Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington (CNN) -- The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a shooting rampage is sitting in a military courtroom for the next week or more, hearing the evidence against him. The Article 32 hearing began Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state to determine if a trial is warranted for U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who could get the death penalty if convicted. The deadly shooting spree near a small U.S. base in Afghanistan's Kandahar province last March strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal.
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NEW: Bales told a captain "I'm sorry I let you down," the officer testifies
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A sergeant says Bales told him he had been in a village and "shot some people up"
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Another soldier testifies Bales watched a movie and drank Jack Daniels whiskey before attacks
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The U.S. soldier is charged with assault, attempted murder, 16 counts of premeditated murder
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"Interpreters were spit on because the people knew they worked for @placeholder," so the U.S. soldiers stayed out of sight to avoid a confrontation, he testified.