Man found guilty of Dale City murder

By Amanda Stewart

Published: June 9, 2008

The shooting death of Ashlee Devon Brown-Houston was so carefully planned that it wasn't just murder, prosecutors said.

"What we have here is pretty much a planned execution," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Richard Conway told a judge in Prince William Circuit Court on Monday. "That's what they planned and that's what they carried out: a planned execution."

At the end of a non-jury trial Monday, Prince William Circuit Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. found 20-year-old Anthony Terrell Horne, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and use of a firearm in commis-sion of a felony.

Horne is one of three men charged in Brown-Houston's death.

According to court testimony, the men had a string of confrontations in the weeks leading up to the July 14 shooting on Queensdale Drive in Dale City, which left 19-year-old Brown-Houston dead.

In his testimony Horne described one incident, a few weeks before the shooting, when Brown-Houston and about 10 other men allegedly attacked Horne and another man, Joseph Royal Burnette III outside of a party in Dale City.

On the day of the shooting, the men's paths crossed again, this time at the food court at Potomac Mills mall.

Ramil Yazdani, a witness for the prosecution, testified that he picked up Horne and Burnette in his car that day and drove them to Potomac Mills mall.

Yazdani has not been charged in the murder, but said he received no favors from prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.

He testified that Brown-Houston and another man approached them while they were at the food court.

The men went outside into the mall parking lot to fight, but only words were exchanged then, witnesses said.

Before leaving to go back to the mall, Brown-Houston said "We'll catch you in Springwoods," Horne said.

Horne believed that was a threat, he said.

The men in Yazdani's car waited to see if Brown-Houston and the other man would come back.

At some point a second group of men arrived in a car driven by Dennis Salmeron.

Those men arrived to deliver a gun to Horne and Burnette, prosecutors said.

Later, when Brown-Houston caught a bus outside the mall, the men in Yazdani's car followed him until they got off in the Mapledale Plaza-area.

Yazdani drove up next to Brown-Houston, who was waking on Queensdale Drive.

Brown-Houston approached the car and said "What's up," Yazdani said.

That's when both Horne and Burnette fired their guns.

At least three bullets hit Brown-Houston in the abdomen and stomach, police said.

Horne, who was in the back seat of the car, said that he fired his weapon after Burnette, who was in the front pas-senger seat, fired the first shot.

"That's when I panicked and, not particularly firing at anyone, I shot," he said.

Yazdani said Horne and Burnette exchanged hand shakes and high fives after the shooting.

"They were congratulating each other and basically complimenting each other," Yazdani said. "[Burnette] said 'He dead, he dead."

He said he dropped Horne and Burnette off at a wooded area near Pepperidge Court where they hid the guns near a drainage pond.

He led police there the next day and the guns were recovered.

In his testimony, Horne said that the men were not intentionally following Brown-Houston.

He said they were in the Queensdale area for another reason when they saw Brown-Houston.

Horne did not deny firing his gun, but he said he did so out of fear.

"I'm tired of having to watch my back all the time," because of Brown-Houston, he told po-lice.

Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said that was "preemptive self-defense" and did not justify the shooting.

"People can't take matters into their own hands," Ebert argued. "That's when innocent people get hurt."

Burnette and Salmeron have also been charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and use of a firearm in commission of felony for Brown-Houston's death and are scheduled to stand trial in July and August.

No other charges have been filed.

Horne will be sentenced on Sept. 24. He faces up to life in prison.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.