The US Army Staff Sergeant accused of murdering 16 civilians including nine children in Afghanistan last year is expected to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty.

The rampage on 11 March 2013 was one of the worst atrocities in the Afghanistan War, and became known as the Kandahar Massacre.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales of Ohio enlisted in the Army after the 911 attacks, just after his stock trading career came crashing to a halt amid accusations he engaged in financial fraud with an elderly couple’s retirement savings.  Bales spent that decade serving three tours of duty in the Iraq War and suffered a traumatic brain injury on the third.  Despite this, US officials rotated Bales into Afghanistan. 

On the night of the massacre, Bales were reportedly drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium with friends.  He was also taking steroids before the attack.  Prosecutors say he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost not once but twice, carrying out the murders in each trip.  Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned.

The surviving Afghan villagers said they would be satisfied with nothing less than the death penalty.

The plea hearing is set for June, and sentencing should take place in September.