Terrance Hough Jr.

 

Once again I have a blog to put together on a case I first heard about on the television show Fear Thy Neighbor. A lot of these types of cases, as is the case with a lot of murders, seem so senseless, and often preventable but for me I think this one is particularly senseless, if not preventable. But, the other strange thing about this case is that while there had been trouble between the neighbors years prior, it appears that there had not been a lot of issues in the two years leading up to the murders.

Terrance Hough Jr. was a firefighter in the city of Cleveland Ohio. Due to a policy for city workers he was required to live within the city limits. This was mentioned several times in my research as if this was an issue for Hough, although he had obviously complied. He moved onto a street where other city workers, including at least one police officer lived. Terrance, his wife, Regina, and their children, at least one an infant when they moved, moved into a home next to a widowed father with teenage sons. It is unclear exactly when they moved into the home but it appears that it was likely around 2003.

Almost immediately the Hough family proceeded to have issues with Roland Feichtner and his children. It seems that the Feichtner house was a gathering place for teenagers. It seems that cars would come and go; there were basketball games in the driveway that was next to the Hough home; there were parties. Terrance, who would work 24 hour shifts at the fire station at a time took issue with the noise but so did his wife Regina claiming it often disturbed the sleep of their small children. Roland would claim that several times Terrance Hough would barge over to the home demanding that the noise be lowered. For his part Roland would say that while some of the noise may have been excessive, a majority of the time it was not. However, Roland made rules at the home. His children, as well as their friends were to turn off their headlights and radios before they entered the driveway of the home.

It is unclear whether these basketball games and parties were particularly loud, or even went late into the night. Between 2003 and 2005 it was said that Regina Hough called the police on several occasions. The complaints ranged from loud noise to drugs to underage drinking. No one was ever arrested or cited and it seems that at most if there was loud noises that they were asked to be more quiet. It was said that one day (and it may have been during the day, it was unclear) there was a basketball game between friends at the Feichtner home and the ball had gone into the Hough yard. One of the Feichtner boys went into the yard to retrieve it and Terrance Hough emerged from his home and chastised the teen. It is unclear if it was this incident or another in which Hough took a knife and actually stabbed the basketball, destroying it.

However, by 2007 at least one of the Feichtner boys, Jacob, now twenty-four was no longer living in the home full time and the calls to the police seemed to have ended a few years prior. Jacob was now a student at the University of Akron, where he lived most of the time, only being at his father's home generally on holidays. Roland also had another son John and a daughter Nicole (who was rarely mentioned) and it appears that they too no longer lived at home, at least full time.

On the night of July 4, 2007 Jacob Feichtner and some friends had gone to the city fireworks celebration. When it was over he, his girlfriend, Valorie Skora and four or five others headed to the Feichtner home about 11 pm. Jacob and his friend, Donald Walsh, someone who actually knew Terrance Hough, but did not know he lived next to his friend Jacob, set off some fireworks. Several neighbors had come outside and watched the private display. Just before midnight the fireworks had ended, Valorie went inside the home, at least one friend left and the neighbors returned to their home. Remaining outside were Jacob, twenty-six year old Katherine Rosby, thirty year old Bruce Anderson, Donald Walsh and his girlfriend Katherine Nicholas. According to witnesses it was soon after that Terrance Hough came out of his home carrying a .40 caliber Beretta handgun. Inside the gun was 9 hollow point rounds of ammunition. There had been no contact between Hough and those at the Feichtner at any other point in that evening.

It was said that as Hough came out of his house he either stated “You fucking kids won't be doing this shit no more” or “I bet you guys won't be doing this anymore.” Jacob responded to Hough with “What are you going to do? Shoot me? Put the gun down and go back inside.” With that Terrance Hough shot Jacob once in the chest. As Jacob was falling he yelled “Man, you just fucking shot me.” Hough shot him two more times, killing him. Katherine Rosby was nearby and it was said that she believed the shots she heard was more fireworks and had ducked down. Hough turned around and shot her twice in the back. Bruce Anderson was next to Rosby and as he tried to get out of the way Hough shot him twice, also in the back.

Witnesses would testify that every time Hough shot his gun he would yell “Yeah!” After shooting Jacob, Rosby and Anderson, all who would die, Hough headed back towards his own home. Katherine Nicholas began to scream at the carnage she saw. Hough turned around once more and aimed his gun towards Nicholas. Donald Walsh saw this and ran to push her out of the way as the gun went off. Walsh was hit in the left arm and bones were shattered. Hough shot one last time, emptying his gun, and this bullet hit Katherine Nicholas in the finger. At this point, now out of ammunition, Hough continued to his home. Many believe the only reason Hough retreated to his home was simply because his gun was empty.

