HOUSTON — On the second day of Antonio "AJ" Armstrong Jr.'s third capital murder trial, jurors heard from Houston police officers who responded to the 2016 scene the night his parents were found shot to death.
Armstrong Jr. is accused of shooting Antonio Sr. and Dawn Armstrong as they slept in their Bellaire-area home when he was 16 years old.
The HPD officers said they saw no signs that an intruder broke into the southwest Houston home.
Under cross-examination, one officer testified he never saw any blood on Armstrong Jr. during the more than 5 hours the then-16-year-old was in his custody.
"This is really important information coming from this HPD officer that he spent almost six hours with AJ Armstrong and never saw any indication that his clothing had evidence on it and didn't do any testing at that time as a result," KHOU 11 Legal Analyst Carmen Roe said.
On Tuesday, the jury also saw text message conversations between Armstrong, his parents, and his girlfriend in the three months leading up to the murder. They show that Armstrong Jr. lied to his parents about leaving the house, then deleted texts to cover his tracks. They also show Armstrong Jr.’s parents were upset with him over his driving, grades, drinking and smoking marijuana.
“I think it’s two-fold. First of all, it shows the lies AJ Armstrong was telling his parents in the months leading up to these murders," Roe said. "But the more important thing is how much his family, in responding to him via text message, had faith in this alarm system in challenging his statements that he didn’t leave the house at night. I think that’s a critical fact that we all know has been central to these trials as we’ve gone on.”
The defense countered, saying the prosecution was only showing "bad" texts. They showed dozens of pages of text messages showing that Armstrong Jr. was praised when he got good grades and they had numerous messages of "banter" between each other.
Harris County Criminal Law Hearing Officer Blanca Villagomez also testified Tuesday. She read Armstrong Jr. his Miranda rights after his parents were killed. She testified about the encounter and they also played an audio recording of AJ acknowledging that he understood his rights at the time. He also asked about his dad's condition during that meeting.
You won't see video from inside the courtroom this time around because Judge Kelly Johnson is trying to limit publicity for the high-profile case after the first two trials ended in mistrials. No cameras, laptops or cell phones are allowed in the courtroom.
If convicted this time around, Armstrong would face a sentence of life in prison and would be eligible for parole after 40 years.
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- Pretrial story: AJ Armstrong's third capital murder trial to begin Monday
Below is the background of the case and reports from the first two mistrials.
2016 killings
On July 29, 2016, investigators said they believe Antonio Armstrong Jr. shot his parents at close range while they slept inside the Bellaire-area home.
Harris County prosecutor John Brewer said Armstrong Jr. called 911 at 1:40 a.m. and told dispatchers he heard gunshots coming from his parent's room.
Armstrong Jr. blamed a masked intruder, but investigators said they found no evidence of forced entry into the house.
According to authorities, Dawn Armstrong was shot twice in her head and Armstrong Sr. was shot once. They said both had pillows over their heads. Dawn Armstrong was pronounced dead at the scene while Armstrong Sr. was taken to a hospital where he later died. Both were 42.
Houston Police Sgt. J.P. Horelica said after discovering there was no forced entry and a bullet hole in the ceiling of the Armstrongs' bedroom, the focus shifted to Armstrong Jr. as a suspect. Brewer said a .22-caliber pistol was found on the kitchen counter along with a note. Also, Brewer said an upstairs motion detector caught movement at 1:09 a.m. Brewer said police found three shell casings in the master bedroom.
“The alarm tells us more than just the killer came from inside the house. The alarm tells us that the killer came from upstairs,” Brewer said when KHOU 11 News covered the story in 2019.
Armstrong Sr. was a motivational speaker. He and his wife owned 1st Class Training in Bellaire. Armstrong Sr. played football for Texas A&M and the Miami Dolphins and coached both of his sons when they were younger. Antonio Sr. was also an associate pastor, according to police. Dawn Armstrong's Facebook page said they "serve in ministry together."
The defense
Armstrong Jr.'s lawyers said there was no blood, DNA, fingerprints or gunshot residue linking their client to the shootings.
“Where are the wet towels, the wet sinks, the wet showers, anything that would show that somebody cleaned themselves off or tried to hide evidence? It’s not there,” defense attorney Chris Collings said.
They also accused police of failing to consider other possible suspects.
“Within 11 minutes of going into that house, before any evidence was processed, before they knew anything about the crime scene as far as forensics, before anything, they made up their mind he did it," defense attorney Rick Detoto said.
Armstrong Jr.'s defense also cast suspicion on his older brother, who lived nearby, had access codes to the home and suffered from mental illness.
Second trial
A judge declared a mistrial in the second capital murder trial of Antonio "AJ" Armstrong Jr. in October 2022 after jurors deliberated for nearly 18 hours but couldn't agree on a unanimous verdict.
Defense attorneys said then that eight jurors believed Armstrong Jr. was innocent and four thought he was guilty. In his first trial, it was the other way around with eight jurors believing he was guilty.
"It's been six years, it's been two trials, it's been 40 to 50 witnesses, it's been probably millions of dollars in expenses by the district attorney's office. It's time to let this young man go," Collings said at the time.
"We followed the evidence and stood up for Antonio Armstrong Sr. and Dawn Armstrong, who were murdered in their bed,” Harris County DA Kim Ogg said. “We appreciate the time, effort and diligence of jurors as they were presented all the evidence in this brutal attack.”
KHOU 11 spoke with a juror in the second trial who didn't want to be identified. They said doubt created by the defense led to a hung jury.
“It just got to the point where I couldn’t even talk anymore," the juror said. "Everyone kind of had their mind made up, but it was very frustrating to hear everyone say, and I mean everyone, say, 'We know he’s not innocent but we still have doubt.'”
First trial
Armstrong Jr.'s first murder trial began on April 2, 2019. He was tried as an adult and faced life in prison if found guilty. Due to Armstrong Jr.'s age at the time of the crime, a conviction would mean automatic life in prison with a minimum of 40 years to be eligible for parole.
During the first trial, Armstrong Jr. entered a not-guilty plea before opening statements. The initial trial ended in a mistrial on April 26, 2019, when jurors weren't able to reach a unanimous decision in the case.