It’s nice to see justice served.

A Harris County grand jury decided today that Joe Horn should not be charged with a crime for shooting two burglary suspects he confronted outside his neighbor’s home in Pasadena last fall.
…
Horn called authorities after hearing breaking glass and seeing two men climb through a window into his next-door neighbor’s home in the 7400 block of Timberline.

The 911 operator urged Horn to remain inside, but he went outside with his 12-gauge shotgun and came face-to-face with Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38.

According to a transcript of Horn’s 911 call, which he made about 2 p.m., the operator repeatedly urged Horn to stay in his house, but Horn said he did not believe it would be right to let the burglars get away.

We need more neighbors like Joe Horn.

The two dead criminals were illegal immigrants from Colombia. One had been sent to prison for dealing cocaine and was deported in 1999. Maybe we should’ve just offered him a path to citizenship.

It’s amazing that the black vote continues to lean so heavily in favor of a party that takes them for granted and thinks so little of them.

Take, for example, John Edwards’ useless pandering comments last week:

The idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”

The message is clear: Vote for Democrats because you’re just not capable of staying out or prison or alive without our help.

And even Barack Obama played the game in July when he said:

“We have more work to do when more young black men languish in prison than attend colleges and universities across America.”

Aside from the blatant racist undertones of the comments, the even more outrageous fact is that they’re complete lies.

Are there really more black men in prison than college? Of course not.

According to 2005 Census Bureau statistics, the male African-American population of the United States aged between 18 and 24 numbered 1,896,000. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 106,000 African-Americans in this age group were in federal or state prisons at the end of 2005. See table 10 of this report. If you add the numbers in local jail (measured in mid-2006), you arrive at a grand total of 193,000 incarcerated young Black males, or slightly over 10 percent.

According to the same census data, 530,000 of these African-American males, or twenty eight percent, were enrolled in colleges or universities (including two-year-colleges) in 2005. That is five times the number of young black men in federal and state prisons and two and a half times the total number incarcerated. If you expanded the age group to include African-American males up to thirty or thirty five, the college attendees would still outnumber the prisoners.

But these guys have (D) beside their name, so they’re immune from the race-peddling, outrage caucus.

Imagine the message being sent by this case.

A 7-year-old girl said she had been raped and repeatedly molested over the course of a year. Police in Montgomery County, acting on information from a relative, soon arrested a Liberian immigrant living in Gaithersburg. They marshaled witnesses and DNA evidence to prepare for trial.

What was missing — for much of the nearly three years that followed — was an interpreter fluent in the suspect’s native language. A judge recently dropped the charges, not because she found that Mahamu Kanneh had been wrongly accused but because repeated delays in the case had, in her view, violated his right to a speedy trial.

Something doesn’t add up here.

First, the judge let him go because she thought the delay in finding a translator violated his right to a speedy trial… however:

Kanneh spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors. He later waived his right to a speedy trial — in Maryland, defendants have a right to be tried within 180 days following an indictment — because the defense wanted time to conduct its own analysis of DNA evidence.

And about his needing a translator…

The state noted that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English.

So this case is either an indictment on our educational system, our judicial system… or both.

Prosecutors, who cannot refile the charges against Kanneh, are considering whether to appeal Savage’s ruling. Kanneh was granted asylum in the United States, according to State’s Attorney John McCarthy. A conviction could have led to deportation proceedings.

And isn’t it interesting he knew enough about our system to seek asylum, but a judge thinks he doesn’t know enough to be tried for raping a child.

UPDATE:
Surprise, Surprise. FoxNews called and spoke with Mahamu Kanneh… in English!

in Philly:

Alerted to an obscure state law banning fortune-telling “for gain or lucre,” the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections is closing storefront psychics, astrologers, phrenologists and tarot-card readers who charge money for their services.

Wouldn’t be nice if responsible parenting like this were so common in our country that it didn’t make news?

A father took extreme measures Wednesday to discipline his 14-year-old son, who he claims was abusing drugs.

Because the boy is a minor, 6 News won’t reveal his or his father’s identity.

The boy was forced to wear a large sandwich board sign that said “I abused & sold drugs,” while standing in front of Cedar Bluff Middle School.

“I would like to say that I’m not out here doing this to humiliate my son,’ the dad said. “I’m doing this because I love him. We do have an extreme drug problem in America, and maybe it’s time for extreme measures that parents need to take to monitor this problem that we have.”

The man says he recently learned after reading the boy’s MySpace page his son was involved with marijuana and OxyContin. That’s when he decided to take immediate action.

