Man shoots burglars while on phone with cops

[StrangeSox]

Drunk driving is clearly compareable to protecting your or your neighbors property (which by the way is a right of a citizen)...

 

You have a right to self-defense. You don't have a right to confront criminals on someone else's property and shoot them as they are fleeing.

 

 

 

[Soxbadger]

nutjob judges letting obvious molesters, rapists, and other type of low breakers getting away scott free.

 

I really doubt most molesters, rapists, and other criminals are choosing bench trials.

 

Generally its a JURY, that decides whether or not they are innocent.

Edited December 8, 2007 by Soxbadger

[santo=dorf]

So what happens when a "git off my lan-duh" types mistakely blasts his neighbor's hired scabs moving furniture out of the house? A little far-fetched? Perhaps, but it that tragic situation happened people wouldn't have the viewpoint that people are using to defend this moron's actions.

[BearSox]

You have a right to self-defense. You don't have a right to confront criminals on someone else's property and shoot them as they are fleeing.

 

The law clearly states that you CAN defend your neighbors property.

[BearSox]

I really doubt most molesters, rapists, and other criminals are choosing bench trials.

 

Generally its a JURY, that decides whether or not they are innocent.

I have seen plenty of cases where the judge does indeed let the molesters/rapists off with prohibition or something else.

[G&T]

The law clearly states that you CAN defend your neighbors property.

 

only if you have a greater ownership right to it than the robber. Greater rights don't just magically happen. There has to be some intent from the property owner that gives him that right, and it doesn't seem like he had that at all.

[BearSox]

only if you have a greater ownership right to it than the robber. Greater rights don't just magically happen. There has to be some intent from the property owner that gives him that right, and it doesn't seem like he had that at all.

Texas Law disagrees with you...

 

Legal experts said Texas law allows people to use deadly force against others who are burglarizing someone's home.

[G&T]

And there's also this...

 

The Texas Penal Code says a person can use force or deadly force to defend someone else's property if he reasonably believes he has a legal duty to do so or the property owner had requested his protection.

 

I doubtful that he reasonably believed anything. I think Texas law disagrees with you.

Edited December 9, 2007 by G&T

[Texsox]

Yeah, lets sentence a 61 year old to prison for life, even if he isn't a menace to society. What he did wasn't right, but he doesn't belong to be in jail for the rest of his life, which he would get if convicted. A couple years of probation, and go from there. It's not like he goes around killing bad guys, this was his first incident.

 

I'm certain his neighbors feel better, knowing if they have relatives over this Christmas, they could get blown away for leaving with presents. I'd want a guy who ignores direct commands from the cop to not go outside and not to shoot them.

[NorthSideSox72]

No matter the interloping law in place, all use of force must be justified by the situation. Deadly force is used in situations where deadly force is justified. Some dude running away who may or may not have committed larceny, and doing it while disobeying the direction of the police dispatcher on the phone, is not justification for deadly force.

 

This guy's almost assuredly going to be prosecuted, and most likely convicted. The only question mark, I think, is if the jury gets loaded with types like him. Its possible he could get off with some sort of hung jury. This is the type of case that jurors sometimes use to grasp onto a societal "point".

 

[Balta1701]

This guy's almost assuredly going to be prosecuted, and most likely convicted. The only question mark, I think, is if the jury gets loaded with types like him. Its possible he could get off with some sort of hung jury. This is the type of case that jurors sometimes use to grasp onto a societal "point".

This would be one of those cases where the prosecutor would do well to try to make sure he has a jury that has no concept of Juror nullification.

[Texsox]

The defense will mention, as often as possible, and is as many ways as possible, that these guys were, OMG! illegal aliens. The government should probably save our money and not even try to prosecute. No way in hell he gets convicted. If this was some middle class white kids stealing on a lark, the guy would never see the light of day. Many times it isn't what you do, it is who you do it to.

[hammerhead johnson]

Texas barbeque + big breasts + shooting people = best state in the country

 

That's where I'm gonna live after I retire.

[Gregory Pratt]

Texas barbeque + big breasts + shooting people = best state in the country

 

That's where I'm gonna live after I retire.

 

I miss you when you're gone, you know.

I'm a mess without you.

[EvilMonkey]

I miss you when you're gone, you know.

I'm a mess without you.

Get a room!

[Buehrle>Wood]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_...rglary_shooting

 

Cleared of charges.

[NorthSideSox72]

Hm. We're not aware of all the evidence, but, I'll just say that I disagree with this decision.

 

[CubKilla]

Finally, a SANE legal decision.

[knightni]

Moving this to the 'buster.

[Kyyle23]

I was reading that the defendant indicated when he confronted the suspects that they threatened him.

 

 

However, both men were shot in the back, so doesnt seem very plausible to me

[StrangeSox]

I was reading that the defendant indicated when he confronted the suspects that they threatened him.

 

 

However, both men were shot in the back, so doesnt seem very plausible to me

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/5864151.html

Pasadena police have said a detective in plainclothes had parked in front of Horn's house in response to the 911 call, and saw the two men before they crossed into Horn's front yard.

 

Police believe that neither Horn nor the burglars knew an officer was present.

 

When Horn confronted the men in his yard, he raised his shotgun to his shoulder, police have said. However, the men ignored his order to freeze.

 

Authorities have said one man ran toward Horn but had angled away toward the street when he was shot in the back just before reaching the curb.

 

Ortiz and Torres died a short distance from Horn's house.

 

A news release from the city of Pasadena read, in part, "We hope that the decision of the grand jury, while difficult for some to accept, will be respected as the product of a careful weighing of all the facts by an impartial panel of citizens."

 

 

[Kyyle23]

I saw this in the yahoo article:

 

After listening to evidence in the case, including testimony from Horn himself, a grand jury on Monday cleared him of the shootings.

 

"He wasn't acting like a vigilante. He didn't want to do it," said Tom Lambright, Horn's attorney.

 

Lambright said Horn was not a "wild cowboy" who took the law into his own hands after he saw the two suspected burglars, with bags in hand, crawling out of windows from his neighbor's home on Nov. 14 in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. The neighbor was out of town at the time.

 

Instead, Horn was a frightened retiree who tried to defend his neighbor's property and when the two men came onto his yard and threatened him, Horn defended himself, Lambright said.

 

"He was scared. He was in fear of his life," he said

[santo=dorf]

His lawyer said "he said he didn't want to do it" yet on the original 911 phone call he said he was going to shoot them.

 

Charles Bronson loves this verdict

[EvilMonkey]

WTF was the plainclothes guy just doing sitting there instead of doing his f***ing JOB! The city should also be in some big time trouble for the response time it took to get the idiot there.

[Texsox]

How sad it would have been if he was saying "I thought they were burglers, how was I to know they had relatives staying there?"