Joe Horn cleared of all charges

unsung
unsung I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
edited July 2008 in A Moving Train
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/30/burglary.shooting.ap/index.html


HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was 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 two Horn suspected of committing burglary, 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.
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Comments

  • LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun
    LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun Posts: 6,097
    good for him. thats the only thing i like about this shithole state.
  • Kel Varnsen
    Kel Varnsen Posts: 1,952
    unsung wrote:
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/30/burglary.shooting.ap/index.html


    HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was 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.

    I still don't understand how shooting someone in the back can be considered self-defense. Seems more like vigilante justice, the same as if he had tracked them down to their own homes and shot them in their sleep.
  • flywallyfly
    flywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    Kel Varnsen wrote:
    I still don't understand how shooting someone in the back can be considered self-defense. Seems more like vigilante justice, the same as if he had tracked them down to their own homes and shot them in their sleep.

    They were obviously using the Brazilian jujitsu "back attack" against him and he was smart enough to figure it out before it worked on him. The back can be used in numerous deadly grappling holds. Joe Horn is lucky to be alive and able to continue his career in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons.
  • Smellyman2
    Smellyman2 Posts: 689
    That is just wrong.

    Now you can shoot people in the back??? Someone walking on the sidewalk in front of your house, you can shoot now???

    Texas or Florida. Which state sucks more?
  • unsung
    unsung I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
    Wrong or right if those criminals were not breaking into somebody's home they would probably still be alive.
  • Smellyman2
    Smellyman2 Posts: 689
    They could've been friends of the neighbors. Who knows? He was on the phone with the operator who was pleading with him not to commit premeditated murder. but he decided to go outside and shoot two people in the back.

    sorry, but that is wrong.
  • bootlegger10
    bootlegger10 Posts: 16,263
    Right or wrong... in this case everything worked out.
  • blackredyellow
    blackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    flywallyfly wrote:
    Joe Horn is lucky to be alive and able to continue his career in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons.

    Nice... from the time this story first happened through now, I still picture that Joe Horn when reading his name... Then I get angry because how badly he let me down a few years ago on my fantasy team :)
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • know1
    know1 Posts: 6,801
    He should have been indicted and convicted, in my opinion. It should never be OK to take the law into your hands and kill someone...especially since the punishment for robbery is usually not death.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    Another little known Texas law: you can shoot your wife for having too much of a "wanderin' eye". I like to remind my wife of that from time to time.
  • unsung
    unsung I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
    know1 wrote:
    He should have been indicted and convicted, in my opinion. It should never be OK to take the law into your hands and kill someone...especially since the punishment for robbery is usually not death.



    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.

    I'd rather be tried by twelve than carried by six.
  • inmytree
    inmytree Posts: 4,741
    unsung wrote:
    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.

    I'd rather be tried by twelve than carried by six.

    Just cuz his attorney says it, doesn't make it true...
  • BamaPJFan
    BamaPJFan Posts: 410
    inmytree wrote:
    Just cuz his attorney says it, doesn't make it true...

    The grand jury evidently believed his attorney.
    United Center (Chicago): 8/24/09
    Gibson Amphitheatre (Los Angeles): 10/7/09


  • inmytree
    inmytree Posts: 4,741
    BamaPJFan wrote:
    The grand jury evidently believed his attorney.

    or they adhered to this stupid law:

    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.


    either way, this guy got away with murder...sadly that happens from time to time...
  • Collin
    Collin Posts: 4,931
    That sucks.
    THANK YOU, LOSTDAWG!


    naděje umírá poslední
  • jbalicki10
    jbalicki10 Posts: 517
    This guy deserves a medal. A True American Hero TM pending...
  • BamaPJFan
    BamaPJFan Posts: 410
    inmytree wrote:
    or they adhered to this stupid law:

    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.


    either way, this guy got away with murder...sadly that happens from time to time...

    It's quite possible that Mr. Horn's actions did meet the elements of murder. However, because his victims were illegally in the United States and because they were in the process of commiting a crime(s), the grand jury was not sympathetic to their side. In other words, the victims (the two dead guys) were tainted because of their backgrounds.
    United Center (Chicago): 8/24/09
    Gibson Amphitheatre (Los Angeles): 10/7/09


  • blackredyellow
    blackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    jbalicki10 wrote:
    This guy deserves a medal. A True American Hero TM pending...

    Keep that in mind next time you cut through your neighbor's yard.
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • flywallyfly
    flywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    blackredyellow wrote:
    Nice... from the time this story first happened through now, I still picture that Joe Horn when reading his name... Then I get angry because how badly he let me down a few years ago on my fantasy team :)

    Hehe. Me too. As far as FF, I wouldnt have him anywhere near my team anymore...lol.
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    Give me a fucking break with the hero stuff. Hero?! Really?! For shooting burglers in his neighbor's yard in the back with a shotgun? Wow. I like to reserve the term hero for someone a little more fitting. People like to throw that term around way too often these days.

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