Joe Horn - Just Got Away With Murder (Like We Knew He Would)

It's official. Joe Horn got away with cold-blooded, premeditated murder today when a Harris County grand jury decided not to file any charges against him for shooting to death two men who had just burglarized his neighbors house. But I'm not surprised.

When writing about this case back in December I said

...Despite these facts, we're still waiting to hear from the Harris County DA regarding charges against Mr. Horn. Suffice it to say, no one's holding their breath.

...when he went outside. He (Joe Horn) just saw two Black dudes. And in the eyes of many of my fellow Texans, despite the fact that burglary has NEVER been deemed a capital offense, and that a man is supposedly innocent until proven guilty; that is justification enough to get away with murder.

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right. To recap, they weren't robbing his house, a 911 operator told him to stay inside because police were on the way, and as it turns out, were already on the scene but had to duck to avoid getting shot.

"It was over within seconds. The detective never had time to say anything before the shots were fired," (Pasadena police Capt. A.H. "Bud") Corbett said. "At first, the officer was assessing the situation. Then he was worried Horn might mistake him for the 'wheel man' (getaway driver). He ducked at one point.

Did I mention that both men were shot in the back? I know this is Texas and all, but even back in the wild west shooting somebody in the back was considered a cowardly act. What's different here?

Well at least we know that Good ol' Joe feels so bad about what he did now.

Horn's attorney, Tom Lambright, said recently that Horn regrets his decision to confront the men.

"Was it a mistake from a legal standpoint? No. But a mistake in his life? Yes," Lambright said. "Because it's affected him terribly. And if he had it to do over again, he would stay inside.

...Lambright said Horn didn't expect to be involved in a shooting, but rather expected to see the two men running or driving away.

"He thought he was gathering evidence for the police department," Lambright said.

Sure Mr. Lambright. None of of us heard the 911 tape where Good ol' Joe told the operator he was going out there to kill those men. I'm sure it's really had an effect on him, but I guarantee it hasn't affected his life like it did the men he murdered.

There are a lot of folks asking now what the makeup of that grand jury was. C'mon, do you really have to ask. This is after all Harris County, TX. But like I said, I'm not surprised. just wonder what the outcome would have been if the victims weren't Black, Hispanic, and in the country illegally from Columbia.

Well, Good ol' Joe, you got away with it.

Gas Woes (or Whoas) - Texas Style

Yet another wrinkle of the never ending upward spiral of gasoline prices. Texans living along the Mexican border are crossing over to buy gasoline because it's dramatically cheaper in Mexico.

Nothing new there right? Consumers are going to find the products they want or need for the cheapest possible prices. Well, apparently the gas Americans are buying there, is refined here. From the Chronicle.

With his sales down 40 percent and talk of border residents filling up in Mexico, Laredo Shell station owner Manuel Arechiga took his diesel pickup across the border to see what the story was.

Sure enough, he was able to fill his tank for about $70, as opposed to about $145 at his own station in Texas.

The kick is that the fuel is being refined in the United States and trucked across the border to Mexico, only to be sold at prices subsidized by the government there to protect the Mexican consumer prices that are now cutting into his business.

That's right, gas exported to Mexico from the U.S. is being consumed by U.S. citizens driving to Mexico. It's enough to make your head spin. But don't get to happy South Texas drivers, it might not last as the subsidies cost the Mexican government up to $20 billion annually, and there are calls for them to end.

"It is best to gradually reduce the subsidy of these products to salvage the population's standard of living," Mexican Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel said in a news conference.

If they can figure out a way to do it without throwing their country into chaos that is. Heck, ours too. With prices as high as they are, folks in Laredo and Brownsville might just join in any riots if their access to the cheap stuff is curtailed.

An interesting dilemma indeed. In a related story, there are still no suspects under arrest in the killing of a fuel tanker truck driver in an apparent robbery attempt. The reward for information has been increased.

The possible reward has been boosted by $10,000 in the effort to find the man who killed a fuel truck driver on June 8 at a north Houston gas station.

Crime Stoppers already had offered up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and charges in the slaying of Jorge Hernandez.

Hernandez's employer, Petroleum Wholesale, has added to the amount so that the total reward could be as much as $15,000, Crime Stoppers officials said today.

