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Inmate Opposes Slaying Sentence Reduction

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI

esilvestrini@tampatrib.com

Published: November 15, 2008

  Christopher Gamble

TAMPA - The prosecutor and the victim's family want a judge to reduce the sentence of a man who participated in the slaying of a Haines City police officer nearly 11 years ago. But Christopher Gamble told the judge he deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars for what he did.

Gamble should be rewarded, said prosecutors and the family of slain Officer Christopher Todd Horner, because without his testimony, the slaying would never have been solved.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Muench asked the judge to change Gamble's sentence from life plus 107 years in federal prison to 24 years behind bars. Muench read a letter to the court from Horner's daughter Jennifer, who was 9 when her father was killed: "I do not feel that there will ever be closure because nothing can bring my father back, but Chris Gamble gave my family and I the second best thing - the truth."

Gamble's lawyer, Adam Allen, said he read a letter Gamble wrote to him four years ago, talking about how he cooperated because he was haunted by nightmares about what happened. He wanted to make things right, Gamble said. He said he wished he had killed Charles Fowler, the gunman, instead of letting Fowler kill Horner.

But Gamble says he doesn't want his sentence changed. The judge reserved his decision to give the lawyers time to talk about what to do next.

Horner was shot to death in a cemetery. He is the only officer from Haines City to be killed in the line of duty.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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