The Louisiana Supreme Court has shut down a new challenge from Brian Douglas Horn, leaving intact a 2023 death sentence in the 2010 killing of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom in DeSoto Parish. Horn remains on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola while his state appeals stall. Prosecutors say the case was built on cellphone records and a series of text messages that, they argue, show Horn pretending to be a teenage girl to lure Justin into his cab.
High court refuses writ
According to KSLA, the state’s high court on last Thursday, denied Horn’s application for a supervisory writ. The brief order leaves the DeSoto Parish jury’s verdict and the 2023 death sentence in place for now.
Conviction history and earlier reversal
Horn was first convicted in 2014, but in 2018 the Louisiana Supreme Court threw out that conviction after finding that his trial lawyer had conceded guilt over Horn’s objection, a violation of his Sixth Amendment rights. The kind of error at issue was addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case McCoy v. Louisiana, documented on Justia. The 2018 ruling and its factual findings are detailed in the court’s own decision from that year. Louisiana Supreme Court.
Retrial and sentence in 2023
After the 2018 vacatur, Horn was brought back to trial in DeSoto Parish in July 2023. A new jury again found him guilty of first-degree murder, and the court again imposed a sentence of death. Local coverage at the time laid out the renewed guilty verdict and the timeline that led to the second death sentence. KNOE.
How investigators say it happened
Court records and later reporting indicate that on the night of March 30, 2010, 12-year-old Justin left a friend’s house after trading messages with someone claiming to be a 14-year-old girl. His final text to another contact read “cab died.” His body was later discovered in a shallow pool of water roughly 30 to 40 yards off U.S. Highway 171. The record reflects that he had been suffocated and possibly strangled, details recounted in the official opinion. Louisiana Supreme Court.
Civil claims and regulatory fallout
After the killing, Justin’s mother filed a civil lawsuit that accused the cab company and its owner of negligence for employing a known sex offender. Portions of that case have been revived at different points by appellate courts. Reporting by Courthouse News Service notes that the litigation helped spur lawmakers to tighten rules that bar registered sex offenders from working as taxi, bus or limousine drivers.
Legal implications and next steps
With the Louisiana Supreme Court choosing not to review Horn’s latest filing, his remaining options in state court are now sharply limited. His defense team still has a potential path through federal collateral review, in the form of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Federal habeas proceedings are constrained by strict deadlines and deferential standards under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a familiar obstacle in capital cases; see FindLaw.
