libertyrules
Regular Member
imported post
I guess they moved.
It seems kind of a dumb thing for the DA to say: ["The message we're trying to send today is the criminal justice system works"]. But I guess all DA's feel obliged to make some public statement, even a stupid one. He probably figured he had Horn cold on this one. But the grand jury saw it differently.:celebrate
Many people will try to second-guess the justification for his actions. Would I have done the same thing? No way to know. I'm not Joe Horn, and I wasn't there.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200806/NAT20080630e.html
Houston (AP) - A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.
Joe Horn, 61, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.
Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.
"The message we're trying to send today is the criminal justice system works," Harris County District Attorney Kenneth Magidson said.
Horn's attorney, Tom Lambright, has said his client believed the two men had broken into his neighbor's home and that he shot them only when they came into his yard and threatened him.
The suspected burglars, Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30, were unemployed illegal immigrants from Colombia. Torres was deported to Colombia in 1999 after a 1994 cocaine-related conviction.
The episode touched off protests from civil rights activists who said the shooting was racially motivated and that Horn took the law into his own hands. Horn's supporters defended his actions, saying he was protecting himself and being a good neighbor to a homeowner who was out of town.
"I understand the concerns of some in the community regarding Mr. Horn's conduct," Magidson said. "The use of deadly force is carefully limited in Texas law to certain circumstances ... In this case, however, the grand jury concluded that Mr. Horn's use of deadly force did not rise to a criminal offense."
Lambright did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment from The Associated Press.
Texas law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves if it is reasonable to believe they are in mortal danger. In limited circumstances, people also can use deadly force to protect a neighbor's property; for example, if a homeowner asks a neighbor to watch over his property while he's out of town.
It's not clear whether the neighbor whose home was burglarized asked Horn to watch over his house.
Joe Horn: Hurry up man. Catch these guys, will ya? 'Cause I ain't gonna. I'm gonna be honest with ya. I'm not gonna let 'em go. I'm not gonna let them get away with this.
The dispatcher begged him to wait for police instead of taking any action.
Horn: You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going.
911 Dispatcher: Don't go outside.
On the recording, Horn can be heard threatening to shoot the men if they move.
Horn: Move, you're dead.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3880630
I guess they moved.
It seems kind of a dumb thing for the DA to say: ["The message we're trying to send today is the criminal justice system works"]. But I guess all DA's feel obliged to make some public statement, even a stupid one. He probably figured he had Horn cold on this one. But the grand jury saw it differently.:celebrate
Many people will try to second-guess the justification for his actions. Would I have done the same thing? No way to know. I'm not Joe Horn, and I wasn't there.