[Blackbeauty]

No one was home at the time at his neighbor's house. He witnessed a breakin and robbery.


Here's the story:

Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 15:08:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Bruce Mills
Subject: Texas shotgun justice


http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_p...html?id=145182


Texas shotgun justice


Mary Vallis, National Post
Published: Wednesday, December 05, 2007


More On This Story


* Texas shooting: Joe Horn's 911 call
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b.../2007/12/05/te...


Pasadena, Tex., police stand by the body of one of the
two men shot by ...Kar Hlava, Houston Community
NewspapersPasadena, Tex., police stand by the body of
one of the two men shot by ...


At first, Joe Horn appears to be doing his neighbourly
duty. When he sees two men allegedly breaking into a
home on his street in suburban Pasadena, Tex., in the
middle of the day, he dials 911.


But the 61-year-old's call quickly takes a decidedly
unneighbourly turn.


"I've got a shotgun. Do you want me to stop 'em?" he
asks the emergency dispatcher less than 20 seconds
into the call.


"Nope, don't do that," the dispatcher replies. "Ain't
no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?"


Moments later, Mr. Horn defies the dispatcher and
steps outside.


"Move, you're dead!" he can be heard saying on the
Nov. 14 audio recording.


Then comes the sound of several shotgun blasts. Mr.
Horn returns to the telephone.


"Get the law over here quick," he says. "They came in
the front yard with me, man. I had no choice."


Police arrived soon afterward to find two men with
gunshot wounds; both died.


That was three weeks ago, but Mr. Horn has not been
charged with any crime. Police are waiting for a grand
jury to decide whether to indict him. The case has
divided Texans into two camps: Those who support the
shooter's apparent vigilantism and argue his actions
were reasonable under the Second Amendment; and those
who say he is a murderer whose actions may have been
racially motivated.


Mr. Horn is white. The two dead men -- Miguel Antonio
DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30 -- were black.


Pasadena Police expect the grand jury to be convened
in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, tension is mounting.


The New Black Panther Nation, a black activist group,
led nearly 200 protesters to Mr. Horn's otherwise
quiet street for a rally on Sunday. They were met by a
roughly equivalent number of his supporters; bikers
revved their engines to drown out Quanell X, the New
Black Panther Nation's leader, when he tried to speak.


"We don't condone anyone breaking into anybody's home
and stealing. But we also don't condone a citizen
becoming the police, the judge, the jury and the
executioner, all at the same time," Quanell X said in
a telephone interview.


"We believe that a system of law is in place, that
every human being is granted due process in the system
of law. Mr. Horn circumvented that, abandoned that and
literally threw that whole due-process system away."


Local newspapers and radio talk shows have also been
deluged by responses from Mr. Horn's defenders.


"If we had justice like this for all criminals, this
would be a much safer country," one supporter wrote on
YouTube.


"I believe what Joe did was right and I applaud him
for it. And if you're some worthless human being that
has to go steal other people's hard-earned
possessions, you deserve to die."


On the 911 recording, which is widely available on the
Internet, Mr. Horn repeatedly tells the dispatcher he
is not going to let the men get away. At least 11
times, the dispatcher advises him not to leave his
home or shoot.


An investigation is still under way, but a spokesman
for the Pasadena Police said it appears Mr. Horn shot
the two men after he turned a corner and found them in
his yard.


Police estimate he was two to three metres from the
men. One was hit in the chest, another in the side.


The victims began running in opposite directions, but
both soon died, said Captain A. H. "Bud" Corbett. He
described Mr. Horn as sounding "aggressive" in the
recording.


"If Mr. Horn had just walked out and blown away two
people walking by on the sidewalk, he'd have been
locked up, and he probably would have been charged,"
Capt. Corbett said. "But that is not the case."


Tom Lambright, Mr. Horn's lawyer, insists his client
was simply defending himself because the men "made
lunging movements."


"He's trying to protect his own life," Mr. Lambright
said recently. "He's scared."


The recording also indicates Mr. Horn keeps up to date
on his rights. At one point, he lectures the
dispatcher and reminds him he has the right to protect
himself, and "the laws have been changed in this
country since Sept. 1, and you know it and I know it."


This is thought to refer to a new state law
strengthening Texans' right to defend themselves in
their homes, vehicles and workplaces. The so-called
"castle doctrine" took effect on Sept. 1.


Guns are easy to acquire in Texas and most are
unsympathetic to the plight of criminals. The state
leads the U.S. in executions: 405 since the death
penalty was reinstated in the 1970s.


"Texas is a frontier state. It has a lot of tradition
in terms of people being able to protect themselves,"
said Fred Moss, a professor of criminal law at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas.


"What disappoints me is that the vocal minority gives
the image of Texas as being a bunch of gun-toting,
chest-thumping, macho types who think you ought to be
able to gun burglars down as they run away."


If the grand jury decides not to indict Mr. Horn,
Quanell X will lead another march back through the
quiet suburban neighbourhood and directly to his door.


He expects it will be necessary. "We live in the deep
South," he said. "And in the deep South a white man
killing a black men is as common as apple and cherry
pie."


mvallis@ nationalpost.com