ACTIVISTS DEMAND CHARGES AGAINST MAN WHO SHOT, KILLED 2 SUSPECTED BUGLARS
05:19 PM CST on Monday, November 19, 2007
Houston community activists are demanding charges against a man who shot and killed two burglary suspects in Pasadena.
On Monday, they held a protest in front of Joe Horn’s home on Timberline.
“Mr. Horn did not have to kill those men,” said Quanell X. “We believe that Mr. Horn became judge jury and executioner at the same time.”
Horn’s actions were recorded during his call to 911.
Horn claims the men he shot and killed had busted into his next door neighbor’s house.
The shots he took followed repeated warnings from the dispatcher not to go outside.
“Had this black man been on the phone the same way, he would be under the jail and not see the light of day,” said Quanell X.
Robert Hammons lives in the area. “I think they’re the ones turning this into a racial matter, it’s not racist.”
Another neighbor said the shooting had nothing to do with race and that Horn was only trying to protect his family, which he considers to be this entire neighborhood.
But Horn’s actions have ignited a criminal investigation, and could cost him his freedom.
11 News tried to reach Horn through his attorney, but Horn was not available.
He is reportedly still crushed about the incident.
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STILL NO CHARGES AGAINST PASADENA MAN WHO KILLED SUSPECTED BURGLARS
10:06 AM CST on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 
HOUSTON — A man who told police he planned to kill two men he believed were burglarizing his neighbor’s house shot them only when they came on his property and he felt threatened, his attorney said Monday. Tom Lambright, who represents Joe Horn of Pasadena, said his client was just going to take a look around when he went outside after hearing glass break at his neighbor’s house. He had seen Miguel Antonio DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30, crawling into and then out of a window.Horn went outside, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, to see where the burglars were heading when he came face-to-face with them in Horn’s front yard, Lambright said.Horn is 61 and heavyset. The suspected burglars were young and strong enough to beat him to death with their bare hands, Lambright said. So when one or both of them “made lunging movements,” Horn fired.
Joe Horn
“He’s trying to protect his own life,” Lambright said. “He’s scared.”
Pasadena police were still compiling their report on the shooting and planned to present the case to Harris County prosecutors within the next two weeks, police spokesman Vance Mitchell said Monday. From there it is expected to be presented to a grand jury. In the meantime, Horn remains uncharged.
Lambright’s description is partly at odds with the 911 call in which a dispatcher urges Horn to stay inside his house and not risk lives.
“Don’t go outside the house,” the 911 operator pleaded. “You’re gonna get youself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don’t care what you think.”
“You wanna make a bet?” Horn answered. “I’m gonna kill ‘em.”
After the shooting, he redialed 911.
“I had no choice,” he said, his voice shaking. “They came in
the front yard with me, man. I had no choice. Get somebody over here quick.”
Diamond Morgan, Diego Ortiz’s widow and mother of their 8-month-old son, told a Houston television station that she was stunned by Horn’s comments on the 911 call.
“It’s horrible,” she said. “He was so eager, so eager to shoot.”
Local activist Quanell X urged authorities to prosecute Horn.
“Mr. Horn did not have to kill those men,” he said at a news conference last week outside of Horn’s house. “We believe that Mr. Horn became judge jury and executioner at the same time.”
Horn “literally went to pieces” after the shooting, Lambright said. He issued a statement a few days later saying the events would weigh heavily on him for the rest of his life.
He’s doing better, however, as he reads letters and e-mails and hears radio broadcasts of people supporting his actions, Lambright said.
“I’m not going to tell you that he still doesn’t regret what had happend,” Lambright said. “He just said ‘Tom, I had no choice. I had no choice.
“He’s right in that. He really did not.”
It could be a difficult case to prosecute in Texas, where many
people have little sympathy for criminals and an almost religious belief in the right of self defense.
Texas law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves if it is reasonable to believe they could otherwise be killed. In limited circumstances, people also can use deadly force to protect their neighbor’s property; for example, if a homeowner asks a neighbor to watch over his property while he’s out of town.
The question will be whether it was reasonable for Horn to fear the men and whether his earlier threats on the 911 call showed he planned to kill them no matter what, said Fred C. Moss, who teaches criminal law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
“That’s what makes it so hard and that’s why we have juries,” Moss said.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou071126_tnt_burglarshooting.41772f2e.html
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UPDATED 12/4/07:
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UPDATED 12/5/07:
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