The sentencing hearing for a US soldier who killed 16 Afghan civilians last year is set to begin on Tuesday as his lawyers promise new evidence.
Staff Sgt Robert Bales, 39, admitted to the March 2012 massacre in June as part of a deal to avoid execution.
On the night of the killings he was serving his fourth tour of duty and had been drinking alcohol and using Valium.
His lawyers plan to suggest an anti-malarial drug affected his mental state and contributed to the violence.
Most of the victims were women or children, and many were shot in the head.
The sentencing hearing is set to begin on Tuesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. A jury will decide whether or not Sgt Bales will ever be eligible for parole.
Lawyers for Sgt Bales have indicated they will present evidence that during one of his prior deployments to Iraq, Sgt Bales was prescribed the anti-malaria drug mefloquine.
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the drug could cause long-term neurological damage and psychiatric side effects that can "persist or become permanent".
"Our general theme is that Sgt Bales snapped," said John Henry Browne, one of his civilian lawyers.
"That's kind of our mantra, and we say that because of all the things we know: the number of deployments, the head injuries, the PTSD, the drugs, the alcohol."
Call for executionDefence lawyers have said Sgt Bales is contrite about the killings, and described him as "crazed" and "broken" on the night of the attack.
When asked in June by military judge Col Jeffery Nance why he had carried out the murders, Sgt Bales responded: "There's not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did."
If he is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, Bales will be eligible for parole in 10 years.
The villagers in Kandahar province, where the murders occurred, have argued that he has been treated far too leniently and should be hanged.
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