Palm Beach Gardens man extradited from Northern Ireland on murder charge, appears in court

Seven years after being taken into custody in Northern Ireland and fighting extradition to the United States, a Palm Beach Gardens man accused of murder in a 2016 homicide has returned home and appeared before a Palm Beach County judge.

Jonah Horne made his initial appearance on a second-degree murder charge on Friday, March 29, in the death of Jacob Walsh of Jupiter. Authorities had booked him into the Palm Beach County Jail shortly before midnight after his transfer from the top-security Maghaberry prison near Belfast, where he had been in custody since March 2017.

During the hearing at the Palm Beach County Jail, Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer denied Horne bail and assigned him a public defender. As a matter of policy, the county Public Defender's Office does not comment on active cases.

Horne, now 29, is one of two men accused in the June 7, 2016, slaying of Walsh at an apartment complex in Boca Raton. Police allege Horne and Matthew Lewis of Jensen Beach fatally shot Walsh, then 25, as the three men scuffled during a drug deal at the San Marco at Broken Sound complex.

Lewis, 30, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, but the court has delayed his sentencing. He is a potential witness in Horne's case and has been awaiting a resolution to the extradition appeal, his attorney, Tracy Ann Nemerofsky, told The Palm Beach Post this month.

The courts have scheduled Horne's initial conference before Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen for May 23. Gillen also is the judge for Lewis' case.

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European court rejected Horne's application to stay in Northern Ireland

Horne lost his final appeal to remain in Northern Ireland March 7, when the European Court of Human Rights dismissed his application under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the use of torture or subjecting prisoners to "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Horne was initially was taken into custody March 13, 2017, at the Northern Ireland home of a woman he met while she was working in the United States. His custody status has been the subject of an international debate over the U.S. penal system, with Horne and his attorneys in Northern Ireland arguing that he could be subjected to inhumane treatment if returned to Florida.

They argued in the Northern Ireland courts that if convicted in Florida, Horne could face a penalty of life without parole, or possibly the death penalty, which is outlawed in most of Europe. Under Florida law, second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison.

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office sent communications, including a formal diplomatic note, to Northern Ireland stating that the office would seek a penalty of no longer than 40 years if Horne is convicted. However, the county Public Defender's Office provided Horne and his attorneys in the United Kingdom with an affidavit stating that judges in Florida are not bound by sentencing recommendations from prosecutors.

In rendering their decision, a panel of eight judges on the human rights court, based in Strasbourg, France, noted a "long history of cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom on law-enforcement issues related to extradition."

The court also wrote that "the applicant has not pointed to a single occasion where the United States failed to comply with an assurance given to the United Kingdom."

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Jacob Walsh was Jupiter High soccer standout, started clothing company

Walsh grew up in Jupiter and was the MVP of the varsity soccer team at Jupiter High School, according to an online obituary. He later took business classes at what is now Keiser University in West Palm Beach and started a streetwear clothing company, the Lost Key Co.

The shooting took place late at night at San Marco at Broken Sound, at Military Trail and Yamato Road in Boca Raton. Neighbors said Walsh knocked on their doors seeking help after being shot. Paramedics drove him to Delray Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead.

It is not known when Horne fled to Northern Ireland from Palm Beach County. Authorities there took him into custody at his girlfriend's home in Lisburn in March 2017, nine months after the fatal shooting.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him atjwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at@JuliusWhigham. Help support our work:Subscribe today.