411 with breaking news.
AJ Armstrong guilty of capital murder.
The judge announcing the
verdict just minutes ago
and here's how it happened.
Cause number
1546111, The State of Texas
versus Antonio Armstrong Jr.
We, the jury, find the
defendant Antonio Armstrong Jr.
guilty of capital murder as
charged in the indictment.
Signed a four person of the jur.
Thanks for joining us.
Joining you on air with breaking
news from the AJ Armstrong tria.
As you heard, a jury has reached that
verdict finding AJ Armstrong guilty of
murdering his parents while they slept
in their home back in July of 2.
As you may know, this was the
third trial for the 23 year old,
the previous two ending in hung juries.
Armstrong was 16 years old when
the murders took place. All rig,
let's send it over to Grace Whi.
She joins us live from the
courthouse right now. Hey Grace.
I was inside the courtroom just
moments ago when that verdict was read.
It was 335 to be exact.
Remember, this is a J
Armstrong's third murder trial.
The jury has been deliberating
this case since Tuesday.
We counted about 10 1/2 hours
of deliberations.
The courtroom was crowded here
this afternoon and a J Armstrons
wife could be heard audibly
crying as this verdict was read.
The judge in this case read a
J Armstrong sentence That will
be 40 years in prison and after
that he is eligible for parole.
We're expecting the Armstrong fy
to speak and also prosecutors in
this case in just a few minutes.
All right. Thank you so much,
Grace White. There are so many
crews out there covering this hh
profile case, a case that we've
been watching for seven years n.
Yeah. AJ Armstrong sentenced to
life in prison with the possibiy
of parole after 40 years.
That was an automatic sentence r
him since Armstrong was 16 years
old at the time of those crimes.
And. And and this just happened today.
You have to bring up the news from yesterday,
which was this illegal bombshel,
if you will, which is AJ
Armstrong's team suing the city
because of this blood evidence.
It was admitted in this trial.
They're saying it was
planted on A J Armstrong.
But of course the jury did not t
to hear that they were sequested
and did not hear the news of tht
lawsuit that was filed against
the city on behalf of Armstrong.
But as we saw in the courtroom,
A J Armstrong was sentenced,
showing no emotion. But we did e
our reporters in the courtroom,
like our Grace White and Adam Bennett,
who did say that his wife was
seen crying in the courtroom.
Also that she is the mother of his child.
Of course, first two trials
ended in mistrials.
So this is obviously very
emotional the third time around,
as we saw a lot of his family
rallying and supporting him durg
this trial. All right,
I don't know if it's possible fr
us to go back to our reporter
outside the courtroom now.
Grace White. Hey, Grace,
can you hear us out there?
Can you describe the scene for ,
Ron? It is a very crowded.
It was a very crowded court and
it's a very crowded hallway.
If you take a look around,
you can see all of the people he
waiting for the Armstrong family to speak.
We're also told that the Harris
County District Attorney,
she was inside the courtroom
when that verdict was read.
We're expecting her and prosecus
to speak about this verdict
and this third trial for A J
Armstrong in just a few minutes.
Very crowded down here.
All right. Thank you so much, Gracie.
News conferences are expected ad
we are expected to hear from the
District Attorney Kim Aug did to
hear her her thoughts on all th.
Obviously a victory for the
district attorney's office.
Absolutely. This trial included0
hours of testimony they heard fm
some 31 witnesses over 11 days.
As we have been following this trial,
the closing arguments on both s,
very intense, talking about mountains
of evidence and we're talking about the
911 call issues with the alarm and the
records pertaining to the home alarm,
text messages, cell phone recor,
all of those things considered.
In this case though the prosecun
actually focused on three events
that happened before Antonio Ser
and Don Armstrong were killed.
And we'll have to see what
happens with this lawsuit now.
And we'll be talking to our our,
our legal expert Carmen Rowe a
little bit later this afternoon
to see if the the lawsuit that
was filed yesterday will have ay
impact on this case going forwad
because you know with with with
appeals likely there's video of.
Armstrong earlier this
week around the courtroom
and talking about the three points that
the prosecution pointed out in this case.
One was that Armstrong junior hd
actually shot his father's gun through
a pillow and a blanket with a bt
going through the floor of his bedroom.
That is a point that the prosecn
wanted to make to the jury.
Another one was that about two s
before the deaths of his parent,
he had poured gasoline into
a bottle of rubbing alcohol,
bottle of rubbing alcohol and tn
set fire outside his parents bedroom.
And a third thing that was brout
up of note was the alarm record,
which was a point in in the first two
trials about alarm records proving the
victims and their two youngest children
were the only ones inside that .
So those were the three big pois
that the prosecution brought and
presented to the jury in this ce
and obviously evidence and and n
fact that weighed on the jury as
they came back with that guilty
sentence for Antonio Armstrong .
just moments ago.
And we're looking at video from I believe
earlier today or yesterday of oJ
Armstrong's family that supports him.
This was this morning actually talking
about the lawsuit against the City of
Houston saying that the the blood evidence
was was was planted and and and their
lawsuit against the City of Hou.
Be curious to see how that wille
affecting things in the future illegally.
For A J Armstrong you would think that
his his legal struggles are not over,
that his legal team might have
something to work with.
Absolutely. And of course the
you saw his supporters there.
This is a prosecutor in the courtroom
in video from I believe during closing
arguments and another prosecutor there.
But the defense and his supports
maintained and and said that Joh
Armstrong AG's brother may have
been responsible for the killins
sort of casting that doubt there
for the jury and noted the lackf
forensic evidence that could ple
AJ at the scene of the shooting.
And also said the blood from onf
the victims that was found undea
sticker on AJ shirt on the day of the
shooting was a result of cross contamination.
So obviously both sides fought very hard.
But the the jury had to weigh a lot before
coming back with that unanimous verdict
and that guilty verdict in this trial.
So if you're just joining
us the big news today,
AJ Armstrong guilty in the murds
of his parents seven years ago
the jury started deliberating.
Yesterday afternoon,
they resumed deliberations this
morning around 9:30 or 10:00,
and then probably about 30 or 45 minutes
ago announced that they had a verdict.
We gave you that verdict live on the air,
a guilty verdict.
There was no reaction from A J
Armstrong sitting in the courtr,
but obviously an emotional
day for his family. And we,
I think we mentioned earlier that his,
his wife was seen crying in the courtroom.
A J has since gotten married sie
this crime from 7 years ago.
Absolutely. So our lead story ty
in the third capital murder tril
for A J Armstrong found guilty f
murdering his parents back in 2.
We'll have much more on this
verdict and hopefully hearing fm
prosecutors and defense attornes
and others in a little bit.
But in the meantime, as we move,
we'll have more on our KHOU 11
app as well and on khou.com.