PA Supreme Court lifts the emergency stay on Horner murder trial

Prosecutors in Blair County will be able to seek the death penalty against Nicholas Horner.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied the defense petition for emergency relief and lifted the stay of the criminal trial.

Authorities said Horner robbed the Subway on 58th Street in Altoona in April 2009, when he shot and killed a 19-year-old employee, injured another worker and fatally shot a 64-year-old bystander as he fled the crime scene.

Following a closed-door meeting inside the Blair County Courthouse, defense attorney Tom Dickey told 6News that he will still tell the jury about Horner’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder after three tours of duty in Iraq, as well as expert opinion that he had suffered delirium at the time of the crime.

"We're going to be asking for not guilty by reason of legal insanity. We'll be asking for that instruction during the trial. Whether (the judge) gives it or not, that will be her decision,” said Dickey. "They really didn't say anything. They just basically said the trial is back on. They didn't say she was right in her ruling. It's a very technical process."
 
Deputy District Attorney Wade Kagarise said the 12 jurors and two alternates selected before the emergency stay was ordered will be reinterviewed in court to ensure they are still impartial and are able to hear the capital case.

"Obviously, if people need to be taken off the jury, that will affect the ability to move forward with this particular panel,” said Kagarise.

After the abrupt 20-day delay, Deputy District Attorney Jackie Bernard told 6News that court officials have started scrambling to reschedule many of the eyewitnesses and experts from out of state who originally blocked out two weeks of January for the trial.

"We are in the process of evaluating where we will be, in order to have that trial go forward,” said Bernard. “Scheduling has become a big issue since our schedule was disrupted. We need to contact our witnesses, our experts particularly, and gauge how quickly the trial can be resumed."