A former FedEx driver has been sentenced to loss of life after pleading responsible to the 2022 kidnapping and homicide of a 7-year-old woman in Texas, a case that deeply shocked the area people and drew widespread consideration throughout the trial.
Tanner Horner, 34, was convicted in reference to the killing of Athena Strand who disappeared from her house within the rural city of Paradise, close to Fort Value, whereas a supply was being made across the Christmas interval. Her physique was later recovered two days after she was reported lacking.
The sentencing section in Fort Value adopted almost a month of testimony and evidentiary proceedings, throughout which jurors reviewed in depth materials introduced by prosecutors and protection attorneys.
This included audio and video proof recovered from inside Horner’s supply van which prosecutors stated performed a major function in reconstructing the occasions main as much as the kid’s loss of life.
Horner had entered a responsible plea to capital homicide shortly earlier than the trial formally started, successfully admitting accountability for the offense. Regardless of this, the court docket proceeded with the sentencing section to find out whether or not he would obtain the loss of life penalty or life imprisonment with out parole.
Throughout the proceedings, prosecutors argued that Horner had offered a number of inconsistent and false statements to investigators, trying to misrepresent the circumstances of the crime. They maintained that the proof demonstrated deliberate actions and argued that he posed a seamless risk to public security.
Jurors had been introduced with recorded materials from contained in the car, which prosecutors described as central to understanding the timeline of occasions. A number of jurors had been visibly emotional throughout the presentation of this proof, in keeping with courtroom accounts.
A medical expert testified that Athena Strand’s reason behind loss of life was in step with blunt drive trauma, mixed with smothering and strangulation.
In distinction, the protection acknowledged the seriousness and overwhelming nature of the proof however urged the jury to contemplate mitigating components in sentencing.
Horner’s legal professional argued that he had a historical past of neurological and psychological well being situations, together with autism, and advised that environmental components, together with alleged publicity to steer throughout childhood, might have impacted his improvement.
The protection requested that the court docket impose a sentence of life imprisonment with out parole as a substitute of the loss of life penalty.
The jury finally decided that Horner represented a seamless hazard to society and concluded that there have been no adequate mitigating circumstances to justify a lesser sentence.
The case was initially set to be heard in Clever County however was later relocated to Fort Value after protection attorneys raised issues relating to the power to safe a good trial within the preliminary venue.
In keeping with statements from the sufferer’s household, the package deal delivered by Horner to their house contained a Christmas present meant for Athena.
