JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The Army has dropped all charges against the fifth soldier it had accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport during a 2010 deployment.
Specialist Michael Wagnon had been charged with the unlawful killing of one Afghan civilian. He had been expected to go to trial in March.
In a statement late Friday, Joint Base Lewis-McChord said the charges had been dismissed "in the interest of justice."
Four other soldiers from a Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade have been sent to prison in connection with the killings of three unarmed men during patrols in Kandahar province.
© The Canadian Press, 2012