Charges dropped against two in Miller County murder case
The Miller County prosecutor has dropped accessory to murder charges against two men accused in March of helping get rid of a body.
Prosecuting Attorney Ben Winfrey on Wednesday dropped counts of accessory to first-degree murder and armed criminal action against Daniel Cole, online court records show. Winfrey also dropped those charges in June against William G. Lucas. Cole and Lucas still faces charges of abandoning a corpse.
Winfrey did not immediately respond to a request for more information Friday.
Lucas and Cole were charged in March in the death of Aaron Brantley, 41, of Columbia, whose body was found in a wooded area near Brumley. Brantley was reported missing Feb. 9 and died of an apparent gunshot wound, the Miller County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Investigators say Lucas and Cole helped another man, Christopher W. English, move Brantley’s body after English shot him at a property in rural Miller County. They also helped burn Brantley’s clothes and cellphone and tried to clean the crime scene with bleach, investigators said in probable cause statements.
Cole reportedly told investigators that a large amount of methamphetamine was at the property when the killing happened.
Cole is scheduled to be arraigned on the amended charge Aug. 13. A jury trial in Lucas’ case is scheduled for next March.
The next hearing in English’s case is set for Sept. 23. He’s charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandoning a corpse.
All three are out on bond.
