Bianca Horton was killed before she could testify against a Chattanooga gang. Now, a threatening jail letter and the details of a 2015 shooting will be used against one of her alleged killers at his upcoming trial in October, nine years after Horton’s death.
Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson allowed prosecutors to admit a letter allegedly written by Andre Grier as trial evidence. Grier, 38, is accused of helping orchestrate the 2016 killing of Horton, a 26-year-old Chattanooga mother who was set to testify in a separate gang-related shooting. Grier faces charges of first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with or fabricating evidence, coercion of a witness and more related to Horton’s killing.
“The state’s theory is that Andre Grier is the puppet master, so to speak, putting it together, perhaps managing it … and preventing it from coming to light as well,” Patterson said.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga man nears murder trial nine years after witness killing)
‘Don’t cross the mob’: Letter allowed as evidence in case of Bianca Horton’s death in Chattanooga
Assistant District Attorney Cameron Williams said Grier, a high-ranking gang member, wrote the note to intimidate a fellow gang member Johnny Clemons from testifying against a codefendant in another murder. The prosecutor argued that Grier wanted to keep Courtney High, who pleaded guilty to the Horton murder and two others, from testifying against Grier.