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Thread: Brian David Horn - Louisiana Death Row

  1. #31
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    DeSoto DA, Brian Horn's wife react to death penalty verdict

    MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) - DeSoto Parish District Attorney Richard Johnson says there have been few defendants that deserved the death penalty more than Brian Horn, convicted Wednesday in the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom.

    Horn posed as a 15-year-old girl to entice Bloxom via text to meet up with him for sex. The boy's body was found in a wooded area off Highway 171 on March 31, 2010.

    On Wednesday, a jury of 6 men and 6 women from East Baton Rouge unanimously found Horn guilty of first degree murder. It took them 45 minutes to return the verdict.

    On Saturday, the same jury took just over an hour to agree that Horn should be put to death for the crime.

    Johnson says few cases in recent memory have called for the death penalty more definitively than this one. "Only one, and that was over twenty years ago, and that was state vs. Chris Sepulvado. And he killed little Mercer boy, and that was the only case I've seen that rivaled this one in just plain cruelty. As I stated before, if there is a case that ever screams for the death penalty this is the case that screams for it."

    The jury's decision had to be unanimous, or Horn would have been sentenced to life in prison.

    There was little reaction from Brian Horn upon hearing the verdict. His mother broke down in tears and had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

    Horn's soon-to-be ex-wife Amanda Horn was also crying and cheering along with others in the courtroom. Outside the courtroom, she told KSLA News 12, "There's a lot more victims than just one in this case. There's not really any winners or losers," said It's been a hard road for all of us. Just glad that it's over, and I do believe the right thing was done, and I believe justice has been served."

    She says she is divorcing Brian Horn, a process that can move forward now that the trial is over.

    http://www.ksla.com/story/25173739/d...enalty-verdict

  2. #32
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    Child killer's formal death sentencing set May 28

    MANSFIELD — Recently convicted child killer Brian Horn will be formally sentenced to death at 9 a.m. May 28.

    District Judge Robert Burgess set the sentencing date Wednesday. It falls a few days after the 45-day window he initially envisioned Saturday after a jury voted unanimously to sentence Horn to death.

    Even though the sentence is a given because of the jury vote, Burgess said he is required by the Louisiana Supreme Court to prepare a uniform capital sentence report. It likely will be dozens of pages in length to give a comprehensive overview of Horn and aspects of his trial.

    For example, the report will include information such as the makeup of Horn’s family, his education level, any expert witnesses who testified at the penalty phase, work history, criminal history, details of the crime and victim, acknowledgment of the defense counsel and their years of experience and general information about the trial, including jury selection.

    Also added will be a listing of previous first-degree murder cases, not restricted to capital cases, on dockets of the 42nd Judicial District, formerly the 11th Judicial District.

    “It is a lot of work. It not only includes the name of the case but the facts of the case,” Burgess said.

    Additionally, the sentencing order requires the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections’ Division of Probation and Parole to perform a complete capital sentence investigation report, with that information attached to Burgess’ report.

    Horn, 37, of Keachi was convicted April 2 of first-degree murder in the March 30, 2010 death of Justin M. Bloxom, 12, of Stonewall. The twice-convicted sex offender used text messages, portraying himself as a teenage girl, to lure Bloxom away from a friend’s home.

    Horn picked up Bloxom in his Action Taxi cab. He ran out of gas on U.S. Highway 171 near Stonewall’s southern limits. And that’s where he smothered Bloxom to death, leaving his body in a small depression of water across the highway fence row.

    Horn’s defense team conceded his guilt from the start. However, they contended Bloxom’s death was accidental so they asked for a lesser sentence – one that would have sent Horn to prison for life.

    The jury of East Baton Rouge Parish residents took less than an hour to convict Horn after listening to three and a half days of testimony. That moved the trial into the penalty phase, and after two and a half days of additional testimony, the same jury again was again on the same page in deciding Horn should die for the crime.

    During the penalty phase, members of Bloxom’s family were able to express to the jury how devastating his death has been for them. At the sentencing, family members will be able to address Horn directly.

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/artic...nclick_check=1

  3. #33
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    DeSoto victim's mother, aunt address killer at death sentencing

    On the eve of what should have been her son’s 17th birthday, Amy Witham Fletcher instead was staring down her son’s killer.

    It was the first opportunity in just more than four years for Fletcher to unload on Brian Horn, a sexual predator who snuffed out the life of her son, 12-year-old Justin M. Bloxom, on March 30, 2010. And Fletcher didn’t hold back.

