AP

Charges are likely to filed this week against an American soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales met with his attorney, John Henry Browne, for the first time Monday. The meeting, which Browne described as one of the most emotional of his life, lasted three and a half hours. A second meeting is planned for Monday afternoon.

Bales is currently in solitary confinement at a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

During the meeting, Browne said Bales confirmed a story first recounted by Bales' family, that a friend's leg had been blown off by a roadside bomb. Bales' clarified that it happened two days prior to the Afghan shootings, not hours before as had first been reported, and that he did not witness the explosion but saw the aftermath.

Browne has represented several high-profile clients, including serial killer Ted Bundy and more recently the "Barefoot Bandit," Colton Harris-Moore, who gained international attention for stealing planes, boats and cars. Bales' wife brought Browne into the case after seeing him on TV.

Browne reportedly plans to focus on the rapid turnover from stateside to overseas repeatedly-deploying soldiers face, even when suffering from injuries. According to CBS News correspondent Peter Van Sant, a number of sources outside Bales' defense team have described the pre-deployment evaluation process for soldiers with concussive brain injuries, which Bales reportedly had, as a "bit of a cursory medical examination."

"The idea is to try to get these people back out into the field as quickly as possible," Van Sant said.

Van Sant reports that Browne's main goal is to make sure Bales doesn't get the death penalty.