HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — A defense attorney wants a new trial for an Iraq war veteran who was sentenced to life in prison in the shooting deaths of a clerk and a bystander during the robbery of a west-central Pennsylvania sandwich shop.
The Altoona Mirror reports Friday that attorney Thomas M. Dickey claims the judge erred in refusing to permit an insanity defense in 31-year-old Nicholas Horner's March trial, and that she gave an improper instruction to the jury.
The Altoona Mirror (http://bit.ly/pFZo5V ) reports Friday that attorney Thomas M. Dickey claims the judge erred in refusing to permit an insanity defense in 31-year-old Nicholas Horner's March trial, and that she gave an improper instruction to the jury.
Horner was convicted in the 2009 deaths of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams during a robbery of the Altoona Subway shop.
Defense attorneys had argued that Horner was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time, but prosecutors said psychologists ruled that out.