{"id":257991,"date":"2026-05-04T17:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:51:11","slug":"youre-trying-to-say-i-did-it-reluctant-co-defendant-testifies-against-thomas-stein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257991\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You’re trying to say I did it’: Reluctant co-defendant testifies against Thomas Stein"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Court TV) \u2014 A teenager took the stand on Friday, pointing the finger at his co-defendant in the death of a 15-year-old girl killed in a robbery gone wrong.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/p>\n

Thomas Stein appears in court. (Court TV)<\/p>\n

Thomas Stein<\/a>, 18, is standing trial on charges of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery in the death of Kayla Rincon-Miller, who was killed on March 17, 2024. Christopher Horne Jr., 18, previously pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery in a plea agreement with the prosecution.<\/p>\n

While the agreement required Horne to testify truthfully against Stein, the prosecution didn\u2019t call him as a witness in its case-in-chief. He was the first witness called by the defense when it began presenting their case on Friday afternoon. Horne walked in, wearing a red shirt and pants that identified him as an inmate at the Lee County Jail.<\/p>\n

Horne said that at the time of the incident, he had known Stein for only a month or two, having met him through a mutual friend. When asked for the friend\u2019s name, Horne demurred. \u201cDo I got to do all that with him?\u201d he asked the judge. Stein\u2019s defense attorney tried to elicit information from Horne, who repeatedly denied knowing basic information, such as his cousin\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

On March 17, Horne testified that he and Stein had planned to \u201cgo hit cars and kick off, probably, but everything turned left.\u201d Horne explained that the two had planned to try to break into cars along Cape Coral Parkway. \u201cWe was supposed to go car hopping, but he turned into this area,\u201d Horne said, referring to a movie theater.<\/p>\n

Rincon-Miller, who was unknown to both Horne and Stein, had gone to the movies with two friends on March 17. After the movie, the three smoked marijuana behind the theater and then decided to walk to McDonald\u2019s for food. The two surviving girls, Emma Wright and Louann Dejaie, testified that they saw a vehicle driven by Stein slow to pass them before it made a U-turn and came back toward them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Christopher Horne Jr. testifies in court on May 1, 2026. (Court TV)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the victims looked like a male,\u201d Horne testified. \u201c[Stein] pointed them out, saying, \u2018 Let\u2019s rob them.\u2019 I said, \u2018No, they probably don\u2019t even got nothing. They don\u2019t have anything, you know what I\u2019m saying?’\u201d Horne said he initially refused to go along with the plan. \u201cI said no at first, then he drove around the block again, trying to press me, acting like I\u2019m scared or something, and I let my pride get the best of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horne said the gun was already in the car when he got into Stein\u2019s vehicle earlier. \u201cI told him before it happened, \u2018Take the bullets out of the gun,\u2019 but you know what I\u2019m saying, he didn\u2019t listen.\u201d Horne said the two jumped out of the car toward the group of girls, with Stein wielding the weapon. \u201cI looked back, looked for him, and I looked back and in a quick second he shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have denied any relationship between the victims and their assailants. After the shooting, Horne said he questioned whether Stein knew Rincon-Miller.<\/p>\n

Horne: \u201cI felt like he knew her, cause it was too fast.\u201d
Defense attorney: \u201cHow did he know her?\u201d
Horne: \u201cI don\u2019t know. Ask him that. That\u2019s your defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the shooting, Horne said he ran to get back into the vehicle. \u201cI started screaming. I asked him, \u2018Why did you shoot? Why did you shoot?’\u201d Horne did not testify to any answer Stein may have given.<\/p>\n

Stein\u2019s defense attorney repeatedly pushed Horne for details about what happened to the gun, which he claimed to have thrown into a river, and about other people who may have been in the car. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to say I did it,\u201d Horne argued. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do nothing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horne conceded that his family also faced charges in connection with the incident after Stein\u2019s mother alleged they were threatening her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (Court TV) \u2014 A teenager took the stand on Friday, pointing the finger at his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,68669],"class_list":["post-257991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-thomas-stein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}