WATERTOWN (AP) -- A Fort Drum soldier wounded during a 2009 tour in Afghanistan will stand trial in February on charges he killed a 4-month-old baby he and his wife were trying to adopt.
Jeffrey Sliker, who joined the Army in 2008, was charged with murder in March in the death of Laurne Clark, also known as Mollie Sliker.
She was found dead with a head injury at the couple's home in northern New York after Sliker's wife alerted authorities.
After a conference Friday, Jefferson County District Attorney Cindy Intschert says attorneys agreed on a Feb. 27 trial date.
Sliker and his wife had been looking after the baby since birth under a court-approved adoption. The 23-year-old Rhode Island native was awarded a Purple Heart for an unspecified battle injury in August 2009.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
