Joe Horn shooting controversy
Encyclopedia
The Joe Horn shooting controversy refers to the events of November 14, 2007, in Pasadena
, Texas
, United States
when local resident Joe Horn shot and killed two men burgling his neighbor's home. Publicized recordings of Horn's exchange with emergency dispatch indicate that he was asked repeatedly not to interfere with the burglary because the police would soon be on hand. The shootings have resulted in debate regarding self-defense, Castle Doctrine
laws, and Texas laws relating to use of deadly force to prevent or stop property crimes. The illegal alien status of the burglars has been highlighted because of the U.S. border controversy
. On June 30, 2008, Joe Horn was cleared by a grand jury
in the Pasadena shootings.
breaking into his next-door neighbor's home in Pasadena, Texas
. He called 9-1-1
to summon police to the scene. While on the phone with emergency dispatch, Horn stated that he had the right to use deadly force to defend property, referring to a law (Texas Penal Code §§ 9.41, 9.42, and 9.43) which justified the use of deadly force to protect Horn's home. Horn exited his home with his shotgun, while the 9-1-1 operator tried to dissuade him from that action. On the 9-1-1 tape, he is heard confronting the suspects, saying, "Move, and you're dead", immediately followed by the sound of a shotgun blast, followed by two more. Following the shootings Mr. Horn told the 9-1-1 operator, "They came in the front yard with me, man, I had no choice!"
Police initially identified the dead men in Horn's yard as 38-year-old Miguel Antonio DeJesus and Diego Ortiz, 30, both currently resident in Houston and of Afro Latino descent. However, DeJesus was actually an alias of an individual named Hernando Riascos Torres. Torres and Ortiz were carrying a sack with almost $2,000 in cash and jewelry taken from the home. Both were criminals from Colombia
who had been convicted on drug trafficking charges. Police found a Puerto Rican identification card on Ortiz. Torres had three identification cards from Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, and had been previously sent to prison for dealing cocaine. Torres had been deported in 1999.
A plain clothes police detective responding to the 9-1-1 call arrived at the scene before the shooting, and witnessed the escalation and shootings while remaining in his car. His report on the incident indicated that the men who were killed "received gunfire from the rear". Police Capt. A.H. Corbett stated the two men ignored Mr. Horn's order to freeze and that one of the suspects ran towards Joe Horn before angling away from Horn toward the street when the suspect was shot in the back. The medical examiner's report could not specify whether they were shot in the back due to the ballistics of the shotgun wound. Pasadena police confirmed that the two men were shot after they ventured into Horn's front yard. The detective did not arrest Horn.
The incident touched off protests, led by Quanell X
, that were met by counter-protests from Horn's neighbours and other supporters, with the New Black Panther Party protesters rapidly leaving.
Joe Horn: “I’ve got a shotgun; do you want me to stop them?”
The Pasadena emergency operator responded: “Nope. Don’t do that. Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, O.K.?”
Mr. Horn said: “But hurry up, man. Catch these guys will you? Cause, I ain’t going to let them go.”
Mr. Horn then said he would get his shotgun.
The operator said, “No, no.” But Mr. Horn said: “I can’t take a chance of getting killed over this, O.K.? I’m going to shoot.”
The operator told him not to go out with a gun because officers would be arriving.
“O.K.,” Mr. Horn said. “But I have a right to protect myself too, sir,” adding, “The laws have been changed in this country since September the first, and you know it.”
The operator said, “You’re going to get yourself shot.” But Mr. Horn replied, “You want to make a bet? I’m going to kill them.”
Moments later he said, “Well here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I’m going.”
Then he said: “Move, you’re dead.”
There were two quick gunshots, then a third.
“I had no choice,” Mr. Horn said when he got back on the line with the dispatcher. “They came in the front yard with me, man.”
The 9-1-1 call ended about 80 seconds after the shots were fired, when officers arrived on the scene.
in 1998. Later that year he moved in with his daughter, Rhonda, and her husband in Kentucky
.
