BAUMHOLDER, Germany — A Baumholder-based 1st Armored Division soldier faces a court-martial next month on charges that he struck and killed a German motorcyclist on an autobahn, then fled the scene.

Staff Sgt. Roderick Cuttino of Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Brigade, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, fleeing the scene of a crime and giving a false statement, according to Hilde Patton, a V Corps spokeswoman.

Cuttino is scheduled to be tried Jan. 12 at the Kaiserslautern Trial Center.

The incident took place Aug. 10, 2002. Cuttino was charged Aug. 19, 2003.

Part of the delay between when the incident happened and charges were filed was due to jurisdiction over the case, and part to the deployment of the 1st AD to Iraq in May, Patton said.

German authorities did not give the Army jurisdiction until February, she said. Then jurisdiction switched to V Corps in Heidelberg when former 1st AD commander, then-Maj. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, deployed to Iraq.

The convening authority, Brig. Gen. Donald L. Jacka Jr., V Corp rear detachment (provisional) commander, referred charges to a general court-martial after an Article 32 hearing — the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury — on Sept. 24, Patton said.

Hearing details are part of the court record and won’t be released until the court-martial is complete, she said. Cuttino currently is in the custody of his unit.

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