GALESBURG, Illinois—
News 8 has learned a Galesburg soldier is on his way home after a long ordeal involving charges of misconduct. 8 On Your Side Reporter Chris Williams broke this story in January and explains why Specialist Billy Miller is no longer a soldier although he will not be prosecuted.The yellow ribbons outside of Miller's parent's house are expected to come down this week. He's headed home with what Army officials describe as a "less than honorable discharge". Even that label is better than what the Galesburg man could have faced which was up to 10 years in prison.
We first introduced you to Billy's family in January as they tried to get information about their soldier who was in Afghanistan on an involuntary extended tour despite the fact that his Galva based unit had returned home. They knew Billy was in trouble but claimed the Army wouldn't answer their questions. That trouble was an investigation into whether child and adult pornography were on Billy's computer. His mother was lead to believe the case revolved around pictures she described as "harmless" depicting a young relative. She e-mailed the pictures to Billy to ease his homesickness.
In January, after our first story aired, Army officials insisted to us that the pictures from home were not the focus of the investigation. Now they tell us they accepted his request for an "other than honorable discharge" in lieu of court martial and, "Miller admits to misconduct that would warrant a bad conduct discharge at a court-martial but does not have to disclose to whether he is admitting to the pornography in violation of General Order 1 or the separate charge of child pornography."
I asked an Army spokesperson, if there was child pornography found on his computer why would prosecutors agree to this deal with Miller considering the severity of the allegations? They responded; "All factors were considered in the case and a decision was made based on the interests of the Army and the soldier."
Billy Miller is expected home in the next 48 hours, we plan to be there when he returns.
Army officials say, while they can't speak for what civilian authorities could do with this case, at this time there has been no coordination between the military and civilian authorities regarding the situation.
