Psychiatrist says vet didn’t intend to kill 2
Psychiatrist says vet didn’t intend to kill 2
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A defense expert says an Iraq war veteran charged in the shooting deaths of two people during a sandwich shop robbery almost three years ago was in a “dreamlike state” due to repeated use of medication.
Psychologist Ernest Boswell said Monday that Nicholas Horner, 31, of Altoona was unable to form an intent to kill during the April 2009 robbery of a Subway shop in Altoona during which a 19-year-old clerk and a bystander were killed, according to The Altoona Mirror.
“He was operating at a different level,” Boswell testified, saying the defendant was “waxing and waning” — going in and out of a dreamlike state.
But Boswell agreed with psychologist Steven Samuel, a prosecution witness, that the events were not caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Samuel said he found no evidence that Horner was reliving or having flashbacks of his war experiences at the time.
Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty if the Blair County jury convicts Horner of first-degree murder. Defense attorneys say Horner should only face conviction on a lesser charge.