It's a shame that fuel truck drivers may be required to have armed protection sooner rather than later. Gasoline has been elevated to the level of precious commodity that I'm sure brings a premium price on the black market. I suppose it's just a sign of the times.

We Didn't Already Have This??

I wonder how many people were killed or seriously injured before our brilliant politicians finally decided to enact this law.

Victims of family violence, stalking and sexual assault may be eligible to participate in a new, state-sponsored anonymous address program to use on most government documents including driver's licenses, voter registration cards and court records.

Eligible Texans can register for a substitute address with the state attorney general's office, which will forward mail to the victims' actual addresses.

The program was created with legislation by Sen. Eddie Lucio last year.

May be eligible? I wonder what the eligibility requirements are. It seems like such a such a simple thing, so I all I can say is what took so long?

When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

I have this strange opinion that after you reach a certain station in life, you're supposed to leave the foolishness of your past behind. Looking at the legions of rappers, ball players, and entertainers who just stay in trouble over dumb stuff only reinforces that opinion. Dave Chappelle did a skit on his short-lived, but funny tv show called "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong." You can figure out the premise, and here's a real life example:

State Rep. Borris Miles pleaded not guilty at his arraignment this morning in a Harris County court.

Miles, a Houston Democrat, ...was indicted April 14 on two counts of deadly conduct stemming from complaints that he had brandished a pistol and made threats at two parties in December.

...party host David Harris, decided to press charges after a drunken Miles shocked guests with loud, profane language, grabbed his face and planted a Godfather-style "kiss of death" on his cheeks. Harris also said Miles handed him a pistol and declared, "You don't know what I'm capable of doing."

Miles, in his first term representing District 146, which includes Sunnyside and the Third Ward, lost his re-election bid in the March Democratic primary to former state Rep. Al Edwards.

There's a lot more to this case, and I wish my boy @pbuzz would come in out of the cold for a little while, because I know he has the lowdown. All I can say is that sometimes its necessary to just leave the worst aspects of the hood behind.

Sigh - Equal Justice Under The Law, Again

The old folks used to say "I don't feel no ways tired" when talking about their lives and the troubles of the world. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing. I am tired of a whole lot of things. Especially equal justice under the law things. Recent posts by two Afrospear bloggers have added to the fatigue. The danger is that eventually fatigue turns to outrage, and from there, well, you never know.

First, of course is the Philly beat down administered by a dozen or so cops on 3 SUSPECTS in the shooting death of a police officer. Philadelphia blogger the Field Negro writes:

Once again some of our boys in blue acted like the gangsters that they are supposed to be protecting us from. If you haven't seen the video yet, I guarantee you that you will soon. [look here and judge for yourself] It isn't quite Rodney King, but it's bad. And let me be fair to Philly's finest, they just lost one of their own (see my sidebar) when some animal decided to take his life with a high powered assault rifle. So I know that they are on edge. Especially since one of the perpetrators of the crime is still on the loose. Still, it's not (an) excuse to make a pinata out of a bunch of shooting suspects, and ignore all your years of training by letting your raw emotions take over.

The law and order folks are coming out of the woodwork on this, as usual, and the arguments sound the same as they always do - "Well that's what they get for being criminals, and I would have done the same thing." The problem of course is a little thing called due process, which infers that a SUSPECT is innocent until proven guilty. Then there's the principle of habeas corpus that's supposed to apply in all cases, guaranteeing that someone suspected of a crime should have the opportunity to see the evidence being presented against them, and have an opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law before punishment is applied.

Neither principle was followed in this situation, and even if ultimately the suspects are proven guilty, the fact remains that this is not how those sworn to uphold the law are supposed to behave. Not to mention that its not exactly a rare occasion that the police and justice system prosecute and convict the wrong people. There are too many of those cases to mention, which only illustrates my point that you shouldn't assume guilt and whoop people's butts in the streets.

But assume they do, especially in the case of Black male suspects. But what about Black women? To gain a better perspective from that, you need to look at the victims of crime, and how they are treated in Black and White. There's the example of an absolutely horrific case out of New York City in which a young Black woman was abducted, raped, tortured, and beaten to death by a couple of media attention seeking psychopaths. That's bad enough but the major issue in this case is that when the young woman was reported missing, the police did not even bother to look for her, leaving that task up to the family. Gina at What About Our Daughters is all over it.

