Freshman state Sen. Robert Regola III has a Democratic challenger in the November general election, but today he begins facing a more pressing matter in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin in a case in which Mr. Regola, 45, of Hempfield, is charged with crimes related to the July 2006 death of Louis Farrell, a 14-year-old next-door neighbor who the county coroner ruled committed suicide by using the senator’s handgun.

Mr. Regola is charged with three counts of perjury in testimony at a coroner’s inquest into the death; allowing possession of a firearm by his son, Robert “Bobby” Regola IV, who was then a minor; reckless endangerment; and false swearing.