NATIONAL BRIEFS

GEORGIA: Murder charges for 4 GIs

The Army has filed murder charges against four soldiers in the shooting deaths of an ex-soldier who was part of their brigade and his girlfriend, a spokesman for Fort Stewart said Wednesday. Under military law, soldiers convicted of premeditated murder by a court-martial can be sentenced to death or life in prison. The four were already facing charges in civilian court. Four months ago, fishermen found the bodies of Michael Roark, 19, and Tiffany York, 17. Both had been shot in the head before they were discovered Dec. 5 not far from Fort Stewart, where Roark had been discharged just three days before he was killed. A week after the killings, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested four soldiers who, like Roark, served in the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon face charges of malice murder. Pfc. Michael Burnett and Pvt. Isaac Aguigui are charged with being party to a murder. Authorities have not given a motive for the killings.

FLORIDA: Teen gets life for 2 slayings

Shawn Tyson, 17, was sentenced Wednesday in Sarasota to life in prison for the murder of two British tourists last April. Tyson was ineligible for a death sentence because he is under 18. James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, had spent an evening drinking when they walked into a housing project where Tyson lived. Witnesses testified Tyson intended to rob them, but shot them instead.

PENNSYLVANIA: Sentence in tow truck fight

A former tow truck driver was sentenced Wednesday to spend the rest of his life in prison by a judge who concluded the man deliberately ran over a driver from a rival company in a dispute over turf. Glen McDaniel was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility for parole. Surveillance video showed McDaniel, 27, of Straight Up Towing, repeatedly running over Ray Santiago, 30, of Siani's Towing, shortly before 3 a.m. on Sept. 26, 2010. The men had been in a fistfight earlier.