Texas Woman Kills Home Intruder With His Own Gun

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,417122,00.html

BLUE MOUND, Texas —  When two gunmen smashed through the glass front door of her suburban Fort Worth home, Kellie Hoehn didn't think twice.

The 34-year-old mother of two grabbed a shotgun that had been pointed at her face early Wednesday, starting a struggle that ended with one intruder killed with his own weapon and another in the hospital.

"I wasn't going to let them get to my babies," she said, recalling the moment when she pushed up the muzzle of the shotgun, pointing it away from her children's rooms.

Although the intruders told her to keep quiet, she screamed for her husband. She told her 12-year-old son, who was awakened by the sound of the shattering glass front door, to get his 5-year-old sister and hide.

"It was like a horror movie," her husband, 32-year-old Keith Hoehn, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I thought I was a dead man. We're fighting for our lives."

With Kellie Hoehn clinging to the weapon's muzzle, her husband tackled the man who held the shotgun. She knocked the intruder in the head with a jar candle, giving her husband a chance to wrest the shotgun.

By then the tussle had spilled out onto the front lawn. Keith Hoehn shot one of the men who had a pistol, police said. Wounded, that man ran away.

Then the intruder who initially had the shotgun charged Keith Hoehn.

Kellie Hoehn told The Dallas Morning News that she screamed at her husband, "Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him."

Her husband fired the shotgun and the man fell to the ground. Then the shot man lunged a second time.

"Well, I shot him again, and I guess that was it," Keith Hoehn said.

Dakota Scott Benoit, 20, of Richland Hills, was pronounced dead at a hospital. John Garland Pierson, 25, of Haltom City, was in critical condition and in police custody at the hospital.

"I am not happy that someone is dead," Kellie Hoehn said. "But I am glad that my family is alive."

Police said Pierson was shot in the left arm and the bullet pierced his diaphragm and other organs but his condition was improving. He will face charges of burglary of habitation with intent to commit another felony, police said.

Investigators say the couple were just defending their family and probably won't be charged.

Though I guess, actually, the article is in error because it's the husband who killed the intruder with his own gun.

I love a happy ending.

R.

Quoted: ~snipped~ Investigators say the couple were just defending their family and probably won't be charged.

Probably?  PROBABLY?!?  They should get an effing medal for saving their family and clearing our streets of more criminal scum.

Kudos to the wife for thinking fast and grabbing the shotgun.  I wonder if these nice folks will be visiting a gun store/show soon...

Quoted: Quoted: ~snipped~ Investigators say the couple were just defending their family and probably won't be charged. Probably?  PROBABLY?!?  They should get an effing medal for saving their family and clearing our streets of more criminal scum. Kudos to the wife for thinking fast and grabbing the shotgun.  I wonder if these nice folks will be visiting a gun store/show soon...

Yeah, I picked up on that too, bro.



I don't know what to say.......

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the responding/investigating officers saw something that didn't seem quite kosher or otherwise set their spidey sense off, and so they are just doing their homework on these people before clearing them.

We had something similar happen here not too terribly long ago, and the DA said something like "Seems like a clear-cut case of self-defense, but I'm waiting until the investigation is complete before making my final determination."  [emphasis not in original]


ETA: Another couple of things just came to mind:

It may be that *all* shootings in that jurisdiction go to a grand jury.

Also, the police aren't the ones who decide whether to press charges, so maybe they just didn't want to speak for the police.


ETA2: Whoops.  Meant to say "maybe they just didn't want to speak for the DA's Office."

Why would would someone break into somebody's home like this ?  What the heck did they have in mind, stealing the freakin microwave ?  Were the perps stalking out this place and chose it for a reason, or was it an impulse type crime, just to satisfy a drug fix ?  We may never know.  Reading stuff like this makes me even more cynical than I am now, about American society in general.  The fact that there are people out there that would do such things is enough to make someone shun anything related to other humans.  I grew up in an area where this kind of crap just wasnt heard of.  

Quoted: Quoted: ~snipped~ Investigators say the couple were just defending their family and probably won't be charged. Probably?  PROBABLY?!?  They should get an effing medal for saving their family and clearing our streets of more criminal scum. Kudos to the wife for thinking fast and grabbing the shotgun.  I wonder if these nice folks will be visiting a gun store/show soon...

Amen....preach it.

This world is so F'd up. When you PROBABLY might be ago defending hearth and home.

When will our law enforcement administrators get their heads out of their collective asses?

No one's head is up their ass, and there is no problem here.  A good investigator would never make a "no charges" statement before the investigation is complete.

I have seen seeming "random" home invasions turn out to be drug deals gone bad and other types of crimes "in disguise".  I don't believe for a second that this case is anything other than what it appears to all of us.  however, if I were the investigating officer I would not call that a fact until I completed my investigation.

It'll go to the grand jury, as all homicides do.  

Quoted: It'll go to the grand jury, as all homicides do.

I never can remember; is is a state law thing (that all homicides go to a GJ), or does/can it vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction?

Quoted: Quoted: It'll go to the grand jury, as all homicides do.   I never can remember; is is a state law thing (that all homicides go to a GJ), or does/can it vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction?

