136: Hung Jury (Antonio Armstrong Jr.)

In July 2016, 42-year-old spouses Dawn Whitely Armstrong and Antonio Armstrong Sr. were shot and killed in their suburban Houston, Texas townhome, with their middle son, 16-year-old Antonio Armstrong Jr., the only suspect. Following a mistrial, the defense fought to introduce an alternative perpetrator theory at retrial, which is scheduled to begin on October 3, 2022.

Music:
We Talk of Dreams

For sources, visit:

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murderous-minors--2964579/support.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Just so you know, this showis built scary stuff. So don't say
I didn't warn you guys. Iremember, don't be scared. M M

(01:00):
Episode one thirty six, hung JuryWar Baby here with another episode of Murderous
Miners. His mind is working onthis evil, and I've seen a lot
of evil in my days. ButI tell you, ladies and gentlemen,
of the Jury is the evil youdon't see coming. That is the worst
evil of all. Football season juststarted, so it seems fitting to check

(01:23):
on a case that I've been followingsince July two thousand and sixteen, when
a former Miami Dolphins a linebacker andhis wife were brutally shot in their bed
while they slept while two of theirthree children were in the home with them.
This week on Murderous Miners, welook in on the ongoing case of

(01:44):
Antonio and Don Armstrong's murders in theHouston suburb of bel Air, Texas,
murders which their sixteen year old son, Antonio Armstrong Junior, has been accused
of and was prosecuted four in twothousand and nineteen. The opening statements,
closing arguments, and the reading ofthe verdict were the only parts of the

(02:05):
trial allowed to be streamed, soyou'll be hearing snippets from both the prosecutors
and the defense attorneys throughout ABC thirteenth. Courtney Fisher provided extensive coverage of the
entire case as well. It's beenmore than six years since the Armstrongs were
killed, and here's what we've learned. On July twenty ninth, two thousand

(02:25):
and sixteen, Armstrong Junior called nineone one at one forty am, and
during the sixteen minute call, hetold the dispatcher that he had heard gunshots
come from his parents' bedroom and thattheir door was now uncharacteristically left ajar.
He was unable to describe what kindof gunshots he heard, and said that

(02:46):
while he was hiding in his thirdfloor bedroom closet, his twelve year old
sister was asleep on the floor belowthe same floor as his parents room.
While the call hasn't been released,the prosecution did repaired transcript that jurors were
provided at the trial that includes anotation indicating that Armstrong Junior said, at

(03:07):
minute seven quote it's all my fault. There were no signs of forced entry
or of a robbery gone bad,and no indication that any kind of struggle
took place in the home. Policefound a twenty two caliber pistol on the
kitchen counter, along with a notethat said I've been watching you for some
time, Get me, which waswritten using a pad and a pen from

(03:29):
a nearby drawer. When first respondersarrived, the team let them in by
disabling the home security system sounds,which were captured on the nine one one
call recording. It was a seeminglysimple occurrence that investigators and prosecutors interpreted as
clear evidence that the shooter was oneof the few people in the home who

(03:51):
were still alive. The simple factthat Armstrong Junior had to disable the alarm
worked against him in their minds,but he soon revealed to detectives that a
third party had done the shooting thatnight, and that he'd seen a masked
intruder in his house before he dialednine one one. When investigators scrutinized the
expensive home security system's motion sensor detectionrecords, they say that the detectors upstairs

(04:15):
registered movement at one o nine am, leaving thirty minutes of unexplained time before
the nine one one call was made. Here's the prosecution people are shotting a
head. Gunshots rang out right here. The defendant lied to you and told
you when he heard that, heran into his room and called nine one

(04:41):
one. No, he didn't.The defendant called nine one one at one
forty What was he doing for thirtyone minutes not calling nine one one?
That's uncontested. Armstrong Junior does notmention an intruder in the house during the

(05:08):
nine one one call, but reportsindicate that an officer at the scene told
prosecutors that he had heard other officerstalking about that statement that night. Within
just a few hours, the newlyorphantine was under arrest for shooting his parents.
His mother, forty two year olddon Armstrong, was pronounced dead at

(05:28):
the scene, lying in her bed. She had clearly been shot twice in
the head as she slept as abullet riddled pillow was over her face.
Her forty two year old husband,Antonio Armstrong Senior, was found the same
way, lying next to her witha pillow over his face. Alive,
though mortally wounded, The father ofthree was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital,

(05:53):
where he died the next day.Further implicating Armstrong Junior's involvement. Is something
in investigators say he said, whichwas that in the days leading up to
his parents murders, he'd fired hisfather's handgun in his bedroom, the same
twenty two caliber handgun that would befound on the kitchen counter when police arrived.

