Man tells court he killed his landlord

Slaying receives 25-year sentence

A 63-year-old man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after firing 22 rounds from a 9 mm pistol at his landlord, a former Chicago police officer, in a boarding house near Mountain Home in 2017.

Robert Dean Penny was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison for killing Chester Hornowski, 71, on Dec. 5, 2017, according to Baxter County Circuit Court documents.

Hornowski, a former Marine who served 34 years on the Chicago police force, was a perennial political candidate there, losing races for mayor, state Senate and alderman during the 1980s, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. Hornowski was elected as a Republican ward committeeman in Chicago in 1984 and 1988.

According to court filings, the shooting occurred after Penny told a resident he was making too much noise. That resident told Hornowski, and he went to speak with Penny.

Shortly afterwards, other residents heard several gunshots, according to the criminal complaint. Penny emerged, pointed a pistol at the resident he initially complained about being noisy, and said, “Yeah, he’s dead. You want some of this, too?”

Penny told police Hornowski was in a rage, saying he was going to evict Penny.

Penny went to his room, got his pistol, came back and fired 18 rounds at Hornowski, according to the

criminal complaint. Penny then went back to his room, reloaded, came back and shot Hornowski four more times. A Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was recovered from Penny’s residence, according to a news release from the Baxter County sheriff’s office.

Penny was initially charged with first-degree murder, but a jury on Sept. 18, 2019, deadlocked and a mistrial was declared on the murder charge.

That jury, however, convicted Penny of aggravated assault and criminal mischief because, while attempting to flee the homicide scene, Penny almost ran his 2004 Ford pickup over a deputy and because the truck, after hitting a ditch and going airborne, bouncing, then going airborne again, hit Sheriff John Montgomery’s new Chevrolet Tahoe, according to court documents.

Montgomery wasn’t in the vehicle at the moment of impact.

Penny went to prison on Sept. 23, 2019, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

The 25-year sentence is to run concurrently with the 12-year sentence Penny is already serving, according to court filings.

Penny was sentenced to six years on each count of criminal mischief and aggravated assault, with those sentences to be served consecutively. He appealed the consecutive sentencing, but his sentence was upheld by the Arkansas Court of Appeals.