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June 30, 2008, 5:08 pm
Flag as Inappropriate gbyrd  

I read this article and I am curious what everyone thinks about the recent verdict. The man shot and killed two would be thieves crawling out of his niegbors window. Check it out and let me know what you think....

From the AP:

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.

Source

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gP3OsajRB6BM1On6y5d66X8hodrwD91KJA7G1

I don't know, my feelings go two ways. One part of me says that they were criminals and got what they deserved, and another part of me says he should not have gotten involved because they weren't even robbing his house.

I too am torn. I think that with the justice system these days and so many people getting away with crimes that we need to have the right to protect our and our neighbors properties etc. However, stating he was going to "kill" them before there was any physical violence and then shooting them in the back to me is criminal not defensive action.

I wasn't sure about this case until I heard the tape of the man's 911 call on the news last night.

He had the police on the phone and had called that his neighbors house was being broken into. The policeman on the phone told him clearly to not go over there. He was told that the police were on their way and to sit still.

But the man actually took his gun and held it up to the phone and told the policeman to listen to him as he loaded his gun. He was getting a thrill out of it. He told the cop he has a right to go there under the new law and that he was going to go there with his gun no matter what. Later you hear him call out calmly, "Don't move or you're dead." Then you hear the gun being fired slowly and surely.

He was in his own house safe and not at all in danger, but he took it upon himself to go out to stop the thieves. The police told him they were on the way but he decided that he wanted to do some shooting and he went out to do exactly that.

The cops were on the way, they told him to stay still, that he wasn't in any danger, but he wanted to start shooting so he went out and killed two people.

If he was in danger, I would say he was right to use his gun. But as it stands he went out with the hopes of getting to shoot and he made sure that he did and two people died.

I think he was wrong. He shot because he wanted to, not because it was a bad situation and he was forced to.

I think the man acted hastily and should have stayed in his own home, but I think he genuinely believed he was doing the right this and was not acting maliciously. I think the dropping of the charges was appropriate in this case.

I am torn but I believe that he should be punished. The recording of the 911 call was horrible. He did not care that they were people. He was dying to shoot them. That is still a life. And he wasn't protecting anyone life.