(06:14):
He only said this after he wasconfronted with the damaging evidence they'd already
discovered in his closet. With thecharging document reading quote, police found the
bullet hole in the respondent's bedroom floor, covered by a large pile of socks.
Officers found a pillow and a comforterin the respondent's closet with a hole
consistent with a twenty two caliber bullethole through them. Not only that,

(06:38):
but the charging document implies that investigatorsbelieved that Armstrong Junior also tried to set
his house on fire in the halloutside his parents and sisters bedrooms. Reading
quote, officers found an area ofburned carpet on the second floor landing of
the residence, and lab results latershowed gasoline and rubbing alcohol present as an

(06:59):
accelerat at the point of origin ofthe fire. Officers found a bottle labeled
rubbing alcohol and containing gasoline in therespondent's bedroom. The respondent admitted to starting
the fire where the carpet was burned, but stated that he accidentally dropped a
match at that location. The sportsworld and the family's community were stunned first

(07:23):
by the couple's shocking homicides and thenby the arrest of their son for capital
murder. During his hour long policeinterview, Armstrong Junior maintained that he'd seen
a masked intruder inside the house,causing the detective to ask, quote,
but how does that person get outof the house? The team replied quote,

(07:44):
I don't know, But like,I don't know why everyone is assuming
that I'm the person that let themin and let them out. He continued
to proclaim innocence throughout the interview andlet them know that the tests investigators conducted
would exonerate him. He even toldthem, quote, I know it doesn't
look good. I don't know whatelse to say to let you guys know
that I didn't do it. Ihad nothing to do with this. Don

(08:07):
and Antonio were reportedly well known andrespected business owners who owned an operated first
class training a successful chain of smallgyms in bel Air, Texas. Things
there seemed to be going well enough, although twelve days before the murders,
surveillance footage from inside the gym recordeda robbery where it seemed that two burglars

(08:28):
were searching for something they didn't find. They left with a computer, and
the gym's alarm was never activated.Not only had Antonio Senior played in the
NFL, but he also coached semiprofessional football, and at the time of
his murder, served as associate pastorat Spirit of Late Kingdom Center in Houston,

(08:48):
where his mother is pastor. Overall, the family was used to being
in the public eye. Antonio Seniorwas a motivational speaker with an active YouTube
channel, and Don had even beenfeatured by the local news when she made
a quilt for their oldest son,Josh as he went off to college a
few years before she was murdered.Now that same news outlet, plus others

(09:11):
across the country were covering her andher husband's murders, allegedly perpetrated by their
other son. Family members were justas shocked by the allegations, with Don's
cousin telling the press that quote,there was no neglect or anything, nothing
that could even possibly justify the situation. This makes no sense. There were,

(09:31):
however, thousands of text messages betweenthe teen and his parents that depicted
a recently rocky relationship based on hisdeclining grades lying in marijuana smoking. Don
was disappointed and defeated over the situation, while Antonio Senior took a more upbeat
approach, trying to encourage his sonto just do better. In July two

(09:54):
thousand and sixteen, Armstrong Junior hadjust completed his sophomore year at the Kincaid
School, private school where his youngersister also attended, but he was already
a role somewhere else for the upcomingschool year. The defense would later say
that the tuition had become too much. However, Kincaid's football coach later testified
for the prosecution, stating that AntonioSenior had told him that his son had

(10:18):
been expelled for poor academic performance.The coach portrayed Armstrong Junior as a standout
with a high level of athleticism,weepily saying on the stand that quote he
was special to me. I guessI treated him a bit different than I
treated anyone else. The public schoolhe was set to attend, Lamar High
School already reportedly had two players athis position on the football team. And

