The Orange County District Attorney’s will not pursue charges against a Newport Beach man who fatally shot an intruder in his home in August.
Prosecutors determined that the homeowner, whose name has not been released, acted in self-defense when he shot and killed 23-year-old Henry Lehr early on the morning of Aug. 26.
According to a statement released by the D.A.’s office on Monday, Lehr had been residing at a rehabilitation facility near Redlands Drive and Indus Street in Newport Heights, just a few doors down from the property where he was shot.
While residing in the group home, prosecutors said Lehr had been hearing and seeing “demons,” and that the hallucinations had caused him significant distress. It is not known whether Lehr was experiencing hallucinations at the time of the break in.
After reportedly attempting to break into the backyard of the home, police said Lehr went around to bang on the front door and ring the doorbell repeatedly. The homeowner told prosecutors Lehr was loudly demanding to be let inside.
Prosecutors alleged Lehr smashed through the front door and went up to the second floor. The homeowner reportedly confronted Lehr on the stairs, showed him he was carrying a firearm and warned him not to come any closer. When asked to identify himself, Lehr allegedly did not respond, and instead charged up the stairs. At that point, the homeowner said he fired a single shot, hitting Lehr in the upper chest.
“A homeowner has the absolute right to protect themselves from someone who breaks into their home in the middle of the night and threatens their safety,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “The loss of life is tragic in any situation and this situation is made even more tragic by the fact that an individual who went to a group home to get help with his addiction issues ended up on a deadly collision course with a homeowner just sleeping in his own bed in his own house.”
The D.A. used the opportunity to note his opposition to setting up group recovery homes in residential neighborhoods.
“People struggling with addiction issues need to have a safe environment where they can work toward sobriety, and people living in residential neighborhoods should not have to live in fear of waking up to someone struggling with addiction breaking down their front door,” he said.
The issue has long been divisive in Orange County. In 2018, the operator of a sober-living group home sued the city of Costa Mesa over an ordinance that required such establishments to acquire permits in order to set up shop in residential neighborhoods. An eight-person federal jury sided with the city.
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