“Basically he said, ‘Well, I did do the crime and I’m willing to serve the punishment for it,’ and he’s taking it all in stride,” the boy’s father said.

The school’s principal soon came out and asked the father to call it off, which he did.

By that time the boy said he had already learned his lesson. “This is embarrassing. I ain’t going to be doing it again.”

And the boy added, “Drugs are for losers. That’s all I can say.”

Those were the words his dad hoped to hear.

Now how long before the ACLU jumps in to urge the boy to sue his father for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress? 3…. 2…. 1…

In a followup to the tragic car wreck story, the officials involved in letting this illegal alien murderer get back behind the wheel of a car are all scrambling to justify why they dropped the ball.

A Harris County prosecutor, criticized for negotiating in 2005 a reduced drunken driving penalty for a man now accused of intoxicated manslaughter in the death of two women, said Wednesday she believed a jury would have been equally lenient.
[…]
If convicted of a felony in the 2005 case, Gomez-Gutierrez would have faced two to 10 years in prison.

But more importantly, he would’ve likely been deported.

Yet [assistant Harris County district attorney Colleen] Barnett believes the terms she negotiated in the 2005 plea agreement were justified based on the fact that Gomez-Gutierrez had no violent criminal past and none of three DWIs involved an accident or injury.

And now we see just how violent and criminal a DWI can be. Unfortunately, for the victims, it’s a little too late.

It also appears the illegals understand our immigration laws and prosecution better than the folks hired to enforce such laws. When Barnett offered Gomez-Gutierrez a plea deal with two options of either pleading guilty to a felony and receive five years probation, 30 days confinement, $500 fine, 160 hours of community service and substance abuse treatment or pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and spend a year in county jail, he took the misdemeanor because, as Barnett says:

He might not have chosen the felony probation out of fear of deportation, Barnett said, adding sometimes defendants think it’s “easier to sit out the jail time.”

ICE also showed no interest in dealing harshly with this repeat offender.

Harris County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dana Wolfe said federal immigration authorities are notified whenever an illegal immigrant is booked into the jail, like Gomez-Gutierrez.

“They then had an opportunity to place them on hold (for deportation). But it was totally up to them,” she said.

Deason, the immigration spokeswoman, said she could not say if the agency was notified until she gets the file.

“We were trying to focus on worst of the worst, felonies such as aggravated sexual assaults and murders back in 2005,” she said.

Well, now you got a murderer. I guess it’s okay to deal with him now.

Tragic.

On a side note: Hat’s off to Houston Chronicle reporter Cindy Horswell for not being afraid to call the illegal an illegal.

Gomez-Gutierrez, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, is now facing his fourth drunken driving charge.

I witnessed this horrific wreck on Sunday that killed two three people.

Police said Ignacio Gomez-Gutierrez, 25, was speeding along the 22600 block of the Eastex Freeway about 3:40 p.m. Sunday when his pickup slammed into the back of a car.

Vanessa Ortiz, 18, and Maria Ortiz, 49, were in the 1998 Buick when it was struck from behind. They were both killed on impact, police said.

Vanessa Ortiz was also 5 months pregnant.

This is video of the scene moments after. It was a terrible wreck and I was in shock in seeing the car crumpled like a soda can. I knew the results were not going to be good.

The man driving the truck that crashed into the victims hopped out and tried to run away, only to be hit by a car himself. He survived, was arrested and is now facing two counts of intoxication manslaughter. (I’d argue it should be three)

When we saw him jump out and start to run, the group of witnesses surrounding me started wondering aloud about why he would run. Some thought he may have been drunk. Others suggested he could’ve been an illegal.

Turns out he was BOTH.

From the Houston Chronicle:

According to the investigating Houston police officer, Javier Calvillo, Gomez-Gutierrez’s blood alcohol was about three times the legal limit.

And this wasn’t his first time. He had three prior DWI convictions. THREE!

For the first misdemeanor conviction in 2002, he received 60 days confinement and for the second misdemeanor conviction in 2004 he was sentenced to only 10 days.

The third conviction should have been a felony, but it was reduced to a misdemeanor for which he was sentenced to a year in the county jail.

And as if that wasn’t enough bad news, it turns out he was also an illegal. According to an email I received from Cindy Horswell of the Chronicle, “Gomez-Gutierrrez was an illegal immigrant who entered this country in 2001 and was never deported after any of the three prior convictions.”

“We are so angry,” said Sylvia Flores, 28, whose mother and younger sister died in the accident. “If everyone had done what they were supposed to do, they would still be alive. I don’t want (Gomez-Gutierrez) to slip through the cracks again. He’s just been given a slap on the wrist. No wonder he did it again.”

