Robert F. Horan Jr., who served as chief prosecutor in Virginia’s largest county for four decades and was responsible for the murder conviction of D.C. assassin Lee Boyd Malvo, passed away on Friday at his home. He was 90.
Horan enjoyed practicing law and serving the public
On Sunday, Horan’s wife Monica claimed that he had been in hospice care before his death at their home in Clifton, Virginia, but that the cause of death remained unknown. After 40 years of service, Horan retired in 2007 as the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County. His wife noted that he never stopped going into the county prosecutor’s office, even after he retired because he enjoyed practicing law and serving the public.
As Monica Horan put it, he felt the community deserved someone looking out for their interests and the victims. And he believed that those who committed evil deserved to suffer the consequences of their actions. Malvo was 17 years old in October 2002 when he and John Allen Muhammad massacred ten people in the Washington region over three weeks with firearms.
After a jury found Malvo guilty of capital murder but decided against the death penalty, he was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. It was in 2009 that Muhammad was put to death in Virginia. During the sniper trial, former Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert assisted Horan in prosecuting Muhammad and Malvo. According to Ebert’s comments to the Washington Post, “he was the best trial lawyer I ever saw.”