    Her words, along with a brief, but powerful statement from Justin’s aunt, Vanessa Fogleman, took place shortly before noon today in DeSoto District Court during Horn’s formal sentencing. Burgess sentenced Horn to die by lethal injection, which is the sentence a 12-person jury decided upon in April after convicting him days earlier of Bloxom’s death.

    Dressed in a somewhat dingy orange and white inmate jumpsuit, Horn’s appearance was in stark contrast to the clean-cut image he portrayed during his capital murder trial. Then, Horn chose slacks and dress shirts for his court appearances. He didn’t have a decision on his choice of attire today,given his status as a convicted child killer.

    Horn, 37, of Keachi, gets a one-way trip to death row at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola early Thursday morning, DeSoto Parish sheriff’s corrections Chief Dennis Reed said.

    Horn, who did not testify during his trial, wanted to offer an apology today, according to his attorney, Blyth Taplin, of the Capital Appeals Project of Louisiana. However, Burgess cut off Taplin, telling her, “His apology is hollow and meaningless at this point.”

    Burgess pointed out previous opportunities where Horn could have spoken but chose not to. “This court is no longer interested in hearing from him,” he said.

    But sitting still and listening was all Horn could do when Fletcher and Fogleman took to the lectern. With a raised and determined voice, Fogleman barely took her glare from Horn, seated between his attorneys, as she launched into pent up thoughts she’d been waiting four years to unleash.

    Horn, she said, took one of the close-knit family’s prized possessions – Justin – one of 13 great-grandchildren in the Witham family. Their lives revolve around family. Get-togethers for holidays and birthdays are commonplace. And when there isn’t a holiday to celebrate, they make one up so that they can all be together at the “family compound” in Stonewall.

    But Horn forever changed the family dynamic by taking Justin, she said. “I’ll never forgive you for that.” And in a parting shot, she charged, “You can rot in Hell.”

    Unlike Fogleman, Fletcher organized her thoughts in writing, and in the first few minutes she read from the pages spread before her instead of making eye contact with Horn. As she settled in, though, Fletcher began glancing his way. A silent Horn looked her way, sometimes barely nodding his head, as Fletcher spoke for about 20 minutes.

    Fletcher took Horn – and the dozens of spectators in the audience – through a quick glimpse of Justin’s life. He was born May 29, 1997 following a miscarriage and fertility treatments, making his birth a special one.

    His “big blue eyes gleaming at me were absolutely perfect,” she said. On March 29, 2010, those blue eyes and voice that proclaimed, “I love you Mommy,” would be the last sight and sound from her son.

    That’s when Horn, driving an Action Taxi cab, used text messages portraying himself as a teenage girl to lure Justin away from an overnight stay at a friend’s house. His body was found hours later in a shallow depression of water across the fence row off U.S. Highway 171 near Stonewall. Cause of death was asphyxiation.

    The thought of an “evil sexual predator on top of him, murdering him, because he couldn’t satisfy his own needs with a grown adult” still brings Fletcher to tears. The four years since his death doesn’t make it easier or bring closure, it simply provides peace of mind, she said, because her life and those of her family will never be normal again.

    “Do I think he deserved the death penalty? Yes, I do,” Fletcher said of Horn, whom she criticized for never showing remorse for his actions and trying to explain Justin’s death away as an accident. She also characterized Horn as a “narcissistic psychopath.”

    Death row, she said, will give him time to think about the crime he committed. “You do not get to decide how you live the rest of your life,” adding, “I believe death row is the only option to open your eyes to all the wrong you’ve done in your life. … Brian Horn needs to feel the same fear as Justin did when he took his last breath.”

    As Fletcher held up the same 8-by-10 photograph of Justin that she clutched to her chest throughout Horn’s trial, she faced Horn and assured the killer even after all he’s put her through he still hasn’t taken her spirit. Instead, she remains committed to using “every ounce of my power” to protecting other children from the “likes of you in memory of Justin.”

    “May God have mercy on your soul,” she concluded.

    As the handcuffed and shackled Horn was led from the courtroom, his mother, Debra Abshire, blurted out from the front row, “I love you Brian.”

    Taplin, earlier denied a motion for a new trial, tried it again after Fletcher sat down and got the same curt response from Burgess, “Denied.” Burgess ordered Horn to stand as he briefly reviewed the documents used to prepare the required sentencing report.