(10:41):
he was not guaranteed to play asmuch as he had at Kincaid, a
fact that prosecutors would later try andconnect to his potential motive for murder.
The defense stated that quote, theyhave this theory that because aj was not
going to start at Lamar, hekilled his parents. That's ridiculous to their
motive. They don't have a motive, so they're grasping at straws. Armstrong

(11:05):
Junior spent nearly nine months in juveniledetention before he was certified to stand trial
as an adult, publicly identified andgranted a bond of two hundred thousand dollars.
He pleaded not guilty and was releasedon house arrest to await his capital
murder trial, with his attorney statingquote, we believe he's been in jail
far too long. There's a lotof people out there who think he's a

(11:26):
pretty exceptional young man. We wantto get him back in school, back
with his family. He's been secludedtwenty three hours a day and sedated while
in jail. The jurisdiction waiver movinghis case from juvenile court to adult court
states the following facts and allegations quote. The respondent is currently seventeen years old,

(11:48):
and Texas law requires that he canonly be placed on probation until his
eighteenth birthday, leaving insufficient time inwhich the Juvenile Court may utilize its procedures,
services, and facilities currently available torehabilitate him. It goes on to
speculate that quote the respondent appears tohave planned aspects of the crime and quote

(12:09):
practicing with the handgun used to killhis parents in his bedroom through a pillow
and comforter to committing their murders.The respondent used an accelerant to start a
fire outside his parents' bedroom on thesecond floor landing, but then said it
was accidental. The respondent scrawled andleft a note on the kitchen counter with

(12:30):
the handgun used to kill his parents, in an apparent effort to direct what
he knew would be a police investigationof their deaths. The respondent placed a
hush nine one one call stating heheard gunshots in his parents' bedroom after staging
the handgun and note in the kitchenof his residence. The court gives great
weight to this level of criminal sophistication. More than a year passed before his

(12:54):
attorneys filed a routine pre trial motionto dismiss the capital murder charges altogether common
practice as a murder trial start dateapproaches. Armstrong Junior's motion was founded on
a bombshell allegation that the state withheldinformation from the defense, arguing that valuable
time and crucial information was lost asa result. It seems that four months

(13:18):
after the Armstrong murders, in Decembertwo thousand and sixteen, a local woman
told police a startling story that couldhave introduced reasonable doubt in the upcoming trial.
She explained that she hired a privateinvestigator to look into her ex husband's
extramarital activity. Anne told Houston policeand recorded interview that it was discovered that

(13:39):
he and Antonio Armstrong Senior were allegedlyinvolved in a prostitution ring. She elaborated,
explaining that she was aware of allegedthreats made on his life and that
she knew he'd tried to change thebeneficiary of his life insurance policy just before
they were killed. According to themotion to Smith's quote, the defense was

(14:01):
told around March two thousand and seventeenthat this allegation of prostitution was investigated and
that it was not credible, thusindicating that their investigation was complete. After
they requested the documentation, audio andor video recordings, the defense was quote
told that none exist. The defensefelt that quote it goes with the theme

(14:24):
of this case. They made uptheir minds right away. They arrested this
man within ten or fifteen minutes,and they didn't care what else came along.
In June two thousand and eighteen,the defense received the audio recording of
the woman's December two thousand and sixteeninterview, along with over fifty thousand pages
of phone records related to the socalled prostitution ring. She testified a few

(14:48):
months later at his discovery hearing inSeptember two thousand and eighteen, where she
could remember that phone records and bankstatements helped to prove what she'd been suspecting,
but admitted there were details that shecould no longer recall. The defense
reiterated that this was the problem.Right now, the prosecutors are saying,

(15:09):
my bad, we didn't give itto you. We're going to give you
a continuance. Now you have timeto recover from it. We can't so
by holding all to this evidence foreighteen months, you saw it right there.
She doesn't remember so if it's destroyed, that was fresh in her mind
at the time, and as aresult, it's stale, and because it's
stale, he can't get a freshrole. Also, when September twenty and

(15:31):
eighteen, Armstrong Junior gave the firstof his two interviews with local ABC thirteen,
the then eighteen year old emotionally proclaimedhis innocence as he always had and
continues to do. He told CourtneyFisher that quote, It's been really hard.
It's not even the fact of justdealing with not having my parents anymore.

