A Mountain Home man accused of murdering his landlord made a last pre-trial appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday before his case goes before a jury next week. Sixty-one-year-old Robert Penny is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal mischief.
Penny was in court Thursday dressed in a Baxter County Detention Center uniform. Circuit Judge Gordon Webb ruled on motions filed by Penny’s defense attorney, Sam Pasthing. One motion sought to have the number of pictures taken at the scene and at the State Medical Examiner’s Office limited. Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge told the court that of the 100 photos the state did not plan to introduce any more than 20 into evidence. Judge Webb and lawyers also went over logistical details related to how questioning of the prospective jurors would be handled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the early December 2017 shooting resulted from a noise complaint and an alleged eviction threat.
Investigators reported Penny initially fired 18 rounds, reloaded, and fired four more times into the body of the landlord, then 71-year-old Chester Raymond Hornowski, a retired Chicago police officer. Penny is alleged to have said he fired the final four shots because Hornowski — in some unspecified way — had “ruined” his life.
The shooting happened at 5097 Old Military Road in what was described as a boarding house-type arrangement in which Penny and a number of others lived. Friends of the murdered man said Hornowski operated a similar facility in Chicago.
Penny is alleged to have first talked to another resident saying someone had been making noise and disturbing him. The resident went to Hornowski and relayed the complaint and the landlord was reported to have gone to meet with Penny to discuss the problem.
At one point, the landlord summoned all the residents to the area where he and Penny were.
Before the other residents could gather, gunshots rang out, according to court records.
Penny contends Hornowski had come at him in a “rage” threatening to throw him out of the residence, and that the landlord had punched him in the chest several times. Officers at the scene reported they could find no evidence Penny had been struck. In an earlier pre-trial session, a defense lawyer said Penny would rely on the self-defense doctrine.
The initial calls to 911 came in just before 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2017. One male caller reported a victim had been shot multiple times at the Old Military Road address. He told the 911 dispatcher he was hiding and did not know where the shooter was.
Following the murder, Penny is reported to have bolted from the building, gotten into his 2004 pickup truck and made a wild dash to get away from the scene. In the process of making his attempted escape, Penny is said to have nearly run down a Baxter County deputy sheriff. Two other deputies fired at Penny’s truck in an attempt to protect their fellow officer.
The truck hit a ditch on the northeast corner of the property, became airborne twice before smashing into an unoccupied 2017 SUV assigned to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
Penny was injured in the effort to get away and was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center for treatment. After being released, he was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center where he has been an inmate since the day of the shooting. His bond is set at slightly more than $1 million.
A man who knew Hornowski in Chicago commented it was sad to think his friend had served as a Marine during the Vietnam conflict, spent decades with the police department in the large Illinois city, “and he goes down there and gets killed.”
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