I'd like to see whatever case you're looking at. A guy walks out of his house with a gun, walks across the yard to his neighbor's property, shoots a man with someone else's stereo. How is that anything but murder? He wasn't threatened. He wasn't protecting his property. He went looking for a fight and killed a man that posed no risk to him.
This is the case that we are both looking at. The jury reached a responsible, commendable decision.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/01/nation/na-shoot1
A grand jury here today cleared a Pasadena, Texas, man in the shooting deaths of two suspected burglars as they left his neighbor’s house – a case that stirred a national debate over whether the man was a vigilante or a hero.
Joe Horn, 62, shot the men on Nov. 14 after calling authorities and declaring his intention to kill them with his 12-gauge shotgun.
The 911 audiotape captured multiple warnings by the dispatcher, asking Horn to stay inside and telling him that “property’s not worth killing someone over.” However, Horn grew agitated because the men looked like they were going to get away before police arrived. As the tape rolled, Horn went outside, shouted “Move, you’re dead!” and fired his weapon.
The incident outraged some Houston activists, who staged protests in the neighborhood and argued that if Horn – who was not arrested – was not white and his victims were not dark-skinned, he would have been taken to jail immediately. The controversy grew when authorities disclosed that the two victims, Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, were illegal immigrants.
Harris County Dist. Atty. Kenneth Magidson said today that he understood “the concerns of some of those in the community regarding Mr. Horn’s conduct,” but added that the grand jury had thoroughly reviewed the evidence and testimony before deciding not to recommend any charges.
Many defense attorneys had predicted that a grand jury indictment would be unlikely in Texas, where many citizens strongly believe in a right to fire weapons in defense of home and property.
“This office will continue to aggressively prosecute anyone who illegally engages in the use of force, deadly or otherwise, against another,” Magidson said in a statement. “In this case, however, the grand jury concluded that Mr. Horn’s use of deadly force did not rise to a criminal offense.”
