Attorney resignation delays court hearing
A defense attorney's unexpected resignation prompted a postponement Wednesday of plans to argue pending motions to suppress evidence in the capital murder case of a Keachi man accused in the death of a Stonewall boy.
Defense attorney Ross Owen informed District Judge Robert Burgess that co-counsel Elton Richey resigned Nov. 1 from the Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana, which provides legal services to indigent defendants facing the death penalty. Two new attorneys have been assigned; however, one is on a previously scheduled vacation.
District Attorney Richard Johnson said his office only learned Tuesday that Richey is no longer representing Brian Horn. Burgess rescheduled the hearing for 9 a.m. Nov. 16.
Still unresolved are motions seeking to throw out evidence seized in connection with Horn's arrest March 30, 2010, in the death of Justin M. Bloxom, 12.
Identified in the motions are items seized in a search of the Action Taxi Cab that Horn operated under contract, a Dell desktop computer removed from his home and an AT&T SIM card taken from Horn's brother's vehicle.
DeSoto sheriff's investigators say Horn portrayed himself as a teenage girl through cellphone text messages with Bloxom and set up a meeting with the preteen. Horn drove his taxi to pick up Bloxom from a friend's house on the pretense of meeting the girl.
Horn ran out of gas on U.S. Highway 171 just south of Stonewall. Bloxom's body was found in a wooded area across the fence hours after he had been reported missing. Horn, a twice-convicted sex offender, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
A trial date has not been reset after cancellation of the August session in Lincoln Parish.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/artic...-court-hearing
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