    Burgess noted he used Horn’s own words, gleaned from an Aug. 20, 2009 resume submitted to the DeSoto District Attorney’s office for a job as a paralegal, along with investigative reports prepared by Lagniappe and Castillo Research and Investigations and the Louisiana Probation and Parole office.

    After pronouncing the sentence, Burgess said there was little else to add, other than to take notice of the “unusual” impact of Justin’s death. “The spirit of Justin Bloxom,” he said, has unified so many, from the family to the jurors to the community “beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

    Indeed, in the audience were five of the 12 jurors who voted to convict and sentence Horn to death. They drove from Baton Rouge for the day to witness the formal sentencing process.

    Taplin also said she wanted it on the record that the former jurors were seated with the victim’s family. Burgess did not respond to her, but he did grant attorney Daryl Gold’s verbal request to withdraw from further dealings with Horn. And Burgess noted he no longer will have jurisdiction over the case as it moves to the automatic appellate process.

    However, Taplin and her colleagues with the Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana may not have heard the last from the prosecution team. Caddo Parish Assistant District Attorney Dhu Thompson, who aided DeSoto assistant district attorneys Ron Stamps and Britany Green at trial, said after the hearing that someone with the New Orleans-based organization needs to be held accountable for the actions of one of its members who made a personal trip Saturday to the Witham residence in Stonewall.

    The representative of the office informed the family of plans to seek a new trial – a move Thompson described as “tacky” and “harassment.” Such communication should have been made through the district attorney’s office or the family’s private civil attorney, not in person, he said.

    “There is no basis whatsoever for them to do that. The timing is suspect and the manner is suspect,” Thompson said. “To upset a victim’s mother and her family on a holiday weekend needs to be addressed by her supervisors.”

    And it’s something that also needs to be added to the victim’s rights legislation to ensure the actions are not repeated with other victims’ families, Thompson said.

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/artic...ath-sentencing
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  4. #34
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    Cost of a capital murder trial: $105,209

    MANSFIELD – What does it a cost to get a death penalty conviction for a child killer?

    In DeSoto Parish, the tab has reached $105,209 for assorted expenses such as meals, hotels, security, travel and expert witnesses necessary for the first-degree murder trial of Brian Horn.

    The Keachi man killed 12-year-old Justin Bloxom, of Stonewall, on March 30, 2010. On April 5, just four days after the fourth anniversary of the heinous crime, a jury found Horn guilty and sentenced him to death.

    As the parish governing body, the DeSoto Police Jury is responsible for covering trial-related expenses. The Police Jury made the receipts, bills, credit card statements and checks available to The Times for review in response to a public records request.

    It’s a given that more goes into a capital murder trial than one of a lesser degree that doesn’t require a sequestered jury. Primarily, the costliest aspect is housing and feeding jurors, who are kept away from their homes from the trial’s start to finish.

    Enhancing that expense in the Horn trial was the fact that the panel chosen to decide his fate was picked in East Baton Rouge Parish. That meant court officials had to temporarily relocate there for almost two weeks. Once sworn in, the 15 jurors were transported to Mansfield, where they were housed and fed for 10 days.

    Feeding the jurors and the deputies assigned as security means meal tickets that, depending up on the location, can range from almost $200 to more than $1,000. Food choices included fried chicken, pizza, Chinese, steak, seafood, Mexican and sandwiches.

    Also on some of the tickets are alcoholic beverage purchases. That might raise some eyebrows, but court officials allowed it within moderation. They reasoned that that these men and women from South Louisiana who might normally have a drink with their meals at home shouldn’t be deprived just because they were called upon to fulfill an obligation of jury service more than 200 miles away.

    The Louisiana legislative auditor’s office routinely gets asked about the legality of using public funds to purchase alcohol for sequestered jurors. The question is even included on the state auditor’s website that offers legal assistance on a variety of issues.

    There are no Louisiana laws prohibiting it. But Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution states there should be a public purpose for all spending. For that reason, state auditors do not approve of alcohol purchases with public funds, said legal counsel Jennifer Schaye, who offered the comment in general and not specifically to the Horn trial expenses.

    Opinions from the Louisiana attorney general’s office follow the same guidelines, even noting in a 2002 inquiry on a similar topic that — under the strictest interpretation of the state Constitution — purchasing coffee, soft drinks and doughnuts is prohibited as “gratuitous” expenditure of public funds.

