HOUSTON – It may take a moment to associate the name Joe Horn with recent Harris County history, but one Houstonian remembers the Pasadena man and the controversy that surrounded him all too well.
With the events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, the Horn case seemed to take on special relevance Tuesday.
"We took all of them seriously, we knew that one was in the limelight, the public was watching," Nancy Brainerd said.
Brainerd was one of 12 grand jury members that decided the fate of the Horn case.
On Nov. 27, 2007, Joe Horn shot two men suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home in Pasadena. Horn is white. The burglary suspects were black.
The shooting and the absence of an immediate arrest outraged some community members who held a rally in front of Horn's house.
Horn did not stand trial for the shooting after a Harris County Grand Jury declined to indict him.
Six years after her decision, Brainerd does not want to divulge how she voted, but she said that the decision not to indict was far from unanimous and the voting process was by a show of hands.
"There were those of us who felt this gentleman's life was not in danger which is supposedly when you are able to stand you ground," Brainerd said.
Local 2 Legal Analyst Brian Wice, who has also served on a grand jury, points out that while the overwhelming majority of cases presented to grand juries result in indictments, the glaring exception is for police who have shot suspects in the line of duty.
"Make no mistake that being a peace officer in a peace officer-involved shooting is the ultimate home court advantage in any grand jury proceeding," Wice said.