Was It Self Defense or Murder? - Neatorama

Most people agree that a homeowner has got an intrinsic right to protect himself in his home if attacked - but the case of Joe Horn sparked a furious debate whether that right extended to shooting unarmed burglars in the back:

Moments later, Horn saw two burglars leave his neighbor's house, one of them carrying a bag filled with cash and jewelry.
"I'm gonna kill him," Horn said. "Stay in the house," the dispatcher said. "They're getting away," Horn replied. "That's all right," the dispatcher said. "Property's not worth killing someone over. OK?" "---damn it," said Horn, who then defied the dispatcher.
"Well, here it goes, buddy, you hear the shotgun clicking, and I'm going," he said.
"Don't go outside," the dispatcher warned.
Self-Defense? Horn says he came out his front door, down his porch and confronted the two burglars. The next sounds heard on the 911 tape are Horn ordering the two men to stop & and then shooting them both.
"Move you're dead," he said, and fired his shotgun three times.
"Both suspects were shot in the back," Pasadena Police Captain A.H. "Bud" Corbett said. "Not at the same angle, but both suspects were hit in the back."

The Texas grand jury cleared him for the killing, citing the "Castle Doctrine" that gives Texans unprecedented authority to take action against intruders: Link

Do you think what Joe Horn did was justified?

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This man is a Hero in my book. If more people would shoot these thugs then other copycat thugs might be a little more apprehensive about invading homes and/or burglarizing. You go guy!!! Hats off to ya!!!

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Hmmm, difficult one! I dont agree with killing people anyway!

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My grandson was shot to death, unarmed (neither gun nor knife nor club) out in Oklahoma, in mid-December of 2007. Although this happened just five days before his court date as a prosecution witness, the District Attorney - a woman - called it self defense as defined under the Oklahoma Castle Law (Statute 1289.25)! The DA refuses to consider that the one who killed my grandson also stalked him at his own home beforehand, and there are eyewitnesses who can testify about those situations. The killer opened the door to my grandson. Moreover, the Oklahoma law is not supposed to cover cases where a "child or grandchild" is in the home where the shooting took place, and that was the exact situation - my grandson's own one year old daughter was present when he was shot (she had to be pulled off of his dying body!). This was just ignored. After reviewing the transcripts in those drug-related trials that my grandson was to testify in, I can see that one of the defendants benefited from his death - he'll probably get off. Put this in the record of the possible ways for the defense laws to be misapplied: lawyers, including district attorneys, will find ways to pervert them. Our loss of a grandson is just one example of how the poorly written and thought out "Castle Laws" will fail, and this kind of thing plays right into the hands of the anti-gun proponents.

I'm not some wild-eyed liberal, and I even have a carry permit. I grew up in Arkansas, where I hunted small game from a very young age. I also served a military tour of duty, and I still practice to keep my marksmanship at an acceptable level. But having a gun should not be an excuse to go looking for a fight. As for my reaction to all of this, I prefer the original laws, and an assailant will have to break my door down or crash through a window before I start shooting. And I might die for hesitating, but I intend to voice a warning before I pull the trigger.

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WAY TO GO JOE!!! thats what you get for being a scumbag criminal and taking what is not yours. its just too bad he didnt get a good headshot or anything in. i would love mr. horn to live next to me so i new my belongings would be safe even when i wasnt howm. if there were more people like him we would have a lot less criminals in the world. keep it up joe!

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Joe Horn did the right thing. The creatures calling him "murderer" are pathetic. The burglars first broke into his neighbors and Horn did get them in the act and I think they were even on his premises, when they got think.

"Property isn't worth killing for", says who? The crooks obviously didn't think "property isn't worth getting killed for."

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