State rests in AJ Armstrong retrial after testimony on house alarm records from day of murders

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Prosecutors in the A.J. Armstrong capital murder retrial have spent seven days showing a jury of 15 men and women why and how they believe A.J. shot and killed his parents in July 2016, and on Wednesday, the state rested their case.

We have heard testimony from a total of 19 witnesses: police officers first on the scene, paramedics, and an expert in blood spatter, to name a few. Prosecutors' last witness, who was on the stand for more than an hour, was a representative from the ADT home security company, explaining the Armstrong house alarm records to jurors.

On the night of July 28, 2016, prosecutors say Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr. set the house alarm at 9:52 p.m. Less than four hours later, they were shot to death.

Prosecutors laid out the minute-by-minute timeline of the hours leading up to the murders and the hours that followed.

At 10:39 p.m., alarm records show the motion sensor on the second floor went idle. Tim Rader, the ADT representative, testified that records show it stayed idle until about two and a half hours later when motion was detected. That's relevant because that's the floor where the Armstrongs slept.

Rader also testified that the security system showed all doors and windows were secure when the alarm was set again, according to the records. Investigators have maintained that the secured alarm proves the killer had come from inside the house.

However, the defense says the records simply cannot be trusted.

Chris Collings, one of A.J.'s attorneys, produced ADT records from the three and a half weeks leading up to the murders which shows the alarm motion sensors logged incorrect information 77 times.

"(Wednesday) was my favorite day of trial," defense attorney Rick DeToto said to reporters at the end of the day. "The state is stuck on alarm records. They say the house is closed, the alarm records are 100% accurate and Chris Collings, during cross-examination, was able to show there were 77 different errors in those alarm records. Those alarm records are useless and they mean nothing."

Prosecutor John Jordan did not respond to DeToto's claim, and declined to give a statement at the end of the day.

In A.J.'s 2019 trial, prosecutors called 28 witnesses, nine more than this time around.

The trial resumes Thursday at 10:30 a.m., with the first witness from the defense.

MORE STORIES ON AJ ARMSTRONG'S RETRIAL:

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