Soldier Suspected In Afghan Deaths 'Did Not Want To Deploy'

The soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians was reluctant to deploy and was told he was not going to go, according to the defense attorney hired to help represent him.

Seattle-based defense attorney John Henry Browne said in a news conference Thursday that his client had already served three tours in Iraq, during which he lost part of his foot and suffered a head injury when his vehicle crashed after a roadside bomb exploded nearby.

Brown says those injuries and "other reasons" led the soldier to believe he was not going to be sent to Afghanistan.

The soldier, whose name has not been released, went on a shooting rampage killing 9 children and 7 adults, all Afghan civilians, early Sunday morning. He is being flown from Kuwait to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Afghan lawmakers want him to be tried in Afghanistan, but his attorney says he expects a court-martial in the U.S.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says this would be the most high-profile war-crime in the Afghan war and the death penalty is a possibility.