(15:52):
It's the fact that I'm being accusedof something of this magnitude. I'm
innocent. There was somebody else inthat house that night, and to know
that this is something I'm being accusedof just makes everything so much worse.
His lawyer said that quote, we'renot necessarily claiming the alarm system didn't work.
The alarm system worked as it shouldhave. The problem is that there

(16:14):
are holes in the alarm system evenwhen it functions like it's supposed to function.
Trial eventually began in April two thousandand nineteen, with the defense presenting
a startling alternative murder suspect, theoldest armstrong son Josh, who had moved
into his own apartment within walking distanceof the town home two weeks before they

(16:36):
were murdered. On the night ofthe crimes, he reportedly showed up at
the scene with his brother's defense attorneys, saying in his opening statement that quote.
When asked by the Houston Police Departmentwhere he was at the time of
the murders, he refused to answer. He didn't go visit his dad when
he was in the hospital fighting forhis life. He did not show up.
Here are attorneys from both sides.It's on page two. It's called

(17:03):
the law of Parties, and itbasically says all persons are parties to an
offense who are guilty of acting togetherin the commission of a crime. A
person is criminal responsible for an offensecommitted by a conduct of another. They
asked for that, and it's thelongest case right now. Now, let's

(17:23):
talk about that briefly. Sergeant Dagnallsaid he was a hundred percent sure that
Age admitted the crime, no questionsabout it. He's right there. Remember
his testimony, he said nothing wouldchange his mind. Okay, that's your

(17:47):
opinion, sergeant. The only thingI know that's one hundred percent is death
and taxes. But okay, butnow they've brought before you a legal argument
in the jury charge that there's someone else involved in the crime. Excuse
me. They fought as hard asthey could to get around all the evidence

(18:12):
outside of this case and specifically gotowards AJ. If they stand up here,
mister Brewer, stands up here andargues that the law of parties applies
to this case, it's a notguilty end of story because by doing that
they're contradicting Sergeant Dagnol and everyone detectivein this case. They made up their

(18:36):
mind in eleven minutes, and they'renow going to say, well, maybe
someone else was involved in the crime. The inference from that it's going to
be now Josh and AJ were workingtogether, Mister brew There is no evidence
of that whatsoever. Mister Brewer.That is a desperate attempt to convict the
showman and sent him to prison forthe rest of his life. And you

(19:00):
did look at the dagonal and say, wait a minute, you told us
you were one hundred, one hundredpercent about and that has a reasonable doubt
allow it is correct. There hasbeen a substantial amount of time spent trying

(19:21):
to focus and trying to explain tothe jury what the motives might be what
they are. Was it that thedefendant was falling from his very high spot
as the big man on campus.Was it his daily drug use or his
drug dealing as his grandmother indicated,not even upon questioning, well, if

(19:44):
AJ did it, it's drug related. Maybe it's not being able to play
ball with that other private school thathas the coach that can get him into
the big schools and he's upset aboutthat. Maybe it's his instant lying and
being called on the carpet for itby his parents. Maybe it was the
massive trust fund that he'd have accessto. And no, I don't think

(20:08):
it is unlinked that he is talkingover the phone about what kind of luxury
automoppel that he'd like to have toescalate above that. I don't think that
you can walk away from that.These are submitted as ideas and suggestions on
motive that we do not have toprove, but we feel like it was

(20:29):
important to get that out to youso that you could better understand the facts
of this case. We cannot openup the defendant's head go back to Bordar
not see that the state has toprovide motive. Motive is not an issue
in this case. I would suggestto you that how could it possibly be

(20:52):
something that we could accomplish to showwhat the motive is Beyond a reasonable doubt,
It just doesn't make sense to showwhat the why is. The why
for the unthinkable. There may bemany different reasons, but it is impossible
to tell you to talk to youabout why the unthinkable occurs. It is

