Pennsylvania Soldier's Double-Murder Trial Set for August
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. -- The trial of an Iraq war veteran who is raising post-traumatic stress disorder as his defense in a double-murder case is set for jury selection Aug. 15.
Thirty-year-old Army veteran Nicholas Horner, of Altoona, contends his mental condition drove him to kill a 19-year-old clerk and a 64-year-old bystander while taking about $130 from an Altoona Subway store on April 6, 2009.
Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva on Tuesday ruled the jury will be picked locally, contrary to a defense request that media publicity makes picking an out-of-county jury fairer. The judge says pretrial publicity has died down and noted much of it has not been inflammatory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The judge delayed the trial until August to give prosecutors time to hire experts to review psychiatric reports prepared by defense experts.