I have never seen a specific law that requires all homicides to go to the GJ.  There could be one, I've just never seen it.  

That said, in Texas I have never seen one NOT referred to the GJ.  I'll check the CCP.

CCP = Code of Crim. Procedure?

I think I may have a copy and will check it if I do.


ETA:

I have "Texas Criminal Procedure -- Code and Rules" (West, 1992)

I also have "Texas Criminal and Traffic Law Manual" (LexisNexis, 2003/2004)

Quoted: CCP = Code of Crim. Procedure?

Yes.

Texas CCP

I live in the small town this happened in.
From what we have heard this was the second random home invasion by that group that night.
We believe it is gang members from the northside of Ft.Worth. A day or 2 before there was a problem with some 14-15 year old gang members a mile away in Saginaw breaking into cars. They were seen and chased by a homeowner who they then shot at. They wrecked trying to get away, and I believe one was either killed or massively injured.
This area has had little of this type of crime, but this sudden eruption has everyone on edge especially since they were random.

As for the P.D. in charge of this incident they have a massive turnover rate, very little professionalism and usually not much experience. They tend to write a lot of tickets but have problems handling a real incident. They are not respected by anyone and are the butt of jokes amongst the surrounding depts.
Think of them as JBT wannabes. Keep in mind, I used to be a cop, so I know what they should do and what is a bad idea. They act like big city cops in a town with about 350 homes and is about 1 mile by 1/2 mile in area.
It would not surprise me if they screwed this up and tried to lay something on the homeowner.
If they do I want to be on his jury. From everything I have heard it was a good shoot.

Jim

They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.  

Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.

I'm not arguing with you, but this is a town where the cops write tickets if people forget to pay their trash bill.
We have a private company providing water, not a public utility so the water and trash bills are seperate. The trash company sends bills out quarterly and people who were used to it being included in the water bill sometimes forget.
I have had a couple of neighbors who received a ticket for forgetting to pay a bill from a private company- the trash company. The city made an ordnance that states it is illegal to not pay your trash bill. It's like they collect debts for them.

I don't remember that class in the academy.

Jim

So your City Council has required its police dept to enforce a BS city ordinance?  I would hate to work for that PD.  I know that sucks.  It would be tough to have to decide on keeping your job and enforcing a BS ordinance like that.  

However, unless the homeowners referred to in this thread forgot to pay their bill, I see no enforcement action being taken.  ;)

Quoted: So your City Council has required its police dept to enforce a BS city ordinance?  I would hate to work for that PD.  I know that sucks.  It would be tough to have to decide on keeping your job and enforcing a BS ordinance like that.   However, unless the homeowners referred to in this thread forgot to pay their bill, I see no enforcement action being taken.  ;)

There ya go. I was only pointing out what this town is like but you make a good point.

Jim

Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.

What a waste of taxpayer money, the juror's time and the defendant's legal fees (because you'd have to be stupid not to be represented) to send something to a grand jury that the DA doesn't even have an interest in prosecuting.

Quoted: Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.   What a waste of taxpayer money, the juror's time and the defendant's legal fees (because you'd have to be stupid not to be represented) to send something to a grand jury that the DA doesn't even have an interest in prosecuting.

I sort of agree; however, would you rather have DAs deciding who gets a walk, or the Grand Jury?  I don't mean this case, specifically, but how about some rich, connected, contributor to the DAs campaign; that sort of thing.....

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.   What a waste of taxpayer money, the juror's time and the defendant's legal fees (because you'd have to be stupid not to be represented) to send something to a grand jury that the DA doesn't even have an interest in prosecuting. I sort of agree; however, would you rather have DAs deciding who gets a walk, or the Grand Jury?  I don't mean this case, specifically, but how about some rich, connected, contributor to the DAs campaign; that sort of thing.....

If the DA doesn't want to prosecute the case, then even if the GJ decides to indict, he can easily at very least sabotage his prosecution.  That given, I don't see much downside in letting the DA decide not to bother sending cases he doesn't believe in to the GJ.  It also goes along with the theory of preferring to let the guilty go free rather than punishing the innocent.

Its sort of the opposite of what that weasel Ronnie Earle likes to do...  he's been known for shopping to multiple GJs until he gets an indictment.

Quoted: Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.   What a waste of taxpayer money, the juror's time and the defendant's legal fees (because you'd have to be stupid not to be represented) to send something to a grand jury that the DA doesn't even have an interest in prosecuting.

I do not think that the "defendants" actually go before the court during a Grand Jury do they?  The Grand Jury just recommends weather a case goes to court or not, isn't that correct?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: They are not going to try to put anything on the homeowner.  It WILL go the Grand Jury, but it will be without an arrest and without a request for indictment.   What a waste of taxpayer money, the juror's time and the defendant's legal fees (because you'd have to be stupid not to be represented) to send something to a grand jury that the DA doesn't even have an interest in prosecuting. I do not think that the "defendants" actually go before the court during a Grand Jury do they?  The Grand Jury just recommends weather a case goes to court or not, isn't that correct?

It is my understanding that defendants do go in front of the grand jury, but even though they are not allowed to have counsel present, anyone who does not get the advice of an attorney beforehand is a fool.