HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge said the death penalty is constitutional and should remain an option at the trial of an Iraq war veteran charged with killing two people during a sandwich shop robbery.
Judge Jolene Kopriva rejected defense arguments that the death penalty is “cruel and inhumane” and, further, that jurors are more likely to impose the death penalty if they’re first asked if they don’t object to it.
No trial date has been set for 29-year-old Nicholas Horner of Altoona, a Johnstown native.
Horner’s family and friends contend he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when he allegedly gunned down Scott Garlick, a 19-year-old clerk, while taking about $130 from an Altoona Subway store on April 6. He also is accused of killing Ray Williams, 64, formerly of Northern Cambria, moments later while fleeing from the sandwich shop.
Man gets jail for restroom peeping
INDIANA – A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to six to 23 months in jail for recording men on his cell phone while they were using public restrooms at Wal-Mart stores in two counties and the IUP campus.
State police said Christopher Marsh, of Blairsville, did that 42 times from September to November 2008 at IUP and stores in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, and Burrell Township, Indiana County. Police arrested Marsh after clerks in one store noticed he spent more than 31⁄2 hours in the restroom.
He will serve two years probation after his release from jail.
YWCA pool to close for roof repairs
The pool at the YWCA of Greater Johnstown, 526 Somerset St. in the city’s Kernville section, will be closed Thursday for roof repairs.
The YWCA office and the body shop will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.
The pool is scheduled to reopen at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Southmont appoints water board member
Stephen J. Verotsky has been appointed by Southmont Borough to a five-year term on the Greater Johnstown Water Authority board. He replaces Mark Wissinger, whose five-year term expired Dec. 31.
