HORNER MURDER TRIAL UPDATE: DAYS 5 AND 6
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday morning in the murder trial of Jason Lee Horner, 41.
He has pleaded not guilty to one count each of second-degree murder with intent-not premeditated, as well as a felony count of possessing a firearm after being convicted for a crime of violence, in the death of Sabrina Lee Schnoor, 25.
Her body was found May 30, 2023, under an Interstate 35 overpass in Owatonna, near the Steele County Administration Building. Schnoor died of a gunshot wound to the head; she and Horner were seen together on surveillance cameras in the minutes leading up to her death.
The defense claims her death was accidental.
On Tuesday, Owatonna Police Detective Christian Berg testified that in one of the videos, Horner can be seen carrying a black, rectangular case, larger than a backpack.
On Monday, jurors saw the interview Berg and Sgt. Benjamin Johnson of the OPD conducted with Horner early June 4, 2023, after his arrest at a Waseca apartment complex.
Berg said Horner was “distraught,” but seldom made eye contact with either investigator. He was “crying and sweating,” but Berg said he did not see tears.
Horner told the detectives that Schnoor “slammed the (shotgun) butt stock into the embankment, causing it to discharge,” but didn’t indicate the barrel was in or near her mouth.
The medical examiner last week testified that Schnoor sustained an intraoral wound. He determined the trajectory of the gunshot was moving from front to back, slightly right to left, and slightly upward, with the barrel in or very near her mouth.
Berg said he and Johnson offered Horner multiple opportunities to explain what happened, “because what he was telling us didn’t make sense to me.”
The prosecution rested after Berg’s testimony; defense attorney Barry Cattadoris then called Berg back to the stand for defense testimony.
Berg displayed several exhibits for the jury, including the red shorts Horner was believed to be wearing the night of the shooting; Schnoor’s cell phone and some drug paraphernalia.
Horner chose not to take the stand in his own defense.