Prosecutor In Brian Horn Case Talks Supreme Court Decision

Shreveport attorney Dhu Thompson talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the Louisiana Supreme Court decision overturning the 2014 conviction of Brian Horn for the murder of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom.

Thompson, who at the time was Assistant District Attorney for Caddo Parish, was asked by the DeSoto Parish DA's office to prosecute the case against Horn because of his extensive experience in trying capital cases. Horn was found guilty and was being held on death at the state's Angola State Penitentiary while his appeals were being heard.

Here's a summary of the decision of the court's decision from ktbs.com:

"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."