Posted on 02/05/2008 4:15:43 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
RICHMOND — A woman sentenced to prison in a Sugar Land home robbery told a court an accomplice in the crime was one of the men killed by Joe Horn after they burglarized his neighbor's Pasadena house, prosecutors said.
Rafaela Davila, 42, made the claim during a punishment hearing Monday in the court of state District Judge Cliff Vacek, said Fort Bend County assistant district attorney Mike Hartman.
Hartman said police have not been able to verify Davila's assertion but have contacted prosecutors in Harris County to determine if it is true.
"They (Harris County officials) were definitely interested in this," Hartman said Tuesday."They were going to pull up their records and see if they could corroborate this and make a connection."
Hartman said there were enough similarities between the 2006 Sugar Land case and the fatal shooting incident last year in Pasadena to warrant further investigation.
In both cases, the homes targeted by the suspects were owned by people of Asian descent. And, in both cases the suspects were Colombian, Hartman said.
Davila pleaded guilty Nov. 13 to a charge of aggravated robbery in connection with a Sugar Land home invasion that happened on the evening of June 12. She was given a 40-year prison term.
Hartman said Davila rang the doorbell of a home in the Sugar Lakes subdivision. When the woman who lived there answered, Davila mumbled something and the woman opened the door.
Three men, who apparently had been hiding nearby, rushed into the house, Hartman said.
One of the men put a gun to the victim's head. The woman was tied up and left on a bed while the men ransacked the home, taking about $100,000 in jewelry and other valuables.
Hartman said a tip led to Davila's arrest. When police showed the victim a spread of photographs of suspects, the woman picked out Davila.
Davila never divulged the full name of her accomplices, telling police she knew them only by nicknames like Javier or Cholo. .
In Monday's punishment hearing, Davila took the stand and was questioned about the names of her accomplices in the Sugar Land case.
"He was burglarizing a house. The next door neighbor seen him when they were breaking in a window and he called 9-1-1. That is what I seen on the news," Davila said in court about one of the other suspects.
Hartman then asked Davila if the shooting was the one involving Joe Horn that has garnered so much publicity.
"He shot both of them and I knew one of them. I didn't know the other one," Davila said in court.
Hartman said he believes Davila was talking about Diego Ortiz, one of the men killed in the Nov. 14 shooting that has drawn international attention.
Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, were shot by Horn, 61, after the pair left a neighbor's house that they had just burglarized.
The shooting case has been turned over to the Harris County District Attorney's Office where it will be reviewed by a grand jury. Horn has not been charged.
eric.hanson@chron.com
I, for one, hope Horn won’t be charged. Maybe that would slow down some of these “hot” home invasions. It’s getting to be scary. Would someone please close those borders NOW?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.