After his daughter was widowed in 1998 the remainder of the family moved to Houston and Horn went back to work so his daughter could take care of the children. When Rhonda re-married, she and her husband purchased a home and asked Mr. Horn to move in. In 2003 he accepted and moved in once more.
An only child, Horn graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1964. He went to work as a 7-Eleven
store clerk immediately after high school. Two years afterwards, he started work in the communications industry, eventually working his way up to a computer program manager for AT&T before retiring in 2003.
He was proficient with guns because of hunting, which he lost interest in years before the shooting.
, which he believes is racially motivated. He went on to say, "This was a wild and out-of-control Western-thinking, gun-toting man who saw the opportunity to be judge, jury and executioner, and Harris County let him get away with it. But we’re not going to let him get away with it."
Joseph Gutheinz, a Houston attorney and member of the National Republican Lawyers Association, said: “I wonder if Joe Horn were black if he would be free tonight or in the Harris County Jail.” Speaking on the Harris Country Grand Jury system, Gutheinz said: “It’s a sea of white faces that doesn’t look anything like the county.”
has conditionally taken up Horn's defense, but allowed that "property isn't worth killing over."
Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Harris County, 17th-largest in Texas, and 162nd largest in the United States. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when local resident Joe Horn shot and killed two men burgling his neighbor's home. Publicized recordings of Horn's exchange with emergency dispatch indicate that he was asked repeatedly not to interfere with the burglary because the police would soon be on hand. The shootings have resulted in debate regarding self-defense, Castle Doctrine
Castle Doctrine
A Castle Doctrine is an American legal doctrine arising from English common law that designates one's place of residence as a place in which one enjoys protection from illegal trespassing and violent attack...
laws, and Texas laws relating to use of deadly force to prevent or stop property crimes. The illegal alien status of the burglars has been highlighted because of the U.S. border controversy
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
. On June 30, 2008, Joe Horn was cleared by a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in the Pasadena shootings.
Burglary
Joe Horn, 61, spotted two burglarsBurglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
breaking into his next-door neighbor's home in Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Harris County, 17th-largest in Texas, and 162nd largest in the United States. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston....
. He called 9-1-1
9-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
to summon police to the scene. While on the phone with emergency dispatch, Horn stated that he had the right to use deadly force to defend property, referring to a law (Texas Penal Code §§ 9.41, 9.42, and 9.43) which justified the use of deadly force to protect Horn's home. Horn exited his home with his shotgun, while the 9-1-1 operator tried to dissuade him from that action. On the 9-1-1 tape, he is heard confronting the suspects, saying, "Move, and you're dead", immediately followed by the sound of a shotgun blast, followed by two more. Following the shootings Mr. Horn told the 9-1-1 operator, "They came in the front yard with me, man, I had no choice!"
Police initially identified the dead men in Horn's yard as 38-year-old Miguel Antonio DeJesus and Diego Ortiz, 30, both currently resident in Houston and of Afro Latino descent. However, DeJesus was actually an alias of an individual named Hernando Riascos Torres. Torres and Ortiz were carrying a sack with almost $2,000 in cash and jewelry taken from the home. Both were criminals from Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
who had been convicted on drug trafficking charges. Police found a Puerto Rican identification card on Ortiz. Torres had three identification cards from Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, and had been previously sent to prison for dealing cocaine. Torres had been deported in 1999.
A plain clothes police detective responding to the 9-1-1 call arrived at the scene before the shooting, and witnessed the escalation and shootings while remaining in his car. His report on the incident indicated that the men who were killed "received gunfire from the rear". Police Capt. A.H. Corbett stated the two men ignored Mr. Horn's order to freeze and that one of the suspects ran towards Joe Horn before angling away from Horn toward the street when the suspect was shot in the back. The medical examiner's report could not specify whether they were shot in the back due to the ballistics of the shotgun wound. Pasadena police confirmed that the two men were shot after they ventured into Horn's front yard. The detective did not arrest Horn.
The incident touched off protests, led by Quanell X
Quanell X
Quanell X is the leader of the New Black Panther Party in Houston, Texas.-Early life:Quanell Ralph Evans was born in Los Angeles, California. Both parents were Nation of Islam converts...
