Man accused in Boca murder still jailed in Northern Ireland

BOCA RATON — One of two men accused by police in a 2016 Boca Raton murder will stay in a Northern Ireland jail for at least another two weeks.

Jonah Horne of Palm Beach Gardens, 22, was the subject of an extradition hearing Monday that will finish Dec. 4, courts in Northern Ireland confirmed.

Boca Raton police allege Horne and Matthew Lewis, 24, of Jensen Beach fatally shot Jacob Walsh, 25, of Jupiter on June 7, 2016, in a struggle during a drug deal at the San Marco at Broken Sound apartment complex at Mili- tary Trail and Yamato Road. Lewis is in the Palm Beach County Jail.

Lawyers for Horne in Northern Ireland have cited a United Kingdom-U.S. treaty ratified in 2007 that says British courts “may refuse extra- dition unless the Requesting State provides an assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, will not be car- ried out.”

It might not be an issue. Boca Raton police said in March they would charge Horne and Lewis with second-degree murder, which could mean life sentences but precludes the death penalty.

Of 195 nations surveyed worldwide, the United States is one of about 25 that still carry out executions, according to the Cornell University Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Most are in either the Middle East or Asia.

Another lawyer for Horne said in March in a Belfast court that Horne fled across the ocean for love, not to escape justice. A lawyer representing U.S. interests challenged that assertion.

The Belfast Telegraph reported authorities detained Horne on March 13 in nearby Lisburn at the home of a woman he’d met while she was working in America and who was pregnant with their child. He has been housed in Maghaberry Prison, 20 miles southwest of Belfast.

Question:

Probate was not needed for my mother’s estate because I was named the death beneficiary on the very few assets she owned. She never had a will. I am her only child. I inherited a car and a small brokerage account from her. Now

I’m facing a problem: after she died and I started cleaning out her apartment, I found an old statement from a bank in Boston, where she used to live. Naturally I called the bank, and they said the account is still active and there’s about $9,000 in it. My mother is listed as the owner, but no death beneficiary is listed. They said that in order to release the money to me, they have to be contacted by the executor handling my mother’s estate. The problem of course is that there is no executor. What do I do now?

Before I answer your question, let me just clarify: In Florida, the executor of an estate is called the “personal representative.”

At this point, your only option is to go to the probate court. Assuming your mother has no creditors, you may have an attorney petition for a “summary administration.” This is a streamlined probate procedure available for estates that have no creditors and less than $75,000 of probatable

Answer:

assets (there could be other monies passing without probate, but they won’t matter for the purposes of summary administration). In the summary proceeding, the court will enter an order directing the bank to pay the money directly to your mother’s heirs. Since your mother died intestate (without a will), Florida law will determine who the heirs are and how those funds are distributed. Since you are her only child, you will receive the full amount.