(21:18):
enough for the jury to understand thatit is simply not an element of the
case. It is human nature,however, to want to know why.
And then there were the home securitysystem records, which the States seem to
feel provided them a slam dunk inthis case, even with no gunshot residue

(21:41):
or DNA evidence linking Armstrong Junior tothe murders. The charging document states that
quote Protection one security alarm records showthe alarm to the residents is armed.
At nine fifty two pm July twentyeighth, twenty and sixteen, the respondent
sister gives a statement that the systemfrom the panel on the second floor the

(22:02):
downstairs living room motion detector goes idle, indicating no internal movement. At nine
to fifty seven pm, the upstairsmotion detector goes idle. At ten thirty
nine pm, the upstairs motion detectoris activated again. At one o nine
am, the downstairs living room motiondetector is activated at one twenty five am.
The security alarm is deactivated at onefifty six am, the time the

(22:26):
respondent is heard turning the alarm offand opening the front door for police upon
their arrival. In response to thenine one one call he place. The
defense offered testimony from an expert witnesswho stated that the system was not a
good installation, therefore its data couldn'tbe trusted, adding that quote, the
motion detectors aren't reliable, they're notworking properly, or there was multiple people

(22:51):
in the house. The motion sensoractivity and nine one one call don't line
up because it didn't reflect Armstrong Juniorgoing to wake up his or going to
let the police in. Though thedeactivation and the opening of the front door
were recorded, the prosecution leaked tojurors that he'd been paid fifty thousand dollars

(23:11):
for his testimony. So at onetwenty five am, it doesn't take a
genius to figure this out. Whatgets left, What gets put downstairs?
The gun, the note. Whatis the defendant not doing at one twenty

(23:32):
five. He's not calling nine oneone after hearing those shots. What he's
doing is cleaning up. What he'sdoing is making sure his sister didn't hear
the shots. What he's doing islistening, going up and down the stairs,
listening to find out if his fatheris dead. Yet he's not calling

(23:57):
nine one one uncontested. This solvesthe whole issue of the alarm. If
you look at the alarm records,it tells you the door was closed.
That's it. That's end of it. If you logically think about the alarm

(24:21):
system, Okay, it says doorclosed, and you know what, we
know from their piece of paper thatthe alarm system was working on the front
door. How do we know that? What is this? The defendant shut

(24:42):
the alarm system off and then openedthe door. And when you look at
the records, it shows you thatthe door was opened. Period. The

(25:03):
alarm had no problems whatsoever, notjust the motion detectors, but the contacts
on the doors and windows had noproblems whatsoever. And you heard the expert.
So one of the last things I'mgoing to say about the alarm.
You heard the experts say, listenif anybody bypassed or anything. And it

(25:25):
doesn't matter, because the alarm toldyou the door was closed. He disarmed
it, and then it shows thedoor opening, the front door opening,
and then you know what, evenpast that, it shows after that,
the back door opening when the policeofficer opened it to let the other officers

(25:48):
in. The alarm was functioning.Not only was it functioning, it was
functioning perfectly. That is virtually theend of the story for them. When
Armstrong junior sister testified, she statedthat quote, sometimes the alarm would set

(26:08):
when a door is still open,or sometimes it would go off unexpectedly.
It was really finicky. The defensecalled a witness seemingly trying to direct juror's
attention away from Armstrong Junior and towardother possible suspects. An er doctor and
former member of the gym who openeda competing jim with one of the trainers

(26:30):
after they became a couple, tookthe stand. She testified to receiving threats
at the new gym. Seeing thatquote. I noticed on the way home
there was a piece of paper onthe windshield flapping in the wind, I
was very afraid, adding that thenote read quote, we are watching you.
Although she didn't know what it wasabout, she was pretty sure it
had something to do with the JimArmstrong Junior was already in custody when at

(26:53):
least one of these incidents occurred.They also called his supportive long term girlfriend,
who didn't waver until confronted by theprosecution under cross examination about a text
message where she told him something like, I feel like you're always lying to
me, after accusing him of hidingwhy he'd been kicked out of the Kincaid

