HOUSTON – It’s day two of the jury deliberations in the Antonio Armstrong Jr. capital murder retrial.
Tuesday, after four hours of closing arguments, the case was handed over to 12 jurors.
RELATED: Can 12 new jurors do what 24 others couldn’t in the trials against Antonio Armstrong Jr.?
About an hour into deliberations on Tuesday, the jury asked for evidence and Judge Kelli Johnson sent them all of the evidence collected in the case.
Afterward, the jury also requested an audio speaker.
The jury deliberated until 7 p.m. Tuesday night but did not reach a verdict.
On Wednesday, deliberations began at 9:30 a.m. Around 1:50 p.m., the jury decided to continue working towards a verdict through their lunch period.
RELATED: Can 12 new jurors do what 24 others couldn’t in the trials against Antonio Armstrong Jr.?
This is the third capital murder trial against Antonio “A.J.” Armstrong, who is accused of killing his parents at the family’s southwest Houston home in 2016. A.J., now 23 years old and married, was only 16 years old at the time of the murders.
The brutal slayings left a community and family divided on whether the young man was capable of committing the crime.
Prosecutors said A.J. fatally shot his mother, Dawn, and father, former NFL player Antonio Armstrong Sr., as the couple slept at their home in the 5300 block of Palmetto Street on July 28, 2016.
A.J. said there was a masked person in the house, according to audio of the 911 call he made to police. Prosecutors said his claims were all a lie.
A first mistrial was declared in 2019 because, after three days of deliberation, the jury back then could not reach a unanimous agreement. Eight jurors believed A.J. was guilty, but four jurors voted not guilty.
A second mistrial was declared in October 2022.
Closing arguments
The key piece of evidence, centered around both the prosecution and defense arguments was centered around the alarm system. Prosecutor Ryan Trask started with a powerful text message from Dawn Armstrong to A.J., “The alarm doesn’t lie, you lie.” Trask described A.J. as being manipulative and taking advantage of his parents, especially his mother Dawn. Trask went into a detailed timeline they meshed together using the alarm system and A.J.’s phone usage on the night of the murder, showing how A.J.’s phone activity compared to the alarm systems activity in the house. Trask argued for about 40 minutes before ending and telling the jury to follow the evidence.
Chris Collings, one of A.J.’s attorneys, followed Trask up with his closing arguments. Collings called all of the prosecution’s evidence “speculation,” saying several of their witnesses changed their testimony several times. Collings’ arguments focused highly on Josh, A.J.’s brother’s mental health and stability during the murder of Dawn and Antonio Sr., and the alarm system. He said in the month of July alone, the alarm system had over 90 errors, making it unreliable.
Rick DeToto backed his colleagues’ claims during his closing arguments, saying HPD made up its mind about the killer in 11 minutes. He called the prosecution team “reckless, desperate, and dangerous,” when talking about the new DNA evidence. He also called out HPD’s lack of investigation into the 2016 crime scene, saying several homicide detectives refused to do their jobs and missed key pieces of evidence, such as properly questioning Josh and his alibi, not talking to family members and neighbors, and not testing the blood found by the garage door that they claim came from Antonio Sr. being transported out of the home and to the hospital. When DeToto finished, A.J. was in tears and so was his wife, Kate.
Lead prosecutor John Jordan finished things off, starting with the question “What does a murderer look like?” He focused his arguments heavily on A.J. and his mother’s troubled relationship, which he showed through a slew of text messages where Dawn expressed her disappointment in A.J. He played several parts of AJ’s 911 call and homicide interview saying those two pieces of evidence alone could “convict A.J.” Jordan went through the main pieces of evidence in the case, saying A.J. showed signs of wanting to murder his parents by attempting to set their home on fire, shooting his father’s gun, and searching how to blow up a car.
Jordan ended with the quote, “The evidence doesn’t lie, you lie.”
The trials
In the first trial, prosecutors intended to show that A.J. was embroiled in conflict with his parents over failing grades and poor behavior. They said that the murders were committed by someone who was already inside the home, claiming that neither the burglar alarm system nor any other evidence showed signs of forced entry.
The second trial was a back-and-forth of presenting new evidence and an alternative suspect, A.J.’s older brother Joshua, who defense attorneys said could be the actual killer. Joshua was said to be the “black sheep” of the family and was 19 years old at the time. He was also not Antonio Armstrong Sr.’s biological son.
A.J.’s defense team alleged Houston police hastily zeroed in on him before conducting a thorough investigation of the murder scene. Evidence at that trial was presented calling into question the alarm system, and Josh’s mental state.
In the third trial, the state presented new DNA evidence that was found on a sticker placed on A.J.’s shirt on the night of the murder when he was taken to the homicide office. A blood spatter analyst claimed to have found the evidence while examining the shirt in June, just one day before the third trial was set to begin.
A.J.’s defense team claimed the DNA could have been a result of cross-contamination from the evidence being handled by several different parties over the years. A.J.’s lawyer even showed images of a former prosecutor handling the shirt without gloves after touching the bloody pillows from the scene.
The state attempted to paint A.J. to be a problem child, showing jurors a number of text messages between him and his parents, where he was caught sneaking out of his home, lying, getting in trouble at school and using drugs. The state also decided to bring the crime scene to life for the jurors, by building a makeshift staircase and bed with mannequins symbolizing Dawn and Armstrong Sr.
A.J.’s defense team again threw A.J.’s brother Josh in the mix, alluring to his mental health issues, in which they believe started before the death of his parents.