Judge requires sanity review for soldier accused in Afghan massa - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

SEATTLE – Doctors will evaluate the soldier charged with gunning down 16 people in an Afghan village before his attorneys can claim a sanity defense.

The military judge overseeing the case of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales says he will require Bales to undergo an official review of his sanity before he can present any mental health defense to charges of massacring Afghan civilians.

Bales deferred entering a plea Thursday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to 16 counts of premeditated murder and other charges related to a nighttime attack on two villages last March.