colby
Responses to this thread:
cthier:
More can be found here: http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080630_mh_joehornnobilled.d53dd22.html
todd:
"Horn maintains that he shot the men in self-defense. An autopsy report indicated that both men were shot in the back. " So, help me out here. His neighbors were being robbed. He called 911. Then he went outside to confront the robbers (against the express instructions of the 911 operator) leaving the safety of his home. Then they threatened him but did not assault him. Then as they were leaving he shot them in the back. Have I got that all right?So where is the self-defense part?
jessica:
If someone's pointing a shotgun at me and I think he's going to shoot, I might turn my back, too. "Not in the face! Not in the face!" like Arthur, you know.
colby:
I would turn my back too. Only to quickly turn back around with a spinning roundhouse kick to the jugular. But not everyone is a ninja, like myself.
jessica:
I just listened to the 911 call. I must have missed the dispatcher saying anything about the police being on their way until after the fellow shot the two robbers, then they were in the guy's yard already. I kept waiting for him to assure the guy that the authorities were on their way and he didn't have to take matters into his own hands.
jessica:
I'm not sure why Horn felt he had to go outside to defend his neighbor's property and why he decided to shoot the fellows. I can't speak for Horn. In certain circumstances, when people feel like the authorities are not responding at all or not responding in a timely fashion, they might be more likely to take matters into their own hands. Perhaps Horn feared the robbers would escape before the police arrived and he wanted to make sure they were caught. Once the dispatcher knew Horn had a shotgun and was intending to go outside to use it, it seems like he should have aggressively informed Horn about the arrival of the officers so Horn wouldn't have shot any of them accidentally. I don't think the dispatcher said anything about that until Horn came back on the line after shooting the robbers. Then, he was quite insistent about Horn not shooting anyone else. The dispatcher was probably doing the best he could do under the incredibly stressful circumstances. I can't imagine what it must be like to try to talk someone down from shooting someone else.
cthier:
And yet we are all here speculating what happened based on small pieces of the evidence. Hours were spent in the trial going over minute details that we have not seen or heard. We have a justice system for a reason, and while it isn't perfect, I have to put my faith in it. Remember we are innocent until proven guilty. I love how quick people are to jump out and pronounce guilt on this person without knowing all of the facts. This is a very sad situation on all sides, and it seems that we are only making it worse with all of the media blowing it up.