Is anyone in immigration and law enforcement awake anymore? Consider the deaths of these three innocent people yet another tragic wake up call.

UPDATE:
Here’s an update to the story, including reactions from the prosecutor who let Gomez-Gutierrez off the hook and ICE officials who may have missed a chance to deport him… multiple times.

From Scotland:

A GRUMPY prisoner has demanded a ban on warders wearing Santa hats at Christmas time.

Inmate Jamie Chapman said the cheery headgear was “rubbing salt in the wound” of inmates who were missing relatives during the festive season.
…
The inmate at Onley Prison, near Rugby, Warwickshire, said: “It’s the last thing prisoners want to see when they step out of their cells on Christmas morning.”

If only there were a method by which people could stay out of prison… hmmm, let me think.

Prison Officers’ Association general secretary Brian Caton said: “This is ludicrous. It’s a little bit morbid at a time of year when we do our best to lighten things up a bit.”

He added staff had a lot of sympathy for many prisoners at this time of year.

But he said: “If they don’t want to take part in any lighter activities, they are free to stay in their cells.”

Or even better yet, they could stop breaking the law and avoid prison altogether. What a concept.

Maybe they ought to introduce this criminal to Sheriff Joe. Not only would he keep all the guards in Christmas attire, he’d make the inmates dress up like elves and sing carols.

From the Houston Chronicle:

After [HPD Officer Rodney] Johnson stopped Quintero for speeding near Hobby Airport on Thursday, Quintero was handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car. Police said Quintero was able to get his cuffed hands in front of himself, draw a concealed pistol and shoot Johnson four times in the head.

Some history on Quintero:

Brown said that Quintero had a criminal history from 1995 to 1999, convicted for DWI, failure to stop and give information and indecency with a child. His driver’s license was suspended and he was deported to Mexico by immigration officials in 1999, Brown said.

Another catch and release success.

The Mexican government is monitoring the case.

Representatives from the Mexican Consulate also attended the hearing. The Mexican government, through its consulate office in Houston, continues to monitor Quintero’s case and has offered him legal help.

It would be nice if they’d take this much interest in these criminals before they come here to commit their crimes.

Update: blogHouston points out how the Houston Chronicle describes the illegal-immigrant cop killer as polite and calm. Did you expect any less?

Even the woman who sat in the defendant’s chair, having undisputedly murdered each one of her children with her own bare hands, reacted as if to say, “Holy crap, they bought that insanity gig?!?”

Talk about your all-time cases of injustice. This case ought to shine a gigantic spotlight on the travesty of justice that is the “insanity plea”.

Yates’ attorneys never disputed that she drowned 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah in their Houston-area home in June 2001. But they said she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, believed Satan was inside her and was trying to save them from hell.

Get that? NEVER DISPUTED… It was never even an issue as to whether she knowingly filled her bathtub full of water before systematically chasing each child around the house, dragging them into the bathroom (some fighting for their lives) and holding their innocent little heads under the water under the precious life left their tiny bodies. NEVER FRIGGIN’ DISPUTED

But yet we held not one, but two trials in her honor. Andrea Yates committed what could be deemed as arguably the most heinous crime imaginable, killing her own child… and she systematically committed it FIVE TIMES… and the message from yesterday’s verdict is that murderers shouldn’t worry about serving jail time so long as they can convince a jury they had a really bad day.

And now Andrea Yates is finding the American justice system offering her the mercy she denied her own flesh and blood… and someday in the future, she may walk free to do it all over again.

The 42-year-old will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released. If convicted of murder, she would have faced life in prison.

Life in prison ought to be the minimum she faces. But no, thanks to the insanity defense, she may soon be able to walk right back out into public and procreate again. It’s not so much the insanity defense that’s the problem, as much as it is the liberal application of it in many cases. It seems to be the fallacy of circular argument whereby the argument goes like this: Only someone out of their mind could think about killing their own children, thus since she killed her own children, she must’ve been out of her mind. Therefore, Andrea Yates’ crime was so outrageous that it inherently came with a built-in defense to escape punishment.

And while I feel terrible for the psycho’s husband, Rusty, I was disappointed to read his reaction to the verdict, saying it was the right decision, and then lashing out at the prosecutors who sought justice for his murdered children.

Rusty Yates lashed out Thursday at prosecutors who spent five years pursuing murder charges against his ex-wife, saying they misrepresented certain details of the day Andrea Yates drowned their five children.

Who cares? For the sake of argument, let’s toss out every single “misrepresentation” made by prosecutors, and focus on a single, completely undisputed fact: Andrea Yates drowned her five children. Period.