Senior Chief Terrell Horne's Killer Convicted of Murder, the first murder of a U.S. Coast Guardsman since 1927

Mexican Convicted of Murder for Ramming U.S. Coast Guard officer

A USCG RIGID HULL INFLATABLE  (RIB) BEING HOISTED ABOARD A CUTTER. THIS WAS TH E TYPE OF SMALL BOAT THAT THE PURSUING CUTTER LAUNCHED TO CAPTURE THE EVADING SMUGGLER WHEN THE PURSUED TURNED ON AND DELIBERATELY COLLIDED WITH THE COAST GUARD RIB KILLING SENIOR CHIEF HORNE

Editor's Note 1/22/2015 We have decided to run this post again as the 1st anniversary of this conviction approaches. We're sure that the defense in this case suggested that ramming the CG boat wasn't done with the intent to kill. But kill it did and the drug smuggler was convicted of murder, which is exactly what the action was. We pray there are no repeats. Everyone who enters our border in violation of law should realize there is a price to be exacted even for those who simply mean to enter and take up life illegally. 

 EDITORS NOTE: We carried with great regret the story of the on duty death of Senior Chief Terrell Horne, USCG in 2012. Senior Chief Horne was killed by a propeller blade blow to the head after being thrown from the rigid inflatable boat he was attempting to board a suspected drug smuggling vessel from. The target boat attempted to evade boarding by ramming at speed the Coast Guard vessel. The force of the resulting collision threw Senior Chief Horne and a Coast Guard Petty Officer overboard where both were struck by propeller blades killing the Senior Chief and cutting the Petty Officer across the knee. Reuters News Service has the complete details at : http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/usa-coastguard-death-idUSL2N0LB01Q20140206  

 There were two men aboard the smuggling craft the operator was convicted of murder and the second man as an accessory after the fact. Sentencing will be later this month, the operator faces life in prison and his accomplice up to 60 years in prison. The tragic event happened off the coast of Southern California.