, that were met by counter-protests from Horn's neighbours and other supporters, with the New Black Panther Party protesters rapidly leaving.
9-1-1 Call Transcript
One vital piece of evidence were segments of Mr. Horn’s 9-1-1 calls which could have possibly incriminated Mr. Horn or shown his innocence. The most scrutinized segment is presented below:Joe Horn: “I’ve got a shotgun; do you want me to stop them?”
The Pasadena emergency operator responded: “Nope. Don’t do that. Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, O.K.?”
Mr. Horn said: “But hurry up, man. Catch these guys will you? Cause, I ain’t going to let them go.”
Mr. Horn then said he would get his shotgun.
The operator said, “No, no.” But Mr. Horn said: “I can’t take a chance of getting killed over this, O.K.? I’m going to shoot.”
The operator told him not to go out with a gun because officers would be arriving.
“O.K.,” Mr. Horn said. “But I have a right to protect myself too, sir,” adding, “The laws have been changed in this country since September the first, and you know it.”
The operator said, “You’re going to get yourself shot.” But Mr. Horn replied, “You want to make a bet? I’m going to kill them.”
Moments later he said, “Well here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I’m going.”
Then he said: “Move, you’re dead.”
There were two quick gunshots, then a third.
“I had no choice,” Mr. Horn said when he got back on the line with the dispatcher. “They came in the front yard with me, man.”
The 9-1-1 call ended about 80 seconds after the shots were fired, when officers arrived on the scene.
Joe Horn
Joe Horn is a native Houstonian who took an early retirement from AT&TAT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
in 1998. Later that year he moved in with his daughter, Rhonda, and her husband in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
After his daughter was widowed in 1998 the remainder of the family moved to Houston and Horn went back to work so his daughter could take care of the children. When Rhonda re-married, she and her husband purchased a home and asked Mr. Horn to move in. In 2003 he accepted and moved in once more.
An only child, Horn graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1964. He went to work as a 7-Eleven
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
store clerk immediately after high school. Two years afterwards, he started work in the communications industry, eventually working his way up to a computer program manager for AT&T before retiring in 2003.
He was proficient with guns because of hunting, which he lost interest in years before the shooting.
Death threat
A death threat was made anonymously to the District Attorney in which the following was said: "Don't worry about my name. But what you better do, you better indict Joe Horn, and you better find him guilty. Because if you don't, somebody is gonna kill him on the outside, and if he goes to prison he's gonna get killed on the inside. It's as simple as that. They waiting on him in prison, and we're waiting on him on the outside. We gonna kill that mother fucker. Bye."Grand jury
On June 30, 2008 a Harris County grand jury cleared Mr. Horn by issuing a no-bill after two weeks of testimony.Reaction to no bill
Quanell X said he is meeting with civil attorneys to discuss the next legal move. He said he planned to lobby lawmakers to change the Castle DoctrineCastle Doctrine
A Castle Doctrine is an American legal doctrine arising from English common law that designates one's place of residence as a place in which one enjoys protection from illegal trespassing and violent attack...
, which he believes is racially motivated. He went on to say, "This was a wild and out-of-control Western-thinking, gun-toting man who saw the opportunity to be judge, jury and executioner, and Harris County let him get away with it. But we’re not going to let him get away with it."
Joseph Gutheinz, a Houston attorney and member of the National Republican Lawyers Association, said: “I wonder if Joe Horn were black if he would be free tonight or in the Harris County Jail.” Speaking on the Harris Country Grand Jury system, Gutheinz said: “It’s a sea of white faces that doesn’t look anything like the county.”
National reactions
The Glenn Beck ProgramGlenn Beck Program
The Glenn Beck Program is an American talk radio show hosted by commentator Glenn Beck on Premiere Radio Networks. Since its inception as a nationally syndicated show in 2002, the program has become one of the highest rated radio programs...
has conditionally taken up Horn's defense, but allowed that "property isn't worth killing over."