( CNN ) -- Special operations troops at a small military outpost in Afghanistan gave alcohol and steroid-like drugs to a U.S. Army sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians , the soldier 's lawyer said Thursday . Attorney John Henry Browne said the special operations troops `` pumped '' Staff Sgt . Robert Bales with the substances . `` He was provided all these things , '' Browne told CNN . `` Special forces were in charge . '' Bales is accused of murder in the death of the 16 civilians , including children , in March 2012 . Prosecutors say Bales slipped off the base after dark and went from house to house , shooting villagers . In addition to the dead , six people were wounded . Witnesses testified last year that Bales had consumed alcohol with other soldiers before the attack . He also was charged with illicit use of steroids and alcohol . Browne said last year that `` steroid use is going to be an issue in this case , especially where Sgt . Bales got steroids and how he got steroids . '' Browne said Wednesday that Bales intends to plead guilty to the killings in exchange for elimination of the death penalty as a possible punishment . If the deal is approved by the military judge and a commanding general , Browne will mount the argument about steroids and alcohol at a penalty phase hearing to determine whether parole will be a possibility as part the life sentence he could receive . The Army would not comment on any potential deal Wednesday . A hearing in the case is scheduled for June 5 . Browne has previously said the Army erred in assigning Bales to another combat tour despite evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury suffered during a combat tour in Iraq . Bales , he said Thursday , was a `` broken man . '' `` We broke him . He never should have been there , '' he said . Browne said he will bring experts in combat stress to the penalty phase hearing , despite the fact that the military has historically not accepted combat stress as the sole explanation for crimes committed by service members . The strategy outlined by Browne is one he has pursued since taking on the case last year . We think the Army is attempting to escape responsibility for the decision to send Sgt . Bales to Afghanistan for his fourth deployment , knowing that he had ( post-traumatic stress disorder ) and a concussive head injury , '' Browne said last year . `` I think that the person who made the decision to send Sgt . Bales to the most dangerous area in Afghanistan in a small outpost is responsible for Sgt . Bales being in Afghanistan , and he should have never been there . '' The shooting spree strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal . Afghan authorities have called for swift action . `` He committed a mass killing crime , and we would like the court in the United States to implement justice and punish him according to the crime , '' said Ahmad Zia Syamak , spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai .
Special ops troops gave alcohol and steroids to soldier accused of killing Afghans , lawyer says . Browne Staff Sgt . John Henry Browne is a `` broken man , '' his lawyer says . He is accused of killing six and wounding 16 American . Attorneys have said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder .