HOUSTON – The much-talked-about pink blanket carried by Antonio Armstrong, Jr.’s grandmother made a fresh appearance Friday on Day 5 of his capital murder trial.
Admittedly, it gets cold in the 178th Criminal Courtroom. But Defense attorney Rick DeToto has also made the pink blanket a symbol of what he says is Armstrong Jr.’s innocence.
DeToto first drew attention to the blanket during the voir dire process, when he told potential jurors all Americans are treated equally and born innocent under our laws. He said innocence is a veil that covers each of us and remains there until a jury takes that privilege away.
The third murder trial against Armstrong Jr. started July 31. Armstrong was only 16 years old when he was accused of shooting and killing his parents, Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr., in their southwest Houston home in 2016. He’s maintained his innocence through two previous murder trials and two hung juries.
KPRC 2 has created an innovative, multi-platform experience we call ‘The Bench’ to help layperson trial watchers track the intricacies of the investigation and understand why this is a critical legal case in our community. Features of ‘The Bench’ include daily live blogs from inside the courtroom, our ‘Anatomy of a Trial’ playlist of video shorts explaining key legal concepts, and detailed archives from Armstrong’s first two trials to compare strategies.
Look for new episodes of ‘The Bench’ throughout the trial in the KPRC 2+ livestream player below:
Four ways to watch KPRC 2+
- Search for the KPRC 2+ app on your smart TV or streaming device - including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Google TV.
- Get the new KPRC 2+ mobile app - which is free to download in the App Store or on Google Play.
- Watch at Click2Houston.com/watchlive.
- Look for the KPRC 2+ livestream in the “Watch Live” section of the Click2Houston news app.