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MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): We turn to two Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole today for murdering 16 civilians in a solo nighttime rampage in Afghanistan last March. Most of his victims were women and children.
Today's sentence was the toughest the six-member military jury could impose. The 40-year-old staff sergeant pleaded guilty in June, which spared him the death penalty.
Adam Ashton has been covering this trial for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, and joins us now.
Adam Ashton, welcome.
What was this jury weighing in trying to decide what sentence to impose? Well, first of all, what were their options?
ADAM ASHTON, The News Tribune: They only had two options.
Murder has a mandatory minimum life sentence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so Bales only had a choice -- option today of life with parole or life without parole.
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