UPDATE — Army cooperates with W.Va. in murder case

Associated Press HUNTINGTON — The Army will allow West Virginia to prosecute two alleged deserters accused of killing a Huntington minister before pursuing its own disciplinary action. The Army is putting its own charges “on the back burner,” Wayne County Sheriff David Pennington said Friday. The Army says Spc. Daniel Smith, 22, of Newport News, Va., and Pfc. Stephen Wilson, 19, of Cincinnati went AWOL in early May from Fort Drum in New York, where they served as infantrymen with the 10th Mountain Division. While he couldn’t comment on Smith and Wilson specifically, Fort Drum public information officer Capt. Fredrick Harrell said the Army typically court-martials deserters — soldiers who have been AWOL for more than 30 days — under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Right now, however, the Army is cooperating with West... [read full story]