Last week, in a Unity Township restaurant banquet room, a standing-room-only crowd jockeyed with stacks of “Re-elect Regola” signs for scarce wall space.

State Sen. Bob Regola, R-Hempfield, kicked off his re-election campaign Jan. 9…

That show of support comes at the start of what is considered by some to be a controversial bid for re-election by Mr. Regola, who faces charges in connection with the death of his family’s teenage neighbor.

Louis Farrell, 14, was found shot to death in the woods behind the Regola family’s home on July 22, 2006, with the senator’s 9-mm handgun nearby.

A coroner’s inquest ruled the teen’s death a suicide, but state police filed charges against Mr. Regola in March 2007 that included three counts of perjury, allowing possession of a firearm by a minor, false swearing and reckless endangerment.