Phil Horner Paroled

I’m making a bit of a break in my usual pattern, here, and there’s a good reason for it — my letter to the editor didn’t get printed.

On Seacoast Online, a local news web site in this area, Chris Dornin has apparently made it an important part of his life to make people adore former doctor Phil Horner, now released from prison. I happen to be strongly opposed to this ambition.

So, let me catch you up on Dornin’s stories, first. Here’s one discussing Phil Horner and his thoughts on the sex offender registration fee.

Then, here’s one about his views on parole and sentencing.

So, let me tell you a bit more. You see, I know his victim’s family. Let’s call her Ann for now. Ann was 15 when she was raped by her doctor, a man who was well known and popular in the Christian and pro-life communities. He used this popularity to attack Ann’s family, and had mutual friends calling and telling them not to persecute this poor, innocent man. Phil Horner claimed to be the target of spiritual attack, which means (of course) that Ann and her family were agents of evil.

So, Ann had to deal with what happened to her. She had to put up with accusations that she was lying, that she had tried to seduce Horner, and now that she was some form of evil persecuting the blameless Dr. Horner. Ann and her family — she has six siblings, by the way — lost friends. Children were not allowed to spend time with Ann’s brothers, because they were part of that evil family that was persecuting Dr. Horner.

Horner’s other victims never came forward. Yes, his other victims. Ann’s mother has talked about conversations she has had with some of the other girls’ parents. In some cases, they just didn’t want to have to deal with the courts and the confrontation. In other cases, they didn’t want to have to endure what Ann’s family had had to endure.

It took years before Ann’s family was no longer treated as pariah. Even at that, though, their old friends were gone. Perhaps they didn’t want to deal with the shame of having attacked the victim, or maybe it was something else. In any case, Horner had now cost the whole family very dearly. Ann’s youngest brother, when he was a little older, asked his mother, “He’s the guy who ruined our lives, right?”

Even after his conviction, Phil Horner still had his supporters and still made life painful for Ann’s family. His friends continued to pester them, telling them that they should be good Christians and help him get released. Before and after parole hearings, they got phone calls from Horner’s friends telling them that they weren’t showing grace and forgiveness.

While Phil Horner was in prison, by the way, Ann’s relationship with her family was falling apart. She went to a group home to learn to deal with many of her issues, and her mother is plagued with Major Depression, Anxiety Disorder, and the knowledge that she became hated because her daughter was raped by a man who was supposed to be trustworthy — and by a man they believed to be a friend.

Phil Horner also went to great lengths to make sure that he spent as little time in prison as possible. As the article notes, he claims that he hasn’t deserved to serve all of his sentences. He has complained about how unfair it is that Judge Nadeau expected him to serve his time, and that he was essentially forced into the sex offender therapy program.

When he found that another convict had ties to our church, he arranged to have this other convict suddenly start trying to make contact with Ann’s father. Not surprisingly, he had the same message — good Christians would try to help get him released and forgive him.

When he asserts that he has accepted the gravity of his crime, by the way, note that he has not acknowledged any victim other than Ann. He has not acknowledged his steps to attack Ann’s family. He did what he had to do to get a court to agree to let him go sooner.

Lastly … Phil Horner has so accepted responsibility for his actions, that he thinks he should not have to pay the fee as a registered sex offender, as noted in the article.

I am a big fan of mercy, forgiveness, and second chances. However, one of the important components of rehabilitation is accepting guilt and consequences. Phil Horner’s time and attention have been spent trying to dodge consequences by denying his guilt, and then attacking his victims. The law might well say that he has to be let out of jail, but he doesn’t deserve this accolades that Chris Dornin wants to heap on him.

I’m sure his poems and watercolors are lovely. But I know the family he sought to destroy, and I see his unwillingness to accept the penalty for the crimes he committed.

I tried, by the way, to link to his page on the NH Sex Offender Registry. He seems not to be up yet.