    The attorney general has said the question is not the particular food or beverage consumed but rather the reasonableness of the expenditure. Consumption and purchase of alcohol may be reasonable when economic development is involved but otherwise is not considered an allowable expense, the state auditor’s website states.

    District Judge Robert Burgess relied on a capital defense bench book provided by the judges’ association that covers issues related to sequestered juries. He realizes for some it can be a “hot button issue.”

    But Burgess only signed off on letting jurors have limited alcohol at their evening meals after he, Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle and the court staff reviewed the guidelines, which the judge made part of the official trial record.

    “If it was something they would normally do, then we agreed but only to pay a certain amount,” Burgess said. “There were limits of no more than two a day.”

    It was easy to keep in check while dining in DeSoto because there is only one sit-down restaurant where alcohol can be purchased with meals. Jurors only ate there three times.

    Meals were scattered around at other restaurants in the parish, and on a few occasions in Shreveport. For example, they dined at El Potrillo Mexican Restaurant in Shreveport, where the $694 bill included margaritas, Michelob, quesadillas and fajitas.

    But to put it in perspective, the alcohol purchases listed on restaurant receipts totaled about $234, compared to $68 spent at Walmart and Market Basket to buy Community Coffee, creamer, soft drinks and water for jurors.

    There were nights when the panel wanted to be low-key, opting to order pizza and eat at the hotel. On yet another night, they asked to do their own cooking; so crawfish and the trimmings were purchased for a crawfish boil. The bill for live crawfish from Shaver’s was $565.

    Other observations

    • District Attorney Richard Johnson charged meals for himself, his assistant district attorneys and other staffers on his office debit card then turned the tickets in for reimbursement. On some, he wrote on the back for whom the meals were purchased.

    They dined at a variety of restaurants including Zea Rotisserie & Grill, Sadaf Café, Hilton Capitol Center, Restaurant IPO, Tsunami, Jimmy John’s, Downtown Seafood, Mansur’s on the Boulevard, Ninfa’s Mexican Restaurant, Zolia Bistro, Capital City Grill, Parrain’s Seafood and Subway. Food selections included duck, steak and frites, oysters, shrimp and grits, rainbow trout, salmon, and turtle soup.

    • Arbuckle only paid his deputies a set per diem for each meal. The sheriff uses the state rate of $9 for breakfast, $13 for lunch and $24 for dinner. His office was reimbursed $12,313, broken down into $5,347 for meals and supplies for jurors, $4,225 for deputies’ hotel stays and $2,740 for deputies’ meal per diem.

    • One of the largest checks paid by the Police Jury was to the 42nd Judicial District Expense Account that was reimbursed $31,112 for a majority of the hotel, meal and travel expenses for the judge and district attorney’s staff while in Baton Rouge and airplane tickets and hotel rooms for witnesses and experts who testified at the trial.

    • It also included fees for trial witnesses including Dr. James Traylor, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Bloxom. He was paid $2,210 for being at the courthouse almost eight hours and traveling 68 miles. Another consultant who spent a day in the courtroom charged $150.

    • A Walmart receipt for $50.17 lists purchases of laundry bags, mesh bags and ID tags so jurors’ clothing could be sorted for cleaning. First Class Dry Cleaners was paid $711 over the course of the trial.

    • When a juror got sick, a doctor’s visit was required. Cost: $113.

    • Nash’s Body Shop and Towing was paid $800 to transport the taxi cab Horn was driving when he kidnapped Bloxom from Jacksonville, Texas, to Mansfield for jurors to view during the trial.

    • Hotel accommodations for jurors: $39,244.

    • Pay for off-duty deputies to perform courthouse and jury security: $11,445.

    • Doughnuts: $94.

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story...rial/13851559/

  5. #35
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    Horn's case is to be featured tonight at 10:00 p.m. EDT on Investigative Discovery's Web of Lies episode Sender: Unknown.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #36
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    Conviction, death sentence overturned in murder of boy, 12

    Louisiana's Supreme Court has overturned the first-degree murder conviction and death sentence of a man who prosecutors say lured a 12-year-old boy to his death in 2010 by sending text messages in which he pretended to be a teenage girl.

    The court said Friday that Brian Douglas Horn's rights were violated when his lawyer conceded at the 2014 first-degree murder trial that Horn killed Justin Bloxom in DeSoto Parish.

