7-year-olds testify against U.S. soldier

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Two 7-year-old Afghan girls testified Sunday during an evidentiary hearing for U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of a shooting spree that killed 16.

Bales has not entered a plea in the case, in which he is charged with 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the March 11 attack on two villages in the Panjwai district in Afghanistan, CNN reported Sunday.

John Henry Brown, Bales' attorney, tried to establish discrepancies between the testimony heard Saturday and Sunday during the hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash.

One 7-year-old girl described the man who shot her in the head as wearing tan pants and a black T-shirt. Victims who took the stand Saturday said the man was wearing camouflage pants and a tan T-shirt, CNN reported.

Brown has said Bales suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and had a traumatic brain injury on a previous deployment to Iraq.

The result of the evidentiary hearing will determine whether Bales can be court-martialed or even face the death penalty.