The case turned on whether jurors believed Cole Hornsby fired in fear or fired at an unarmed man who was trying to go back home.
WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Nearly two years after Theodore “Ted” Block was killed outside his home, a Hamilton County judge sentenced his neighbor, Cole Hornsby, to 24 years to life in prison, rejecting the self-defense argument that had shaped the case from the start.
The sentence came after a January jury verdict that found Hornsby guilty of murder and tampering with evidence in the April 16, 2024 killing. The case mattered beyond a single conviction because it turned on a simple but urgent question that jurors had to resolve: whether a man who had just argued with his neighbor fired to save himself or fired at someone who was already walking away. Prosecutors said the answer was plain from the physical evidence, witness accounts and Hornsby’s actions after the shooting, including the allegation that he hid the gun instead of preserving the scene.
Deputies were sent to the 5000 block of Kilby Road after reports of a shooting on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday evening. Block, 40, was found on the ground and was dead by the time authorities reached him. According to the charging affidavit, witnesses said Hornsby approached Block and began a verbal dispute. One witness reported hearing Hornsby curse at Block and then pull a gun and fire several shots. Trial coverage later filled in the background to that confrontation. Hornsby had reportedly been firing a muzzleloader rifle from his porch, and Block went to confront him after the gunfire alarmed the family next door. Block had been babysitting grandchildren with his wife, according to local reporting, when he told Hornsby to stop and said he would call police. Prosecutors said that as Block turned and walked back toward his house, Hornsby opened fire.
That account placed great weight on what came next. Prosecutors told jurors Block was struck 12 times in the back. A forensic witness said one shot entered the middle of Block’s back while he was face down on the ground, which the state argued was impossible to square with a lawful act of self-defense. Krissy Block, the victim’s wife, witnessed the shooting and testified during the trial. Her testimony gave jurors the perspective of someone who saw the encounter unfold at close range, not from a distance or through police reconstruction. The prosecution also said Hornsby hid the firearm in a shed after the shooting, behavior it treated as proof that he knew he had committed a crime. The defense pushed back by asking for leniency at sentencing and earlier arguing that Hornsby had feared for his safety, but jurors and the judge ultimately rejected that view.
The public record offers a picture of a neighborhood conflict that escalated with stunning speed. Family members said Block and Hornsby had clashed before, though the earlier disputes had not reached this level. Whitewater Township, with its mix of homes, open land and winding roads, is not the kind of place where residents expect a homicide to become a defining local story. Yet the setting became central to how the case was understood. This was not a random encounter between strangers. It was a confrontation between next-door neighbors, unfolding in sight of home and family. That fact gave the testimony of Block’s wife and daughter unusual force at trial and sentencing because their loss was not abstract. It happened in the place where they lived, and it happened during an argument over conduct they said put children nearby at risk.
Judge Jennifer Branch imposed the sentence after the jury’s murder conviction, leaving Hornsby with life in prison and possible parole only after 24 years. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum sentence, and the court granted it. During the sentencing hearing, Alyiah Block asked the judge to keep Hornsby in prison for as long as possible, saying her father’s death was not the result of self-defense but of a deliberate decision to shoot an unarmed man. Prosecutor Connie Pillich echoed that view and called the killing tragic and preventable. The defense sought a far shorter punishment. With sentencing complete, the case now moves into the stage where any further action would most likely come through appeal filings, sentence challenges or other post-conviction proceedings.
Even with the sentence imposed, some gaps remain. Public reporting has not fully described every prior interaction between the neighbors, nor has it laid out in detail whether there were earlier calls for service tied to disputes between them. But the core facts that drove the courtroom outcome appear settled. Jurors heard that Block objected to the gunfire, threatened to call police and began heading back to his own home. They heard that he was unarmed. They heard that he was shot repeatedly from behind. And they heard that the weapon was later hidden. Those details shaped the verdict, and they shaped the sentence that followed.
The case now stands as one of the Cincinnati area’s starkest reminders of how quickly a neighborhood dispute can become a homicide prosecution. Hornsby’s prison term is in place, Block’s family has spoken publicly about the harm left behind, and the next clear milestone would be any appeal filed in the months ahead.
Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.