From Daily Business Review writer Billy Shields article yesterday:

Horn said he recently invited Ranck to provide input as the investigation concludes.


After reading this, I emailed Don Horn the following, over a copy of Shields' article:

-----Original Message-----

From: DavidRanck50@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:28 PM
To: Don L. Horn
Subject: (no subject)

Horn said he recently invited Ranck to provide input as the investigation concludes.

I accept.


Horn's response:

that is NOT what I said to him. The comment was NOT recent.

What I told him was as follows: When I told you I was removing you from the case I also told you that you were more than welcome to provide input and/or attend the police shooting meetings once a closeout memo draft was completed. That is what I meant and that still stands. I will notify you of the meeting(s) once we get a draft of the close-out.

I know that Horn never said anything to me about this, and I believe his vigorous denial that he ever said it to Shields. However, if Shields wishes to back up his statement in writing, it will be printed here. Unless he does, his silence will be taken as his admission that what he wrote was incorrect.

I don't know what to make of Horn's offer to me to provide input on the case after the case is closed officially.

...........


In a telephone interview Tuesday, Horn defended his decision to remove Ranck from the investigation. He said he wanted to ensure the investigation was conducted fairly. He also said he agreed with the Miami-Dade police that the prosecutor should not have contacted the lead detective at that juncture.

I emailed Horn separately about these statements by Shields. Horn responded that he didn't want to get into a further email exchange on this and would talk to me personally. I wish he would respond in writing so that his words are not misinterpreted or inaccurately characterized.

Horn never said this--or anything like it--to me, but this is what Shields said Horn said, so unless corrected by Horn, it stands.

Shields' last sentence in the above, is factually incorrect. I did not contact the lead detective, the lead detective, Buck McCully, contacted me, so Horn could not possibly have said, as Shields claims, that he "agreed with the Miami-Dade police" about that.

Shields was sent a copy of this post and invited to respond. He has not.

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