Trial date set for State College man charged in deadly Penns Valley crash
A State College man charged in a deadly Penns Valley crash from nearly two years ago is scheduled to stand trial in April.
Christopher Hort’s eight-day trial is set to begin April 18. Centre County Judge Brian Marshall, county prosecutors and defense lawyer Tony De Boef finalized the start date Tuesday.
County prosecutors plan to call upward of 32 people to testify during the trial. De Boef plans to call a handful.
Much of the trial’s first day could be spent away from the Centre County Courthouse. Jurors are expected to be shown Hort’s vehicle at the state police at Rockview barracks before being driven to where the crash happened.
Hort, 54, is charged in the death of John David King, a 23-year-old Amish man from Spring Mills who worked as a roofer. Hort was driving a 2012 Honda Pilot when he hit King along state Route 45 in Penn Township, state police wrote.
Hort, who is the son-in-law of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, was accused of continuing toward his State College home without stopping. He told investigators he thought he hit a deer.
His SUV was heavily damaged in the crash, police wrote. The damage included a broken windshield and buckled hood.
“Despite extraordinary damage to Hort’s vehicle, Hort failed — by his own admission — to stop at the scene of this collision as required by law,” investigators wrote in the affidavit.
Hort has remained free since the crash. His bail was set at $50,000 unsecured.
He’s charged with one felony count of accidents involving death. Probation is not an option for a conviction on the charge. State law requires a mandatory minimum sentence of at least three years in state prison, along with at least a $2,500 fine.
Jury selection is scheduled for March 18.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 6:00 AM.