Texas tradition and the letter of the law protected 62-year-old Joe Horn this week, when a grand jury declined to charge him for killing two burglars. But the outcome shouldn't make other Texas homeowners feel safer. Instead, the shootings show the many reasons why citizens must not be judge and executioner in the courthouse of their own minds. Exhibit A, of course, is the pair of pellet-riddled corpses, shot in the back and sprawled on Horn's neighbors' lawns. One can be disgusted by this taking of life without having to summon a bit of sympathy for the burglars. Death by shooting is an occupational hazard for burglars in Texas.... Death, however, is not the punishment Texans -- or Americans -- prescribe for burglary. By taking the law in his hands, Horn robbed his own law-abiding community of its right to investigate crimes, prosecute criminals and mete out justice.
In the rush to lionize Joe Horn, perhaps Texans- and indeed all of us- should stop and consider what Horn's state-sanctioned execution of two burglars has cost them...and all of us. Do we really want to accept a situation in which a homeowner can shoot two men in the back...and escape accountability? Even in the Wild, Wild West, shooting someone in the back was considered a cowardly act. Under normal circumstances, if a man has his back turned to you, it's difficult to imagine how they might present a clear and present danger to your safety and security.
Feel free to interpret Texas' "Castle Law" as you see fit, but the reality doesn't change. How could Joe Horn possibly be considered a "hero" for shooting two men in the back? You'll hopefully notice that I didn't use the word "innocent" in the context of the two men Horm executed. Yes, they were common criminals, caught in the act of committing burglary. Does that mean that they ipso facto forfeited their right to life once their backs were turned to Horn? If you can answer "yes" to that question...well, you many not be from Texas, but Texas wants you anyway (apologies to Lyle Lovett).
In a society governed by the rule of law, no man has the right to take the law into his own hands- particularly when the taking of another life is part of the equation. Frontier justice disappeared when the frontier did, and the rule of law means that no man has the power or the right to dispense justice on behalf of anything or anyone else.
Joe Horn know full well what he was doing, and he executed both burglars despite explicit warnings from a 911 operator against doing so. That Horn shot his victims in the back is indicative of nothing if not premeditated murder...which, as it turns out, is apparently prefectly legal in Texas.
I would certainly not dispute that a man has the perfect right to protect his home or the safety and well-being of himself or his family. Joe Horn was doing neither of these things. He shot two men in the back, which can only reasonably be interpreted as the actions of a murderer and a coward. Now Horn's being feted on the talk-show circuit as if he's the modern-day equivalent of Sheriff Matt Dillon...never mind the fact that "Gunsmoke" was a television show and a Hollywood fantasy.
What frightens me most about Horn's not being indicted is that there is now a precedent for murder. Case law being what it is, Horn's case can and undoubtedly will be used by enterprising attorneys to defend their clients, some of whom may well have turned their property into free-fire zones.
So much for the rule of law, eh? At least Horn recognizes that he's no hero. Horn also says that he'd take it all back if he could...which is cold comfort for the families of the two men he executed. It's too bad that he can't also own up to the fact that he's also a murderer and every bit the criminal that the two men he executed were. Justice of the sort meted out by Horn is justice denied, and in meting out his own brand of "frontier justice", Joe Horn made a mockery of both the rule of law and Texas' reputation as a state the respects the rule of law. How long before they're back to hanging criminals on live oak trees again?
WE DESERVE BETTER...and Lord knows that Texans certainly do. Their judicial system has just become a national joke.