(27:14):
School. After the nine one onecall was played for the jury, The
defense wanted them to understand that quotehe had nothing to hide. One thing
that you can get out of hisstatement is that aj consistently told the detective,
You're going to find no evidence thatI was involved regarding gunshot residue,
DNA blood anywhere. He constantly toldthe detective that, and it turned out

(27:37):
to be true. It turned outto be accurate that none of that evidence
existed. They basically railroaded him.Something was made of the gunshot residue.
This is defendant's exhibit ortaying this iswhat the defense showed you there's a gun
going off. It's demonstrative. Itshows a huge cloud of smoke. And

(28:02):
of course what we have here is, hey, look at that, from
the from the from the defense,we have a lot of gun smoke going
This is not in fairness, isjust demonstrat in nature. But all this
gunsmoke, there must be gunshot residue, and there is no. And it

(28:22):
was all very important until we learnedthat his hands are almost incredibly immaculate and
clear of the gunshot residue, ofcourse, but of something like lead and
the other elements consisted none. Howis that possible when you have this big

(28:51):
cloud of smoke and then you lookat it and you study more, that
these elements show up on his clothing, on his shirt. Oh and wait,
there's more. The concentration is onthe right side, and he is

(29:11):
indicated to the officer Jimmy James,that he is right handed practice shots and
incidentally, from the practice shot.The testimony is, if you look at
all of the evidence, the lastperson with the murder weapon is the defendant

(29:32):
in this case. Up until themurder, there's no other indication that it
went anywhere else. When Don andAntonio's senior's daughter testified as a character witness
for her brother. She was questionedabout their older brother, who's adopted,

(29:53):
seeing that while Armstrong Junior had agood and normal relationship with their parents,
their older brother had conflict with theirdad. She stated that quote, he
acted like our parents loved us morebecause we were biologically related to both of
them. He acted like the blacksheep of the family. He was there,
but he wasn't there. He wasdistant. His drug use had increased,

(30:15):
and he'd become violent, she said, testifying that he'd been hearing quote,
demonic voices. She also testified thatArmstrong Junior was looking forward to starting
at his new high school. Thedefense soon rested their case, and following
closing arguments, the jury was taskedwith determining whether the State of Texas proved

(30:36):
beyond a reasonable doubt that aj Armstrongshot and killed his parents, Don and
Antonio Armstrong. After a twenty fourday trial over the equivalent of eleven days
of testimony, the state called twentyeight witnesses, while the defense called nine,
but not Armstrong Junior because he didn'ttestify in his own defense. Let's

(30:56):
move backwards and see Okay, hekilled his parents. What was going on
in the months and weeks and daysbeforehand. Well, we start in October
twenty fifteen, son, you cando this. We believe in you.
You got to bring up your brains. You can do this. We're going
to and then he gets a car, a brand new car. Then get

(31:19):
in to January. You're lying tous. February you started to lie to
us. March April, May itgets more somber. And you know what,
I don't care if you guys lookedat all the text messages. I
brought these to court. I'm notscared of them. That it is within
context, there's still allowed to jokeand laugh in between the fact that he's

(31:45):
constantly getting grounded, He got hisbrand new Mustang taken away from him,
can't see his girlfriend, gets kickedout of Kincaid where all his friends are
junior year. Parents aren't doing anythingabout it. They're not fighting for him
to go to same highest where hecanna be a star again. All these

(32:07):
are life changes going on, andwe're looking at this going backwards, which
means if we were going forwards,we'd be able to predict who's going to
kill their parents right. Oh he'ssmoking weed, he's gonna kill his parents.
Oh he got grounded, got kickedup. No, that's not how
it works. This is about thisdefendant, not every teenager that's smoking weed,

(32:29):
blowing money or anything like that.No, it's about him and what
was going on in his life andwhat was important to him. So now
we're at the days and weeks beforehand, the iPad. We know that and
this is concrete evidence. This islike I said, his family they're always

(32:52):
going to fight for him. Butthat's why this evidence is so important.
On the twenty sixth, he livedthe house on fire, and we know
that that's when it happened. That'sconcerning, isn't it. Does it mean
every kid that pours gasoline at thetop of the stairs of his house when