In a case that could be an example for advocates of missing and murdered black women everywhere, Romona's family has cleared the first hurdle in pursuing a federal lawsuit against the NYPD for denying Romona and other Black victims of equal protection of the law... ie, the NYPD investigates missing White women, but appears to ignore similar reports of missing Black women and girls. Romona (Moore) was a 21 year old college student when she was grabbed off of the street and dragged into a house, raped and tortured for days. She was paraded in front of a group of people, none of which bothered to call police or her family. She was eventually found after the family launched their own amateur investigation. Her mother was blown off by law enforcement.

There's a special place in Hell for animals who would do such things to another human being. You need to go read the whole post just to understand how depraved people can be, and how uncaring. How could you see that girl in that condition and not do something about it? Any way you look at it, its heartless, shameless, and cruel. Just as appalling is a comparison of the handling Ms. Moore's case by the police to that of a missing rare books dealer who happened to be White. Let's just say the interest in finder her was a lot more intense.

Both of these issues once again demonstrate as have so many others that equal justice, or protection, under the law really depends on who you are and what you look like. No, not all of the time of course, but it happens enough to call it out for what it is. We all understand the difficult jobs that police officers perform, but that doesn't mean when they're wrong we shouldn't even dare to speak about it, does it?

The news of just the past few days includes these two cases, the Sean Bell case, and yet another long term prisoner being released from jail after serving years for a crime he didn't commit. When should we speak out? When is enough going to be enough? Perhaps when everyone transitions from being tired to outraged.

I don't know about you, but I'm there already.

Who's Securing Your School's Network?

Maybe they were just doing their part to boost the dismal graduation rates of Houston area schools, or preparing for future careers in network security. Or corporate espionage. In either case;

Four high school students are being investigated on suspicion of breaking into the Fort Bend Independent School District's computer network and changing the grades of at least 60 students, according to court documents and school officials.

Now that raises some troubling issues about network security doesn't it? I mean if a few kids can get in to change grades, what happens when someone with more skills and more nefarious purposes takes a crack at hacking in? And apparently this is a recurring problem on multiple campuses.

"Fort Bend ISD has reported numerous unauthorized breaches of the network which have resulted in alteration and destruction of data including grade changes," the documents said.

...The probe also revealed that Dulles, Bush and Travis high schools also lost computer data, although the type of information was not disclosed.

Don't worry though, as the article goes on to inform us that

The case is the latest school hacking incident across the United States in recent years. Students from almost every corner of the country at high schools and universities have been caught, and in many cases charged, with crimes for tapping into computer systems and changing grades.

So everybody's doing it, everywhere. I don't know about you, but I feel a whole lot better now.

As much as I preach that our kids need to really understand technology, how it works, and its affect on their lives, this isn't what I mean. We know these kids were paying attention during their programming class, but unfortunately they learned some of the wrong lessons too.

Good Ol' Joe

I know it's fashionable to bash Texas in general, especially those of you who've never been here. Now with Good Ol' Joe Horn all over the news for blasting a couple of alleged thieves burglarizing his neighbors home, the bashing is in overdrive. Which puts those of us who were born here in a bit of a bind. Granted, the Texas legal system definitely has its flaws, particularly in regard to gun ownership and the usage of said weapons.

But please don't miss the point here.

The issue, as usual, is equal justice before the law, and the fact that minorities are far more likely to feel the full brunt of said laws than our Caucasian counterparts are. Not to mention being on the receiving end of "frontier" justice. That's hardly unique to Texas, or to the southern states, as a glance around the America will quickly tell you. But it does seem there's a special breed down here, the same bunch that are currently running the country and by extension the world. But there are strong Black folks here too, as we deal with them everyday and yet "still we rise."

