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AJ Armstrong's third murder trial now underway
FOX 26 Reporter Damali Keith has more on what was said during the first day of the trial.
HOUSTON - Testimony is now underway in the third murder trial for Antonio Armstrong Junior, who is charged with murdering his parents. Saturday was the seventh anniversary of the day Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Senior were shot to death inside their Bellaire home.
This third trial was supposed to start in early June but the Friday before, two spots of Antonio Senior’s blood were found under the HPD visitor sticker that had been placed on AJ Armstrong’s shirt while he was handcuffed, and it was still on the shirt seven years later in the evidence room. Defense Attorney Rick Detoto says the dried blood is likely there seven years later as a result of cross contamination.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: AJ Armstrong Jr.'s third capital murder trial to begin on Monday after 2 delays
Both sides talked about the blood evidence and much more in opening statements.
"Text messages will be a window into their lives," Prosecutor John Jordan told jurors. According to Jordan, Antonio Armstrong Jr. used his dad’s gun to kill his parents in 2016 when he was 16-years-old.
Jordan says Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr. were parents at their wits end dealing with a kid who was "lying and scheming". Jordan also told jurors AJ’s mom even told him in a text message after he snuck out of the house in April, "AJ, the alarm doesn’t lie, you lie."
Defense Attorney Rick Detoto put a cardboard cutout of a man on the witness stand and said to jurors, "I want you to think of the alarm system as a star witness. If the alarm system didn’t tell you the truth, what would your opinion be?"
Detoto says there were 77 errors in the alarm system record the month the Armstrong's were killed.
Prosecutors point to a timeline saying cell phone and home alarm records show AJ is the killer. Jordan told jurors after being on his phone non-stop for hours, AJ’s phone activity stopped that early morning at 1:02 am. At 1:08, the phone is unplugged and for several minutes, the phone is lighting up as if the screen is being used to light the way through a dark house.
At 1:09 a.m., the second floor alarm sensor is activated outside AJ’s parents bedroom. At 1:25, the first floor alarm sensor is set off. The first floor is where the murder weapon was found in the kitchen. 15 minutes later, at 1:40 a.m., AJ calls 911.
Prosecutors say AJ never mentions an intruder in the 16-minute phone call with 911, but later he tells investigators he saw, and was just about three feet away from a masked man who was leaving his parents bedroom.
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Defense attorneys are again pointing the finger at AJ’s older brother who suffers mental illness, saying Josh had access to the house. Detoto told jurors, "AJ lied to his parents about going to see his girlfriend. He lied to his parents about grades. That’s what they have. That’s all they have."
The defense wrapped up opening statements in this third trial with, "Antonio Armstrong Jr. is not guilty. Only you can stop it."
Prosecutors ended with these words, "At the conclusion of this trial, you may not know why the defendant killed his parents, but you will know beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it."
Two days before Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr. were killed, prosecutors say AJ put gasoline in a rubbing alcohol bottle, poured it on the carpet on the second floor, set it in on fire with his parents in the house and he left. Prosecutors say if the home had gone up in flames, the fire would have blocked the parents exit out of the house. AJ was grounded and got his phone taken away.
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The next day, Jordan says AJ searched on his iPad ‘how to detonate a car bomb’, and the following day, the parents were shot to death as they slept in their bed.
Investigators say all of the windows and doors were locked at the home. There was no forced entry and the alarm wasn’t turned off until AJ is heard on the 911 call waking up his sister in her second floor room, and he goes to the alarm keypad to deactivate it. He leaves the house with his sister to meet police out front and never goes to check on his parents.
Testimony got underway with two Houston Police Department officers testifying they were the first to arrive at the double murder, and they say AJ didn’t display any emotion.