There is no way for Sgt. Bales to avoid hard time (assuming what we have been told is true), but the real crime here is a fourth deployment after a TBI.
If it were up to me I'd put him in a soft-secured re-hab facility just long enough for the public to forget...then let him go home to his family.
As I understand it, his family are “of means” as they say. I don’t think money is an issue here, fortunately.