    According to the court record, the defense lawyer suggested that jurors find Horn guilty of manslaughter or second-degree murder, neither of which carries a death sentence. Horn objected to this strategy, the court said.

    The justices cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in another Louisiana case: a 6-3 ruling in favor of then-death row inmate Robert McCoy, who had repeatedly objected to his lawyer's decision to concede that McCoy killed two people in 2008.

    Louisiana Chief Justice Bernette Johnson wrote Friday's unanimous state Supreme Court ruling, noting the McCoy case.

    "While conceding guilt in the hope of avoiding a death sentence may be a reasonable strategic decision in some case, the decision to do so belongs to the defendant," she wrote.

    Prosecutors said Bloxom was lured away from a friend's house on March 29, 2010, with text messages purportedly from a 14-year-old girl seeking a sexual encounter and saying she would send a taxi for him. In reality, prosecutors said, the messages were from the driver of the taxi, Horn. The boy's body was found later in a shallow pool of water near a highway. A coroner said he had been smothered.

    Friday's ruling said the defense attorney conceded at trial that Horn killed Bloxom and that he molested or attempted to molest the boy. Horn disagreed with that strategy and made it known to the district judge before and during the trial, the ruling said.

    https://www.ktbs.com/news/local/conv...fbee3d7ce.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #37
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    yet again the judicial system has nothing to do with justice.

  8. #38
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    I hope justice will not forgive .
    Last edited by CharlesMartel; 09-09-2018 at 02:41 AM.
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  9. #39
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    DeSoto Parish DA: Justin Bloxom case is my highest priority

    By Marquel Sennet
    KTAL

    DESOTO PARISH, LA - The man sentenced to death for killing 12-year-old Justin Bloxom is granted a new trial in DeSoto Parish. The District Attorney says prosecuting this case is his highest priority.

    Gary Evans says this case deserves the worst punishment by law, but he explained to NBC 6/Fox 33 the challenges he's facing the second time around.

    In 2014 Brian Horn was found guilty of first degree murder and given the death penalty. He was granted a new trial, because the Louisiana Supreme Court stated his defense attorneys violated their client's right to effective counsel. In his first trial Horn had three different attorneys because the first two quit.

    Evans says, "We spent a lot of money on this case and it was tried and there was no wrong doing on behalf of anyone else except in this particular case the defense council."

    According to Evans this case could face some delays, because there's only a small number of lawyers who are certified to try death penalty cases in our area.

    Next the DA will have to determine what murder charges will be pursued and they still need to decide if it will be a death penalty case.

    "When we try this case believe me it's going to be done exactly right, every t is going to be crossed. Every I is going to be dotted."

    https://www.arklatexhomepage.com/new...ity/1432989459
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  10. #40
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    Convicted child killer returns to DeSoto Parish courtroom

    Convicted child killer Brian Horn will be back in a DeSoto Parish courtroom this morning.

    It’s his first court appearance since the Louisiana Supreme Court in September overturned his conviction and death sentence in the death of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom of Stonewall. His case has been sent back to the parish for a new trial.

    Horn is being transported from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for the 9:30 a.m. hearing, where several motions will be heard. A trial date also could be set.

    Justin was killed in March 2010 in Stonewall. Prosecutors said Horn posed as a 15-year-old girl to entice Bloxom via text to meet up with him for sex. Justin’s body was found in a wooded area off Highway 171.

    The state’s Supreme Court overturned Horn’s first-degree murder conviction and death sentence because of precedent set by another Louisiana case – a ruling in favor of another former death row inmate, Robert McCoy, who was convicted of killing two people in 2008. McCoy’s conviction and sentence were overturned after he successfully argued that he objected to his attorney’s decision to concede his guilt.

    Horn filed the same objection in his appeal. Court records show that his defense attorney told jurors they should find Horn guilty of a lesser offense such as manslaughter or second-degree murder, neither of which carries the death penalty. Horn said he did not agree to that defense strategy.

    The Supreme Court – in overturning Horn’s conviction and sentence – did state, however, prosecutors had sufficient evidence for the jury to “find proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Horn committed second-degree kidnapping.

    In its review, the court stated records reveal the state met its burden of demonstrating that Horn physically injured Justin in the course of kidnapping him prior to his death.

    https://www.ktbs.com/news/convicted-...e6a810435.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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