Now, I was withholding posting on this issue because it's kinda hard to evoke too much sympathy for people who were breaking into someone's house, and originally Joe Horn, as unlikely as it sounds, claimed these fellas lunged at him after he told them to stop, therefore making the issue one of self-defense. However it's now become clear that Joe's mind was set before he went outside. He was going to kill those burglars no matter what, told a 911 operator as much, and gave a play-by-play as it was going on. From that point all hell has broken loose, with protests and counter-protests, skin color basically determining which side you're on. Not a word from the neighbors Horn was "protecting" who are immigrants from Vietnam. Joe's actions have made him a hero in the minds of certain sectors of the community, and a cold-blooded murderer to others.

That's just the sideshow however as it looks like the typical White man shoots a Black man cover-up is on. Because as it turns out, the burglars were both shot in the back! There goes the self-defense argument. An undercover cop also supposedly witnessed the whole thing, except when he was ducking the shotgun blasts. Despite these facts, we're still waiting to hear from the Harris County DA regarding charges against Mr. Horn. Suffice it to say, no one's holding their breath.

The amazing thing has been the transformation of the burglars themselves from a couple of two-bit thieves to members of a huge international crime ring involved in everything you can imagine, from drugs, to people smuggling, to, well you get the idea, everything. And..., wait for it..., they're ILLEGAL ALIENS to boot, from Colombia. Which makes me wonder how the Hispanic community is reacting to all of this. Anyone?

Well Joe Horn didn't know all that when he went outside. He just saw two Black dudes. And in the eyes of many of my fellow Texans, despite the fact that burglary has NEVER been deemed a capital offense, and that a man is supposedly innocent until proven guilty; that is justification enough to get away with murder.

R.I.P. Sean Taylor

I was thinking of doing a post on the Sean Taylor murder but have decided that's a needless duplication of effort when other Afrosphere Bloggers have it covered much better than I would do. So just go here, or here.

Our condolences to the families of this and other senseless tragedies going on in our communities.

$270,000,000?

From The Insite:

Leader of the “Black Mafia Family” (BMF) pleaded guilty today to running a large scale drug organization and money laundering...

Demetrius Flenory, 39, originally of Detroit... ...admitted that from 1990 through 2005, he was the leader of a criminal enterprise involving the large scale distribution of controlled substances, mainly cocaine. Further, Flenory admitted to obtaining millions of dollars in cash from the sale of cocaine. He used the illegal proceeds of his drug trafficking to purchase real estate, vehicles and jewelry.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Flenory faces a sentence of 30 years to life in prison. In addition, Flenory agreed to a money judgment in the amount of $270,000,000. A sentencing hearing was not set by Judge Cohn.

If I were him and making that kind of money, I'm pretty sure I would have left the business long before now.

But on another level, my man obviously had to have some business sense to amass that type of fortune, and it just makes me wonder what might have been if these talents had been put to use in a legitimate enterprise.

Or maybe the rules are a little bit different in his type of business enterprise and the skills are not transferable.

Your thoughts?

Get A (Second) Life

The real and cyber worlds collide.

Dutch police are claiming a first - the first real-life arrest for a virtual burglary.

...Dutch police have arrested a teenager for stealing 4,000 euros worth of virtual furniture from an online, virtual-world hotel...

Habbo Hotel is, like the better-known Second Life, an online fantasy world. Once a hangout for uber-cool web designers, it's now inhabited by a mostly young teenage clientele, who socialise and play games in the lobbies, lounges and pools, and spend real money on virtual furniture, which they use to furnish their Habbo Hotel rooms.

Habbo currency can be bought via a credit card or premium telephone services, and furniture can cost up to $5 an item. Individually it's not much, but 90 per cent of the hotel's $60m annual revenue is earned by the sale of virtual goods.

$60 million in annual revenue? You've got to be kidding, right? I'm definitely in the wrong business. But apparently it's not just burglary.

...in China, virtual property theft led to extreme, offline violence after gamer Qiu Chengwei lent a friend a valuable virtual weapon. The sword - a powerful 'dragon sabre' - is much prized in the geeky fantasy game Legends of Mir 3. When Chengwei discovered the man had sold it on eBay for £460, he found and slayed the thief using a real sword. Chengwei is currently serving a real life sentence.

I wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come. Are there any Second Lifer's (or other virtual reality gamers) out there in the Afrosphere? I'd really like to hear more about their appeal, and it would be interesting to know how many cyberworld inhabitants are adults rather than teenagers.