Today in Texas, a homeowner shot and killed 2 burglars trying to break into his next door neighbors house.?

Question

What does everyone think about this type of vigilante justice? As of yet, the homeowner has not been charged.

He was actually the phone with 911 when this ocured. He cited a Texan law to dispatch and then he told the burglars not to move. Apparently, they did, because you then hear two shotgun blasts.

Answer 1

Uh-oh, he may be in a predicament. He used deadly force for someone breaking into his neighbor's house and believed the neighbor was not home....

1. It is not self-defense, as he had no reasonable belief he was in danger of death/great bodlly harm.

2. It was not defense of another if he believed his neighbor was not home and thus not in danger of death/great bodily harm.

3. Use of deadly force to defend property....not very legitimate, and defending the property of another...even less so.

He may be a hero, but he has just committed to homicides without provocation, justification. I hope there is some leniency for him under the circumstances...but we don't know all the circumstances just yet. I imagine the DA will have quite a time NOT prosecuting him, and quite a time trying to get the lowest level of homicide for him as possible to please the community that will probably rally around him.


From the news:
Minutes before he shot and killed two burglary suspects, a Pasadena man ignored repeated orders from a police dispatcher not to go outside with a shotgun.

On a 911 tape released Thursday, a dispatcher is heard asking Joe Horn to stay inside his home until police arrived. But Horn, who had called police about 2 p.m. Wednesday to report that he witnessed two men break into a neighbor's home, told the dispatcher he planned to "kill" the suspects.

"I'm not going to let them get away with it," said Horn, who reported being inside his home in the 7400 block of Timberline looking out a window. "I'm gonna shoot. I'm gonna shoot."

For approximately six minutes, the Pasadena police operator told Horn to remain in his home and repeatedly discouraged the 61-year-old man from taking his gun outside.

"Stay inside the house and don't go out there. OK?" the operator told Horn in calm tones. " ... I know what you're feeling, but it's not worth shooting someone over this. OK?"


This guy was not acting within his rights of self-defense. Potentially he has even premeditated his actions. As a home-owner, I agree with the sentiments of many posters on this issue, but he is not protected by the law on this matter.

Not vigilante justice!!!: his OWN words were "I'm not going to let them get away with this." That's the very definition of vigilante justice (as burglary does not get you the death penalty)

Is there any intellectual honesty in these discussions?

Have your opinion in mind when your neighbor mistakenly thinks you are a burglar when you come home late at night.

Answer 2

As of September 1, 2007. A new law is on the books in Texas. It gives a homeowner the right to protect his home to the death. The question is are they going to take this law into consideration for this gentleman who was asked to watch his neighbors home while they are away. I believe that they will. Yes this mans life was not in danger. His personal property was not in danger. However, since he was responsible for his neighbors property at the time of the crime he had the right to defend the property. I see nothing wrong with it. I also want to point out. It would be interesting to know if the 2 mexican men that were shot and killed were American citizens or Illegal immigrants.

SB 378: “The Castle Doctrine”
The law states that a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder before using deadly force. It also provides civil immunity for a person who lawfully uses deadly force in any of the circumstances spelled out in the bill.

Answer 3

i heard the 911 call on a radio station in los angeles and it's sound more like the neighbor committed murder. the burglars were running away from the house they burglarised and the neighbor ran out after them with his shotgun. in the 911 call you can hear the entire thing, the neighbor was even getting into an intense argument with the police dispatcher. it's like the guy really wanted to go out and use his shotgun!! keep in mind, the burglary didn't happen in his property and you can only just shoot someone unless you're fearing for your life.

Answer 4

I just asked about this and got an answer stating that the burglars were shot going into his yard and now I also saw on TV he warned them not move or he would shoot after they got on his property.

That is not considered vigilante justice in Texas.

He won't be charged if its true and I don't think he should be.

I think he should have his head examined for challenging two criminals with no back up but the law should be on his side if it really went down the way I've been hearing.

Answer 5

"This is NOT vigilante justice. This is SELF DEFENSE.
Vigilante seeks out criminals to punish. When there are burglars IN YOUR house threatening YOUR property and even YOUR LIFE you have a right to defend yourself. If you would tell them "don't move" and they would flicnh you would shoot them too, they are in your house, and you never know when they will pull out a weapon."

Can't you see how you just contradicted yourself?They were not on HIS property they were NOT IN HIS house.

Answer 6

I think you lot should pitty us brits, if we did that we would get locked up for murder and in moust cases the burgler has more rights than us victems, say he falls down the stears, he can sue us,, crazzzzzzzzzy or what.
Every man should be alowed to diffend there own property at what ever cost

Answer 7

This is NOT vigilante justice. This is SELF DEFENSE.
Vigilante seeks out criminals to punish. When there are burglars IN YOUR house threatening YOUR property and even YOUR LIFE you have a right to defend yourself. If you would tell them "don't move" and they would flicnh you would shoot them too, they are in your house, and you never know when they will pull out a weapon.

Answer 8

I'd love to have neighbors like that...but I'm sure he will get charged for that. Probably not too serious of a sentence, but I would be very surprised if he doesn't get charged, just because of the way the justice system is set up.

Answer 9

Glenn Beck is crying about it right now on the radio. going on adnaseum about his concern about taking the law into our own hands. My take is different. If the gooberment isn't going to do it, then who the hell will, unless it's us!

From what little I've heard the guy was well within his rights under the castle doctrine.

Life Liberty and property are those things we should be able to hold dear, when law enforcement are unwilling or unable to respond to a threat citizens remain the law.

I've heard the burglars were illegals. If that is the case then I think the federal government should be held liable if this man is charged with a crime.

For some reason, our government continues to refuse to enforce law. Many are sick of it. We may see things melt down if our gooberment does not take the problems we face seriously..


I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts.


1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are
caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United State s have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ".
http://www.drdsk.com/articles.html




The total cost is a whooping .
$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR

Answer 10

Good its not fair invading someones privacy and stealing their personal belongings, which they have probaly worked hard for.