Down the street lived Joseph Bovenzi who was a detective with the Cleveland police department. While others who heard the shots may have still believed it was fireworks they were hearing, Bovenzi knew the difference. He grabbed his gear and headed towards the Feichtner home. Bovenzi was informed by the witnesses that Terrance Hough had been the perpetrator and he then proceeded to the Hough home. Bovenzi found Hough sitting at the kitchen table still holding or at least with the handgun nearby. Bovenzi held him until other officers arrived. Bovenzi would say that Hough would state “I snapped. I snapped. I shot those people. Did I kill them?” Once more law enforcement arrived Hough was arrested. His home was searched and nearly a dozen guns were found, including the one used in the shooting.

Soon a grand jury would indict Hough on three counts of aggravated murder with prior calculation and two counts of attempted murder. His trial would begin in April of 2008 and last four weeks. After he was arrested the defense employed a psychiatrist who diagnosed Hough with bi-polar disorder. The defense wanted to present this at trial but the prosecutors said the “jailhouse diagnosis” did not represent what his state of mind was on the night of the murders, nor was or would it be an “excuse.” Prosecutors would argue that Hough had purposely waited inside his home until the other neighbors went into their homes before getting his gun and going outside. At the time of the shooting the majority of the noise was over considering everyone was done with the fireworks. On May 16, 2008 Terrance Hough was convicted on all counts. There was a possibility that the judge could have sentenced Hough to death. However, Hough was given two life sentences without parole. In addition to this he was sentenced to two ten-year terms for the attempted murder charges.

In 2010 Hough filed an appeal claiming “the state did not show that he acted with prior calculation and design, that the state introduced improper 'other acts' and victim impact evidence, and that his counsel was ineffective.” The courts disagreed. In fact, they pointed out that with all of the guns found in the home they felt that Hough had purposely chose the one that he did, with the hollow point ammunition,

Jacob Feitcher's family filed a lawsuit and in March of 2010 they were awarded a $3 million dollar settlement. Hough represented himself saying that the victims had “contributed” to their deaths. The family knows they will never recover monies considering Hough will spend the rest of his life in prison. Although I cannot say that this is the reason in this case, these cases are sometimes simply filed so that the perpetrator cannot financially gain from their crime and if he were to do so the monies would go to pay the lawsuit.

There are three more things of interest I want to note in this case before I end things. First, I found an Internet post made by Bruce Anderson's mother. She had pointed out that the police had not been called in two years by the Houghs indicating things were not as bad at the home as the defense apparently tried to indicate. She stated that as far as she was aware this was the first time Bruce had even been at the home. But, the most interesting thing she had to say was that right after Terrance Hough was arrested one of his fellow firefighters had described Terrance as a “ticking time bomb.” I found no other reference to this statement being made by anyone.

The second thing I want to point out refers to Donald Walsh. I mentioned earlier that he knew Terrance Hough but was unaware of the fact that he lived next door to Roland Feichtner. While my research did not speak of this, I learned of this relationship through the television show. As I recall, Donald and Terrance had met at a gun range and had become friendly with each other. In fact, Terrance had spoken to Donald about how he had neighbors that were noisy and had caused problems. Donald had been friends with Jacob Feichtner for many years and had been at the Feichtner home several times but until that night had not seen Hough to know that these were the neighbors he was speaking about. Donald Walsh testified at Hough's trial.

The last thing I want to mention has nothing to do with this particular crime but the fact that this was not the first time that tragedy had struck the Feichtner family. On the night of April 13, 1991 Roland and his wife Debbie were driving on Interstate 77 in Cleveland. They were going through an area that was under construction apparently both in the lanes they were driving and the overpass bridge over the highway. When the couple was driving under the overpass a man by the name of Ronald Jackson picked up a fourteen pound rock and threw it over the bridge. The rock crashed into the windshield of the Feichtner's vehicle. In the process of all of this Debbie Feichtner was injured and her liver was lacerated. She died the following day. Jackson was ultimately convicted for the crime but Roland and the family filed a lawsuit against the city of Cleveland and the Ohio Department of Transportation. They argued that the construction area was not adequately closed off and had allowed Jackson to gain access to commit his crime. To be fair while I was unable to determine whether the lawsuit amounted to anything.