May 8—WILKES-BARRE — Jury selection began Monday in the Foster Township homicide trial of Roberto Torner, accused in his role in the fatal shooting of Jose Herran nearly eight years ago.

State police at Hazleton alleged Herran was driven to property Torner owned on North Buck Mountain Road and taken to a house trailer where he was shot in the head by David Alzugaray, 54, on Oct. 13, 2015.

After Herran was killed, state police investigators alleged Alzugaray used a hatchet to dismember the body and dispose of the human remains in a burn pit.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday morning before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas but a last minute proceeding to settle outstanding legal issues resulted in the selection process to begin in the afternoon.

Torner's attorney, Robert A. Saurman, was denied a request to postpone the trial as Torner believed a plea agreement was going to be offered by prosecutors in April.

When a plea deal never materialized, Saurman needed time to hire a private investigator and to review discovery, evidence in the case, allegedly linking the late Freeland Police Chief Anthony R. Harris to Herran's homicide.

Court records filed by Saurman alleges Harris was aware beforehand that Herran was going to be killed. Harris died in September 2020.

Torner is facing trial on on an open count of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and criminal solicitation to commit homicide.

Alzugaray's trial on an open count of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and abuse or corpse is scheduled for July.

In unrelated cases, Torner was sentenced in February 2020, in federal court to 22 years in federal prison on charges of conspiring to distribute heroin in June 2015 and illegally possessing firearms from May 2012 to August 2017.

Alzugaray was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison on heroin trafficking offenses.

Deputy District Attorney Daniel E. Zola and Assistant District Attorney Drew McLaughlin are prosecuting Torner in the homicide case.

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