Antonio Armstrong Jr., who’s lately 23 years previous, is dealing with his 3rd trial in Harris County, the place jurors will as soon as once more pay attention weeks of proof relating to his attainable involvement in the deadly taking pictures of his parents. The earlier trials failed to achieve a verdict, leaving prosecutors with the duty of attempting to sway 12 random jurors to achieve an unanimous choice. Unlike the prosecution, the protection best wishes to persuade a unmarried juror to doubt the proof and lead the others in opposition to some other mistrial.
Opening statements for the trial are set to begin at 10:30 a.m. on Monday. Officers recounted right through the former trials that they spoke back to an early morning 911 name on the Armstrongs’ Bellaire-area house, the place Antonio Jr., who used to be 16 years previous on the time, informed them he had heard gunshots and noticed a masked guy. Upon arrival, first responders discovered Antonio’s parents in their bed room, with pillows overlaying their heads and deadly gunshot wounds. Antonio’s mom, Dawn Armstrong, kicked the bucket, whilst his father, Antonio Armstrong Sr., a former NFL athlete, struggled for his existence however in the end didn’t live on the incident.
Investigators first of all discovered holes in Antonio Jr.’s account of the occasions main up to the incident. The teen had to flip off the circle of relatives’s alarm device and liberate the door to let the police throughout the townhome. Police discovered no indicators of pressured access, as testified in courtroom.
Lawyers on each side spent a month completely analyzing potential jurors who may just view the proof impartially and didn’t have prior wisdom of the case. Given the former trials and the nationwide hobby in the case, discovering such jurors proved to be a problem. In January, there used to be a last-minute settlement to stay the trial lawsuits in Harris County after the pass judgement on sought to transfer the trial to a distinct county. Leading up to a listening to, a banner used to be hung at the Southwest Freeway bridges in Montrose, tough the costs towards Armstrong Jr. be dropped. Additionally, a web site went reside promoting clothes pieces with Armstrong Jr.’s identify on them to fund his prison bills.
The trial could have 16 jurors: ten males, six ladies, and 4 alternates. If discovered to blame, Armstrong Jr. may just face existence at the back of bars, with the likelihood of parole after 40 years. Since he used to be a juvenile on the time of the crime, he isn’t eligible for the death penalty.
Contact Nicole Hensley at [email protected] for additional information.