An involuntary manslaughter case against a soldier charged with killing his roommate in Annandale has been dismissed so that the Army can pursue a murder charge against him, authorities said yesterday.
Spec. Wayne S. Grimm, 22, had been held without bond in the Fairfax County jail since the fatal shooting Feb. 13 of Spec. Michael Kenagy, 24.
Spec. Wayne S. Grimm is accused of fatally shooting his roommate.
(Courtesy of Fairfax Police)
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But Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said yesterday that he received a letter from the Army, asking that Grimm be turned over to military authorities for prosecution on a murder charge. At Grimm's preliminary hearing Monday, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, and Fairfax General District Court Judge William J. Minor threw out the manslaughter charge and released Grimm from jail.
"I was willing to defer to the Army," Horan said, "because they are dealing with service members, both the defendant and the victim. They certainly have a first-rate interest, and Virginia couldn't get any bigger penalty than they [the military] could get."
Horan said the charge he would have pursued would have been involuntary manslaughter, with a maximum penalty of 10 years. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, if Grimm is prosecuted in a general court-martial, he could face a penalty of up to life in prison, said Army spokeswoman Tara McCabe.
But Horan said yesterday that he was not happy to learn that the Army had released Grimm and reassigned him to a different company of the ceremonial Old Guard unit at Fort Myer in Arlington.
"He did kill somebody," Horan said. "It's hard to believe he immediately got charged with murder, and then they put him on the street." He said the Army had assured him that Grimm would remain in custody.
Grimm and Kenagy were members of the Old Guard unit, and both lived in an apartment in the 6800 block of Perry Penney Drive, just off Little River Turnpike.
Court records indicated that the two men argued about whether one was playing his music too loudly. Grimm allegedly fired a handgun at his bedroom door, not knowing that Kenagy was standing right behind it, police said. The single shot to the upper body fatally wounded Kenagy.
Kenagy was a native of Oregon. His wife, Julie Kenagy, said in February that Grimm was her husband's closest friend in the military.
Col. Sarah Green, the staff judge advocate for the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, requested that Grimm be turned over to the military system, McCabe said. Green's office will assist an investigating officer from the Old Guard unit, and witnesses will be called to a hearing in which they may be questioned by both the investigator and Grimm's attorneys.
The investigator will then make a recommendation about whether the murder charge should stand or be reduced, and whether a court-martial should proceed. Maj. Gen. Galen B. Jackman, commander of the Military District of Washington, will decide what charges and what type of court-martial Grimm should face, McCabe said.
Grimm's attorney, Edward J. Regan, did not return a call yesterday seeking comment.
