US Soldier To Plead Guilty A US soldier charged with murdering 16 Afghans, including several women and children, after slipping away from his base is to plead guilty in order to avoid execution. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales will plead guilty to charges of premeditated murder on June 5 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where he has been awaiting court martial, according to lawyer John Henry Browne. The plea deal must be approved by the judge in the case and the commanding general. A sentencing-phase trial will then determine whether Bales is jailed for life with or without the possibility of parole. As part of the deal Bales will give an account of what happened on the night of the March 11, 2012 after he left the remote Camp Belambay outpost in southern Afghanistan. Prosecutors say he killed 16 people, including 11 members of the same family, on a rampage through two separate villages. Some of the bodies were piled up and burned in the mud-walled compounds. An Afghan villager points to the spot where some of the victims died Lawyers for the 39-year-old married father of two have previously said he remembers little or nothing of the events. Bales joined the Army in late 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and as his career as a stockbroker imploded. He was serving his fourth combat tour after three stints in Iraq. In a lengthy and graphic pre-trial hearing in November, witnesses testified that he appeared calm after being apprehended covered in his alleged victims' blood. They said Bales did things and made statements that indicated he understood what he had done and the consequences of his actions. No motive has emerged in the attacks. The massacre sparked angry protests in Afghanistan The killing sparked protests in Afghanistan and forced the US military to temporarily halt combat operations. If the plea deal were accepted it could result in further anger. In April, relatives of the victims told AP they would get revenge if Bales escaped the death penalty. "For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers," said Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and two-year-old daughter. Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives died, said: "I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge. The US military justice system has not executed anyone since 1961.