(33:15):
his parents are there and his sisterswith his grandma, Does that mean that
they're gonna end up killing their parents? Not everyone? But isn't it telling
that this is just a few daysbeforehand. So he gets his phone taken
away. We know he gets hisphone taken away. It's there, So
he doesn't have a phone. Hehas an iPad, not Josh the defendant

(33:42):
as an iPad on his floor.What does that mean? Well, doesn't
mean anything, right, Nope,guess what we have records. It means
he logged in with his Apple ID on the twenty seventh, on the
morning of the twenty seven, onthe morning after he tried to light his

(34:02):
house on fire, and looked uphow do you rig a car so that
it explodes when it's turned on?Okay, we all have crazy things in
our phone, right, we wantforensic files. We're gonna google something.
Does that mean that? Does thatmean if I google something crazy that I'm
gonna kill my parents? No,we are looking backwards at what was going

(34:27):
on in this person's life. Okay, so try to light the house on
fires. Got my phone taken away. I'm on my iPad looking at this,
and at some point I'm shooting myfather's gun through the floor of my
bedroom and then covering up with socks. And I encourage you, ladies and

(34:50):
gentlemen, please do I'm glad thisisn't evidence. Go through it. You
will see a lot more. You'llsee Kira's text messages in here, You'll
see Josh text messages here. Andyou know what you see by what July
tenth, AJ was trying to spendthe night at Josh's house. Josh was
in his apartment already, So allthese clothes and the iPads and all this

(35:14):
stuff in the room. It's thedefendants what you'll see. I think July
eighteenth, somewhere around there. Kyrawants to go to the movies. Well,
aj has already seen this movie.Josh text and says, I'll take
you. I'll take you this Saturday. They're all having the happy conversations.
I don't see any indication that Joshis mentally ill in any of the evidence

(35:38):
that I've looked at. And thedefense told you that there'd be evidence for
the past three years that Josh ismentally ill. We don't have that here.
This is we're happy. Oh where'sthat evidence that we were going to
see that Josh is having all thesemental health problems homicidal thoughts before the murder.

(36:04):
Go look at the messages because it'scommunications. It's who this family was
and what was going on. Sonow we get to the day of the
murder. This I didn't make you, guys go through all of it,
but please do spend all the timeyou want, and you'll see that this
was not a happy individual. Onthe day of the murder, he was

(36:28):
not. He was grounded, hecouldn't drive the car. His girlfriend was
out parted. He wanted to bewith her. He wanted to be anywhere
else but home watching Netflix all day. Kira texted him around eight o'clock.

(36:51):
Can he come get me? Butlook at the messages? I can't,
Mom said, I can't drive.Hira gets permission for him to drive.
He's also texting Josh. Josh isworking and in school at the time,
and also telling the defendant, Ican't let you take the Mustang. You
drive so crazy, And mom anddad said no. Does that sound like

(37:16):
a protective older brother that's trying todo the right thing, or does it
sound like a homicidal guy that's aboutto just go crazy and commit these murders?
And we will all let mister grewor get into the fact that it's
physically impossible. But what's going onhere? We have someone whose freedom is
restricted, who is failing on aschool, losing focus, can't drive.

(37:45):
Now he has to go kick uphis sister. And the reason why I
bring this up is that that iswhen he had the conversation with his girlfriend,
and so it was a lie thatshe heard his parents laughing in the
back Brown. It didn't happen.Go look at the records. It never
happened. That text message that causedhim to go have a bonding moment when

(38:13):
his father, that never happened.If this case was about bad grades of
a sixteen year old, if thiscase was about sixteen year old line to
his mom about sixteen year old stuff. If this case is about spending the
nextra two hundred dollars to take prettygirl for not to dinner, I'd agree

(38:35):
with mister Brewer. What does itlike to be a sixteen year old?
The pressure, the hormones, theability to try to fit in, all
the stuff that happened when we weresixteen years old, And we got to
remember that he was sixteen years oldat that time. Imagine if we had

(38:57):
tests and cell phones and Facebook whenwe sixteen year old? What would that
be like? All the stuff thatthey constantly, my numbing league kept going
over and over again, is thebanter of a sixteen year old. He's
not a perfect kid. I neversaying was an angel. But they're asking

