Opening statements in Latrobe murder trial to begin Tuesday

Opening statements will begin Tuesday morning in the first-degree murder trial of a Latrobe man police said fired two shots on a city street, killing a friend who attempted to intervene in an armed robbery of a drug dealer.

The prosecution contends Zachary McGrath, 23, concealed his identity when he covered his head with a black ski mask during a plot conceived by three friends to retaliate against a romantic rival.

Jury selection for what is expected to be a week-long trial before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio was completed Monday.

McGrath is one of three men charged with the Jan. 20, 2016 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daniel McNerny in front of a St. Clair Street home in Latrobe.

The prosecution said McNerny went outside to intervene in the armed robbery of a Pittsburgh-area man who came to Latrobe to sell drugs. When he recognized the masked McGrath as the would-be shooter, he was shot as he attempted to halt the heist, police said.

McNerny was not part of the robbery plot nor the intended victim, the prosecution said.

A jury last year convicted McGrath’s co-defendant, Austin Krinock, of second-degree murder. Krinock, 20, formerly of Johnstown, was the man who conceived the robbery plot and acquired the gun used in the killing, the prosecution claimed.

Bilik-DeFazio last month sentenced Krinock to serve a prison sentence of 34 years to life.

Colin Gearhart, 20, of Latrobe, the third man charged in the shooting, is awaiting trial for second-degree murder and other offenses. His trial is scheduled to begin in March before Bilik-DeFazio.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.