WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is expected to be told today he faces 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with other charges, in connection with a shooting rampage in two southern Afghanistan villages that shocked Americans back home and further roiled U.S.- Afghan relations.

The charges come almost two weeks after the massacre in which Bales allegedly left his base in the early morning hours and shot Afghans, including women and nine children, while they slept in their beds, then burned some of the bodies.

Bales will be read the charges today at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he has been held since being flown from Afghanistan last week, a U.S. official said.

Bales’ civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, said today without commenting on the specific charges that he believes the government will have a hard time proving its case and that at some stage in the prosecution his client’s mental state will be an important issue.

In addition to murder and attempted murder, the charges will include six counts of aggravated assault as well as a number of other violations of military law, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the charges before they were announced.

The 38-year-old soldier and father of two, who lives in Lake Tapps, Wash., faces trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it could be months before any public hearing.

The attorney said today on CBS’ “ This Morning” that he spent 11 hours this week with Bales at Leavenworth and found him to be shocked by the accusations against him.

“He has some memories about what happened before the alleged events and some memories after the alleged events and some windows here and there into things, but he really doesn’t have any memory,” Browne said. “My meetings with him clearly indicate to me that he’s got memory problems that go back long before that.”

Browne said Bales had earlier suffered a “concussive injury which is serious” and that it was “not treated for a variety of reasons,” which Browne did not explain.

Browne said his reaction to the government’s allegations is: “Prove it.” He said he believes the government will have difficulty proving its case because “there is no crime scene” and a lack of important physical evidence like fingerprints.

Military authorities had originally said Bales was suspected in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers, nine children and seven adults. They changed that Thursday to 17, raising the number of adults by one but without explaining how the change came about. It’s possible some of the dead were buried before U.S. military officials arrived at the scene of the carnage. Six Afghans were wounded in the attack.