Jury deliberations in AJ Armstrong's 3rd capital murder trial enter day 2

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Jury deliberations in AJ Armstrong's 3rd murder trial enter day 2

A lawsuit was filed by an attorney representing Armstrong, claiming his rights were violated. Since the jury is sequestered, they are not supposed to watch any news stories or read articles about the case.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Jurors will continue deliberating A.J. Armstrong's fate in his third capital murder trial on Wednesday.

Twice, a mistrial was declared when jurors couldn't decide on a unanimous verdict of guilty or not guilty. Now, a third jury is getting its chance.

Shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, jurors requested to see the evidence in the case. The ask is not more specific, so all the physical evidence is provided to them, with the exception of the murder weapon. Among items provided to the jury room were Armstrong's clothes, bloody pillows that were found over the victims' heads, alarm records and more than 19,000 pages of text messages.

MORE ON THE CASE: A.J. Armstrong complete coverage

After five hours of deliberation, the jury retired for the night at 7 p.m.

The jurors were sequestered overnight at a hotel, meaning they are restricted from cell phones and televisions. In addition, each juror can only be in their individual room, and if they are together, a bailiff must accompany them.

They are not allowed to discuss the case together outside of deliberation.

The jury resumes deliberation at 9:30 a.m.

Should Armstrong be found guilty of capital murder, he'll be immediately sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Due to his age at the time of the murders, he would not face the death penalty.

Federal lawsuit against city of Houston

There was a surprise in the case after the jury began deliberating on Tuesday.

Just two hours after the jury got the case, we learned that an attorney representing AJ is not waiting for the verdict before filing a new lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against the city of Houston, claiming Armstrong's rights were violated.

Did Houston police plant evidence to further incriminate AJ Armstrong? The double murder suspect claims they did in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges one or more people inside the Houston Police Department planted his father's blood particle on a T-shirt Armstrong wore on the night of the murders seven years ago, which was admitted as evidence in his third capital murder trial.

The evidence had not yet come to light in his previous two trials.

The blood evidence was located under a name tag placed on Armstrong by Houston police.

The lawsuit surprised those who have followed the trial.

"I have never seen a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on the day of closing arguments, the day that a jury is beginning their deliberations on a capital murder case," ABC13 legal analyst Steve Shellist said.

The lawsuit doesn't mention a specific monetary amount Armstrong seeks. None of his criminal case attorneys are representing him. Instead, Houston attorney Randall Kallinen is taking up the civil case.

While the public knows about the lawsuit, since the jury is sequestered, they are not supposed to watch any news stories or read any articles about the case at all.

Details of the case

It's been more than seven years since Armstrong was charged with killing his parents.

In July 2016, Dawn and Antonio Sr. were each shot in the head, pillows placed over their faces, while asleep in their southwest Houston home. Armstrong was arrested hours later. He was 16 years old, entering his junior year of high school at the time.

A note was left at the scene that read: "I've been watching you for a long time. Come get me!"

Now, Armstrong is a 23-year-old man who has worn a GPS ankle monitor all of his adult life, since bonding out of jail in 2017.

Since his last trial, Armstrong has married the mother of his son, his high school girlfriend, Kate Ober, who testified on his behalf during his first trial. These are big milestones for anyone, but Armstrong has yet to move on with his life, as investigators maintain he is the only person who could have killed his parents, which prosecutors are attempting to prove to a third jury.

Defense attorneys have tried to cast doubt on that, even pointing a finger at Armstrong's older brother, Josh, as a possible suspect.

The state had text messages between Antonio Sr., Dawn, and their son, Josh, introduced into evidence. Prosecutors worked to show that those messages made it appear Josh was a normal and loving son.

However, the defense claims Josh had mental health issues and was suffering from paranoia and schizophrenia. The state says Josh was diagnosed with mental health issues, but that happened months after the murders.