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.
The judge delayed the trial until August to give prosecutors time to hire experts to review psychiatric reports prepared by defense experts.
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