Criminal Law

Joe Horn Cleared by Texas Grand Jury
Joe Horn, a man who killed two men who broke into a neighbors house will not be charged despite an audio recording in which Horn disobeys a dispatcher and seems intent on killing the men...

Man charged for DUI after blowing his horn
Rodney Northey, of Gansevoort, was pulled over after excessively blowing his horn to let people know he was in town. Northey was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated and ticketed for blowing his car horn.

Castle doctrine come home to roost
You may have heard, you may not have. A Texas grand jury has decided to “no-bill” Joe Horn (no, not that Joe Horn). Prosecutors sought to indict Horn after Horn killed two men who were fleeing after committing a burglary...

More on Holland v. Horn
Looking a little further at William Holland v. Horn, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 4816 (3rd Cir 3/6/2008), the easiest way of explaining the opinion is that relief was granted on the basis of counsel’s failure to ask for expert assistance (Ake v...

Murder or Defense of Property
Texas goes farther than most states in authorizing the use of deadly force to prevent a thief from making off with property. The more common and sensible position recognizes that a thief should not suffer death at the discretion of a vigilante property owner, that human life has greater value than property...

The Joe Horn Law
Gideon makes his objections to the Texas defense of property law on which Joe Horn based his defense known here. He pares down Texas’s defense-of-property-of-others law: A person can use deadly force (as in this case) if he believes it is immediately necessary to terminate the trespass/burglary/robbery AND the property being taken cannot be recovered by any [...