Antonio Armstrong Jr. back in court after mistrial
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Antonio Armstrong, Jr. will be heading back to trial October 4, 2019.
The new date was set this morning for the 19 year old accused of killing his parents in their Bellaire home three years ago.
A mistrial was declared in his first double murder trial nearly a month ago.
The fate of Armstrong Jr. has been up in the air for three years now, and it's up to a judge today to determine whether or not a new trial will be held in downtown Houston.
We're told that back in April, five men and seven women were on the jury and they were deadlocked for some time trying to determine whether or not Armstrong Jr. shot and killed his parents. On that night in July 2016, Dawn and Antonio Sr. were asleep in bed when someone shot them.
RELATED: Judge declares mistrial in Armstrong Jr. case
During the deliberations, jurors asked to see the note at the scene, alarm records and thousands of text messages sent between family members. One thing to note in the case was the alarm system showed no one went inside or left at the time the murders were committed. However, defense attorneys argue the alarm system didn't always work, and they also stated that Armstrong Jr.’s older brother Josh had a history of mental health issues.
RELATED: Deliberations in Antonio Armstrong Jr. murder trial
FOX 26 legal analyst Chris Tritico says the district attorney really has three options here. They can choose to retry this case, work out some sort of plea bargain or let it go.
We asked him who the trial really benefits.
“The trial strategy changes. You don't know who it benefits until you get in the middle of it because you don't know which witness is going to mess up the most," Tritico says. "You don't know if a prosecution witness is going to make that huge error or the defense witness. When you make that big mistake and somebody gets to pounce on it and make those big impeachment points, that's the big turning point in the trial. We don't know who's going to make that mistake.”
Tritico also mentioned it's hard to convict somebody with just circumstantial evidence, and that the DA’s Office can try this case as many times as they like until they reach a verdict.