Dave McKenna with the Washington City Paper has written a very powerful article on the Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney's Office handling of the Steve Cornejo case.
In "A Murderer Among Us?" McKenna writes a devastating critique of the Fairfax CAO:
"...Horan’s failure to prosecute [the shooter] has looked almost criminal ever since Cornejo’s survivors sued [the shooter] for wrongful death in Fairfax County civil court ... After the civil trial verdict came in, anecdotal evidence began coming out about [the shooter] being a bizarre and dangerous figure. One blogger said he had personally heard [the shooter] brag about the killing in the midst of committing another physical assault at a party. A poster on washingtonpost.com told of being the victim of a drunken assault [by the shooter]...."
McKenna goes on to connect the dots of missed opportunities to communicate with citizens concerned about the circumstances of the Steve Cornejo killing, to provide information about questions left unanswered as a result of evidence presented during the civil trial, and to ease concerns in the community about the implications of having a failed indictment of a suspected killer roaming free in Fairfax County:
"... After the trial, Horan told me his office would take another look at the Cornejo case. But he retired without ever commenting on the investigation again. [Republican CA candidate Patrick] McDade says he, like pretty much everybody else outside the county police department and Horan’s office, has not had access to the Cornejo files. [Democratic CA candidate] Morrogh, however, has had that access. So while he’s not yet demanding a prosecution of [the shooter], McDade feels justified in requesting that Morrogh, being so close to Horan throughout the investigation, give the voters an explanation of the prosecutor’s conduct.
“There’s obviously been ample time since the jury returned an extremely large verdict for Fairfax County,” says McDade. “I think it’s inappropriate at this point and time that they are still refusing to make any sort of public comment,even though both community leaders and the public are seeking an answer....”
