Shot by a Horsey

[Law Dawg]

04/15/2004
--Family members of Omar Horsey and Jamar Johnson took the stand
Wednesday and said both were at their Chester homes at the time they are
alleged to have been out shooting at a key witness who had testified
against Johnson's brother in a murder case.
Horsey, 19, and Johnson, 23, are on trial facing charges including
attempted murder and intimidation of a witness involving a shooting
about 2 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, in which a woman was wounded in the
foot.The 21-year-old victim testified earlier in the trial that just
weeks after she took the stand at a preliminary hearing against
Johnson's brother Raheem, Jamar attempted to gun her down on a Chester
street.
The victim testified Jamar Johnson was the assailant. Her older
sister, who was with her, said that Horsey was with Johnson that night
and also fired at the victim.
Horsey's grandmother, Christine Reed, and his uncle, Michael Horsey,
both took the stand Monday and said the defendant was home asleep at the
time he is alleged to have been out with Johnson.
Malika Johnson, 21, also said her brother Jamar arrived home at 1:30
a.m. that morning and went to sleep.
She testified she remembered that because their mother had a fish fry
for Jamar earlier that night and he came home about 5:30 p.m.He grabbed
a piece of fish and left, she said.
She said she later had fallen asleep in Johnson's room watching a movie
when he woke her up. She said she looked at the clock on the microwave
and it was 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003.
She said Jamar had brought home a bag with juice in it and she and her
brother began "tussling" for the drink and ended up waking up their
mother.
The sister said she and Johnson then fell asleep watching a movie and he
remained in the house all night.
The victim, whose name is being withheld, had told the jury earlier in
the trial that she was a witness during the Jan. 14, 2003,preliminary
hearing against Raheem Johnson, 25, of Chester, who is facing murder
charges in a double homicide.
She testified that about 2 or 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, after she and
her sister had gone out to a convenience store near Renshaw and Township
Line Roads in the city, Jamar Johnson, 23, Raheem's younger brother,
jumped out from some bushes and opened fire on her.
The jury should begin deliberations later today in the trial, after
closing arguments and instructions on the law that are set to begin when
the trial resumes before Judge Ann Osborne.

"The demand of the hour in America is for jurors with conscience,
judges with courage, and prisons which are neither country clubs nor
health resorts. It is not the criminals, actual or potential, that need
a neuropathic hospital; it is the people who slobber over them in an
effort to find excuses for their crime."
Judge Alfred J. Talley