HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. -- A Blair County judge says an Iraq war veteran charged with killing two people during a sandwich shop robbery should be tried by a local jury, despite intense publicity about the case.

Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva agreed with prosecutors who said the publicity has been "fact-based" and shouldn't taint a jury to be selected later this year.

At a hearing Monday, Assistant District Attorney Jackie Bernard accused the family of 29-year-old Nicholas Horner of trying to drum up publicity sympathetic to him, not the victims.

The Altoona suspect's family and friends contend he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when he allegedly killed two people and stole about $130 from an Altoona Subway store on April 6, 2009.

Horner allegedly shot and killed Scott Garlick, a worker at the Subway. Another employee, Michelle Petty, was shot in the hip and wounded.

Police said Horner then ran from the restaurant and shot Raymond Williams, a resident who was getting his mail.

Prosecutors said because Horner shot three people at the time he was committing another felony of robbery, they will seek the death penalty.

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