Preston man’s appeal of murder conviction put on hold

KINGWOOD — A Preston man’s appeal of his murder conviction may be put on hold until after he is tried in Pennsylvania for a different murder charge.
In August 2016, John Wayne Strawser Jr. was convicted in Preston County of first-degree murder and fleeing in a vehicle with reckless indifference. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus five years for the fleeing charge.
The jury found him guilty of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Amy Lou Buckingham, of Tunnelton.
That is the conviction he is appealing in Preston Circuit Court. On Monday, his attorney, Lance Rollo, and Preston Prosecutor Melvin C. Snyder III agreed to an Oct. 31 motions hearing in the appeal.
But Snyder noted that Strawser is in jail in Pennsylvania, pending his trial on charges he shot and killed a motorist on Interstate 81 in January 2014. Pennsylvania will not return Strawser to West Virginia before the trial, Snyder said.
“So the reality is, if he’s in custody there, he can’t be brought back here,” for the motions hearing, the prosecutor said.
Snyder said he believes Pennsylvania has a trial date set for this fall. He did not know the exact date.
Strawser was not at Monday’s hearing.
Circuit Judge Steve Shaffer set the motions hearing but noted the date may need to be changed.