, Camp Belambay.
In between his attacks, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep.
Nine children were among the victims, and 11 of the victims were from the same family.
On Thursday, a U.S. Army DNA expert testified that Bales had the blood of at least four people on his clothes and guns when he surrendered.
The blood of two males and two females was discovered on Bales' pants, shirt, gloves, rifle and other items, said Christine Trapolsi, an examiner at the Army's Criminal Investigation Laboratory.
To preserve the evidence, she said she only tested a portion of the bloodstains and it's possible more DNA profiles could be discovered through additional testing.
One guard recounted that a man had arrived at the base and did not stop even after he asked him three times to do so. Later in the night, the second guard said, he saw a soldier leave the base — laughing as he went.
The guards did not say the soldier was the same person nor did they identify the man as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of carrying out the March 11 attack on two villages near the base in southern Afghanistan.
Prosecutors say Bales broke his shooting rampage into two episodes, attacking one village, returning to the base and then departing again to raid another.
The guards testified at an overnight session of a hearing in Bales' case that will help determine whether he faces a court-martial. Bales could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
The hearing was also expected to feature testimony from two victims and four relatives of victims. Like the guards, they were scheduled to speak by live video to a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Dressed in green fatigues, the first guard, named Nematullah, testified from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday night, saying he had told the man who arrived around 1:30 a.m. to stop.
The guard said the man came toward him, said "how are you" in an Afghan language and went inside the base.
Under cross-examination from Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, who traveled to Afghanistan to question the witnesses, the guard said he saw the man but could not identify him.
Browne pressed further, asking if the guard could describe the soldier at all. The guard said he was white and well built, but those were the only details he could provide.
Nematullah also said the soldier was coming from the north, which is the direction of a village that prosecutors say Bales attacked first in the nighttime rampage March 11.
Later in the night, a second guard, Tosh Ali, said he replaced Nematullah and saw an American leaving the base around 2:30 a.m. The man greeted Ali as well with "how are you" in an Afghan language, and was laughing as he walked away.
Bales, a 39-year-old Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the attack in southern Afghanistan.
Prosecutors say that Bales wore a T-shirt, cape and night-vision goggles — no body armor — when he slipped away from his remote post, Camp Belambay.
In between his attacks, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep.
Nine children were among the victims, and 11 of the victims were from the same family.
On Thursday, a U.S. Army DNA expert testified that Bales had the blood of at least four people on his clothes and guns when he surrendered.
The blood of two males and two females was discovered on Bales' pants, shirt, gloves, rifle and other items, said Christine Trapolsi, an examiner at the Army's Criminal Investigation Laboratory.
To preserve the evidence, she said she only tested a portion of the bloodstains and it's possible more DNA profiles could be discovered through additional testing.