By KATHY MELLOTT
HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Johnstown native charged with killing two people and wounding a third was given court permission Thursday to fire his attorney and retain a new one.
Nicholas Adam Horner, 29, said he is unhappy with the representation by attorney David Shrager of Pittsburgh because Shrager has not telephoned him in three weeks and Horner has yet to undergo any medical evaluations.
“I’m in the worst place possible and it seems there’s no forward movement,” Horner told Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva via satellite from State Correctional Institution-Camp Hill. “I do not think he is the best for my case. My life is on the line,” he said.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if a jury convicts Horner of first-degree murder.
An Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and one in Kuwait, Horner is charged with homicide and related charges in the April 6 killing of Scott Garlick, 19, of Hollidaysburg, and Ray Williams, 64, a Northern Cambria native who in recent years had moved to Altoona.
Police allege that Horner went in the back door of the 58th Street Subway and shot Garlick, a high school senior working there, then went to the front of the store. He demanded money and shot another employee, Michelle Petty, who survived. Horner then ran a few blocks before gunning down Williams, who was standing near a bank of mail boxes.
Kopriva said Horner’s medical records, especially those from the military, took a long time to get to Blair County. She disagreed with Horner’s assessment that the medical file taken from his home after the shooting was a complete record.
She reminded the defendant that Shrager is the third attorney he has had in the seven months since the shootings.
Horner initially was represented by the Blair County Public Defender’s Office, then by attorney David DeFazio of Pittsburgh, then by Shrager.
In an earlier letter to Kopriva, Horner said he has spent $20,000 on attorneys to date and has an estimated $20,000 to pay for the remainder of his capital murder defense.
He told the judge Thursday he doesn’t know how much money is available.
Kopriva gave Horner and his parents 20 days to retain a new attorney. If no one is in place by that time, she will hold a hearing to determine his ability to pay. She reserved the right to bring the public defender’s office back into the case.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Bernard told the court she thinks Horner has “very unrealistic expectations of counsel.”
Horner was transferred from Blair County Prison to Camp Hill because he was unhappy with the medical treatment he was receiving locally. Horner has said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his military service.
