Texas man cleared of shooting neighbor's robber

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
http:///forum/post/2676784
I have already agreed to that. My concern was directed at the immorality of Horn's acts.
Inmoral in your opinion which is valid. Many others disagree.
I Really think if the DA had included manslaughter Horn would have been going to trial on one count at least. I guess they can go back before the grand jury of they want. Might not be a bad idea.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
http:///forum/post/2676605
BUT THE COPS WERE THERE, and had to duck when Horn shot his gun. I'm sorry you lost your laptop, but in this case the cops came.
One cop was there, a plain clothes cop. If these two were willing to run at and then from a guy point blank with a shotgun wouldn't you suppose they would have also ran from the cop with a pistol? Not a sure thing they would have been caught at all.

 

[beth]

So, its immoral for a citizen to shoot criminals who were caught in the act of burglarizing a home and trespassing onto ones own home immediately following the burglary, but not immoral to enter this country illegally, and then proceed to conduct crimes once here? So the law that gave Mr. Horn the right to do what he did, is "immoral"?
Something just isn't right with that.
I'd really like to understand why people who feel that Mr. Horn was wrong, or immoral, wish to moralize on this issue?

 

[cowfishrule]

so, lets recap all of this.
2 criminals are dead.
1 old man was told that he did not in the wrong either by a judge or his peers.
and we have 8 pages of a pissing contest.
So what have we learned?
Dont commit a crime, especially in Texas.
Can we all go home now?

 

[geridoc]

Let me tell you a true story, an experience of mine that probably colors my strong reaction to this story. When my father died (I was 8 at the time), my Uncle Lou and I went to my house to get a suit to bury my Dad in. When we got there, my uncle realized that he didn't have a key, so he climbed a fence, got onto the roof, and jimmied a window to enter the house. He got a suit, some clothes for my mother and me, and put it all into two pillow cases, then left the house through the window he had entered. As he got to the ground, the police showed up, called by a neighbor who saw a "burglary" in progress. The police detained my uncle (and me) until they could verify his story. Now, flash forward to 2008, and Horn doesn't know his neighbors, and made no effort to determine that the people coming from the house were burglars, or the modern equivalent of my Uncle Lou. Just "Die, bang bang". I guess it is a good thing that we lived in Philadelphia. Apparently, if we had lived in Texas my family would have had two funerals that week (assuming that the hunter decided to give the little criminal [me] a pass and let me live, but hey,k I was standing on the neighbor's lawn, so you never know). That's why I have so much trouble with Horn's actions. The Constitution guarantees a trial by "finders of fact", which Horn decided he was, despite his idiocy.

 

[cowfishrule]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
http:///forum/post/2677736
When my father died (I was 8 at the time), my Uncle Lou and I went to my house to get a suit to bury my Dad in. .......called by a neighbor who saw a "burglary" in progress.
had your neighbor come out pointing a 12gauge at you and your uncle, they would have recognized you.
point is horn didnt recognize said criminals.
that is the difference.

 

[geridoc]

Originally Posted by COWFISHRULE
http:///forum/post/2677778
had your neighbor come out pointing a 12gauge at you and your uncle, they would have recognized you.
point is horn didnt recognize said criminals.
that is the difference.
Horn didn't know his neighbor, so he would not have recognized his nephews, or whomever, anyway.

 

[1journeyman]

When confronted by your neighbor pointing a shotgun at your uncle, would he have run at the gun???
You keep leaving out that tidbit of info.
I've had police guns pointed at me twice in my life. I routinely have guns pointed at me at checkpoints over here. I'm still alive.
The criminals, when "caught" by Horn, proceeded to escalate the situation into a melee. That's when they died.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
http:///forum/post/2677736
Let me tell you a true story, an experience of mine that probably colors my strong reaction to this story. When my father died (I was 8 at the time), my Uncle Lou and I went to my house to get a suit to bury my Dad in. When we got there, my uncle realized that he didn't have a key, so he climbed a fence, got onto the roof, and jimmied a window to enter the house. He got a suit, some clothes for my mother and me, and put it all into two pillow cases, then left the house through the window he had entered. As he got to the ground, the police showed up, called by a neighbor who saw a "burglary" in progress. The police detained my uncle (and me) until they could verify his story. Now, flash forward to 2008, and Horn doesn't know his neighbors, and made no effort to determine that the people coming from the house were burglars, or the modern equivalent of my Uncle Lou. Just "Die, bang bang". I guess it is a good thing that we lived in Philadelphia. Apparently, if we had lived in Texas my family would have had two funerals that week (assuming that the hunter decided to give the little criminal [me] a pass and let me live, but hey,k I was standing on the neighbor's lawn, so you never know). That's why I have so much trouble with Horn's actions. The Constitution guarantees a trial by "finders of fact", which Horn decided he was, despite his idiocy.

Nahhh, I wont ask the obvious question

 

[nacl freak]

You guys ever heard of beating a dead horse?

 

[beth]

Geri, Horn told the dispatcher (before going out in the yard) that the burglars had a crowbar and that they used it to bust a window then crawled into the house. The difference in your situation and this is that your uncle didn't bust down a door or a window to get in. He respected the property and jimmied opened the window without damaging anything. The police didn't even arrest your uncle, though if they had seen him busting a window with a crowbar, I think they would have arrested him.
Horn knew these were burglars by their behavior: 2 strangers busting a window with a crowbar, then crawling in. Then he actually saw them leaving with bags of "loot" (possessions from the neighbor).
Everyone has "broken in to" their own house, or had relatives do it. Usually its doesn't involve busting down the door or breaking the window open with a crowbar.
The point you make is valid, "what if an innocent person gets shot". Its a valid point, but if we are considering what actually happened, and leave the "what might have happened" out of it, I can't see that what the old guy did equates to being immoral.

 

[beth]

Originally Posted by nacl freak
http:///forum/post/2677870

You guys ever heard of beating a dead horse?

Its just passionate discussion among online fellow hobbyists.

Nothing wrong with us expressing our opinions, as long as it doesn't end with personal attacks.

 

[nacl freak]