Description
Warren Horinek was convicted of murder for the death of his wife Bonnie , and has spent the last 18 years in a Texas prison; A conviction that the Tarrant County District Attorney, the Sergeant of the Ft. Worth police homicide division, a Ft. Worth police crime scene detective, the Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office , and several forensic experts all believe to be a wrongful conviction, and found the death to be a suicide. Impossible? Not in Texas .
Warren, a former Ft. Worth police Officer, and his wife Bonnie, a prominent attorney had just returned home from a neighborhood bistro and were getting ready for bed. Warren had gone into his home office to check phone messages when he heard a gun shot that sounded like it came from the master bedroom . Grabbing a shotgun from the office closet (not knowing what to expect) he rushed to the bedroom to find his wife critically wounded, gasping for air and appeared to be (as he believed at the time) bleeding from the throat . Warren immediately called 911 , attempted to stop the bleeding, and gave C . P. R. mouth – to – mouth vents until emergency personnel arrived.
“On the 9ll recording , he is frantic. As the dispatcher contacts paramedics, Warren can be heard in the background yelling, “Why’d you do that goddamnit? Why? Why? Why?” When he returns to the phone, he is panicking – “Are you there? My wife just shot herself. Get over here now !” The dispatcher tries to calm him, saying an ambulance is on the way. “She’s already blue”, Warren says. The dispatcher tells him to begin C – P – R -. In the background , Warren can be heard breathing into Bonnie’s mouth. He picks up the phone again: “I need somebody here”. “Is she breathing?”, the dispatcher asks. “She shot herself in the throat, I think”. “Is she breathing?” “Yes, she’s breathing ! “, Warren says. After a pause , he adds, “Goddamn , get somebody here now !”
By the time paramedics and police arrived, Bonnie Horinek had died. She was lying on the bed in her pink nightgown with a single gunshot to the chest – Warren was still performing CPR. Paramedics told him it was too late, but he wouldn’t stop. When they pulled him off the bed, he scrambled back to her body to continue chest compressions. The paramedics eventually had to drag him from the room. [From Texas Observer, Aug 19, 2010 –Dave Mann )
A thorough investigation ensued. The crime scene detective who was on the scene, Cpl. /Det. J. H. Varnon , found that all the Evidence pointed toward suicide . He especially noted the fact that Warren did not even know where Bonnie was shot. The actual injury was a close contact shot directly to the center of the chest, but due to blood pooling onto the crevice of the throat from the slope of the chest, the reddish flannel gown Bonnie was wearing and the dim lighting, Warren only saw the blood on her throat and mistook this for the injury, which was stated on the 911 tape : “She shot her self in the throat” .
Assistant District Attorney Mike Parrish (also a former Dallas P. D. homicide detective) reviewed the evidence with the Tarrant County Medical Examiners and their belief was that it was a suicide. After Speaking with the blood pattern experts, forensic experts and studying all the police reports, Mr. Parrish ‘s finding was also a suicide, but to leave no stone unturned, he requested that Warren take a polygraph to be given by an examiner that Parrish considered to be the best in the world. Warren passed with flying colors.
Bonnie’s parents could not believe that Bonnie would do such a thing, therefore Warren had to be guilty. Bonnie’s parents hired an attorney who circumvented – and against the wishes of – the D.A.’s Office, maneuvered their way in front of a grand jury using an obscure loophole in the law. Armed with antics Warren had committed in the past : As a practical joke he held a gun to a wall and fired it (asinine for sure). He had also shot into a defunct swimming pool to show Bonnie what a muzzle flash looked like . Although no Evidence of a homicide was presented, the grand jury indicted warren with a 10–2 vote.