(39:21):
you to take that and jump overto killing two people, not just two
people as parents. They're asking youto make that leap. Mister Brewer is
asking you to take the sixteen yearold banter of a knucklehead and jump over

(39:44):
to be in a capital murder.Wednesday, April twenty fourth, two and
nineteen ended without any news from thejury, but the following day they only
deliberated for nineteen minutes before asking thejudge if she could do anything to help
the break a deadlock. They wereinstructed to keep trying and ended up asking

(40:04):
to review a few pieces of evidence, including the text message logs, the
alarm system logs, and the notewritten in the house and left at the
scene. The jury then told thejudge that they were hopelessly deadlocked and ended
their second day after trying to reacha verdict for about eight hours so far
combined. The next day, thejury sent a note about being deadlocked for

(40:27):
the second time, at which timethe judge read them the allan charge,
letting them know that alternate jurors couldbe forced to come up and replace them
should they fail to reach a decision, and they would have an even harder
time. After an additional eleven hoursof deliberations on day three, the judge
declared that quote, I did receivethis last note, and the note states

(40:49):
we are unable to arrive at aunanimous verdict without causing some members of the
jury to do violence to their conscience. It is improbable the jury can reach
a verdict, and accordingly, becauseof that, the court declares a mistrial.
The decision was split eight four,with eight jurors voting guilty, and
since it was a capital murder charge, the verdict needed to be unanimous.

(41:14):
The prosecutor released a statement following thehung jury that read, in part quote,
we appreciate the tremendous effort by thejury. Antonio Armstrong Junior murdered two
citizens of our county, and wewill continue to fight for justice and bring
him to trial again. On Friday, April twenty sixth, two thousand and
nineteen, a then nineteen year oldArmstrong Junior left the court house, not

(41:38):
heading for jail or prison, butnot exonerated either, as he was still
out on bond and on house arrest, awaiting trial for capital murder again.
His new trial date was originally setfor October fourth, two thousand and nineteen.
However, it was pushed back toJanuary sixth, two thousand and twenty,

(41:58):
but the defense had filed over thirdemotions that had to first be addressed
before jury selection could proceed. Amain focus was what evidence would be admitted,
as it had come to light thata garbage bag holding twenty two pieces
of evidence from the first trial hadbeen thrown out by mistake. Inside that
bag was Armstrong Junior's cell phone,leading the defense to file emotion to keep

(42:22):
the new jury from seeing any textmessages found on it. Another pre trial
motion addressed what could be damaging evidencefor the state, as the defense requested
to include Armstrong Junior's brothers medical recordsas evidence in this trial, something they
weren't allowed to do the first timearound. Since then, the defense had
uncovered at least six instances where ArmstrongJunior's brother told doctors during psychiatric evaluations and

(42:47):
voluntary admissions forms that he'd witnessed hisparents murders. When committing himself for paranoia,
he told the doctor quote that inJuly twenty and sixteen, both of
his parents were murdered in their home. His brother is in custody as a
suspect, although he doesn't believe heis guilty. The murder case has progressed
slowly as Hurricane Harvey and the pandemiccontributed to a large backlog in Houston's court

(43:13):
system. After several more hearings andpostponements, Judge Kelly Johnson determined that the
brother's medical records can be admitted intoevidence and that she is allowing an alternative
perpetrator theory to be presented by thedefense at the retrial. That decision was
made just over a year ago,and the now almost twenty three year old

(43:35):
Antonio Armstrong Junior, who's now afather himself, was back in court on
September nineteenth, two and twenty two, and his retrial was set to start
in two weeks time on October third. Aj Armstrong spoke with Courtney Fisher two
times, once before his trial beganand once prior to when he thought his

(43:55):
retrial was about to begin in Januarytwo thousand and in twenty Both links are
in the show notes for this episode, as are links to the attorney's full
arguments. His retrial will feature thesame judge, prosecutors, and defense attorneys
who, following the mistrial, wondered, quote, is this win? Is
it a loss? In the meantime? As it has for more than six

(44:20):
years, the search for justice forDon and Antonio Armstrong continues