Published: November 18, 2009 04:36 pm      

Grand jury gets started again

A group of Garvin County grand jurors investigating a Wynnewood man’s shooting death last year are once again on the case.

The six-woman, six-man jury looking closer into the death of Tom Horton gathered Tuesday for its first closed-door session since taking a recess nearly two months ago.

This time the group came together in a new location, a county building in the 200 block of West McClure.

To ensure enough parking was available for vehicles, a couple of Garvin County commissioners were informed jurors would have access to a lot located across the street.

“He’s going to loan it to us for the day so they can use the building,” District 1 Commissioner Kenneth Holden said, referring to the owner of the lot at the intersection of McClure and Walnut streets in Pauls Valley.

Grand jurors were expected to meet in a conference room on the second floor of the building.

Testimony was believed to have come from “experts” in such areas as ballistics, handwriting and blood spatter.

Jurors and two prosecutors serving as advisers last met in late September after four days of testimony from family and friends of Horton and some law enforcement officers involved in the case.

The investigation then went into recess because more time was needed for the investigation than the four days scheduled.

Horton was found dead in his Wynnewood home in December 2008 from a shotgun blast to his chest, which an official in the state medical examiner’s office ruled was a suicide.

Those petitioning for the grand jury include Horton’s sons, Pat Horton and Matt Horton, and family friends Shannon Kile, Raymond Bazor and Karen Ann Bazor.

Their petition asks for grand jurors to determine any possible suspects, look at the thoroughness of the investigation into the death and locate any evidence removed from Horton’s house after his death.

Adding to the grand jury’s duties is that five additional cases are believed to have been filed to be potentially heard by the jury, including three more suspicious death cases and one matter involving mistreated livestock.