Miles waives hearing in Hoke stabbing death

Sept. 1 arraignment set

July 20, 2010|By JENNIFER FITCH

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- An arraignment date has been set for a man charged with criminal homicide in the April 3 stabbing death of a Hagerstown woman.

Jeffrey Eldon Miles, 47, waived his preliminary hearing on Tuesday morning, two days before he was due to appear in Franklin County (Pa.) Court. Magisterial District Judge Larry Pentz said he traveled to the county jail before 8 a.m. to witness the State Line, Pa., man sign forms waiving the hearing.

Miles is scheduled for mandatory arraignment Sept. 1, when he would enter a plea, Pentz said.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Miles with criminal homicide after discovering the body of Kristy Dawn Hoke, 29, in Waynesboro, Pa., woods during the early morning hours of April 6. The mother of three's family had reported her missing that weekend.

Miles's public defender, Mike Toms, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the preliminary hearing being waived.

The original preliminary hearing was delayed when Toms requested a psychiatric evaluation for his client. Judge Douglas Herman granted the petition, and a psychiatrist found Miles competent to undergo court proceedings.

Police said information gathered while investigating Hoke's death led them to also discover the skeletal remains of Angie Lynn Daley. Her bones were found on a farm between Waynesboro and Greencastle, Pa., at noon April 6.

Daley's family in Waynesboro reported her missing in 1995 when she was 17. No one has been criminally charged in her death, which Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey R. Conner classified as a homicide.

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