Monday, March 2nd:
*Motions Hearing (@ 9am CT) – TX – Antonio & Dawn Armstrong (both 42) (July 29, 2016, Houston) – Antonio “A.J.” Armstrong, Jr. (20/16 @ time of crime) arrested (7/29/16), charged (8/1/16) & arraigned (7/26/17) with capital murder. Plead not guilty. $200K bond. Out on bond.
Trial started 4/2/19 & ended 4/26/19. 7 women & 5 men on jury with 1 woman alternate (Juror #12 excused 4/5/19). 4/26/19: after 20 hours of deliberations verdict was 8 Guilty & 4 Not guilty. Judge declares mistrial.
Re-trial was set to begin on 1/6/20-cancelled-pushed back to 3/26/20.
12/11/19 Update: A defense motion was filed to suppress all of A.J.'s cell phone records. Paperwork filed by the defense Friday claims evidence was lost during the first trial back in April (because prosecutors lost Armstrong's cell phone). A judge is expected to review that request next week. The retrial is set to start Monday, Jan. 6. A hearing for the motions regarding the cell phone records will happen on Friday, Jan. 3.
1/3/20 Update: Judge Kelli Johnson told prosecutors & defense attorneys they are not to discuss this latest motion with media. Trial has been pushed back 4 to 6 weeks, according to a prosecutor. The retrial was supposed to begin Monday, Jan. 6. The judge has not set an exact date. The motion was whether future jurors will see thousands of text messages extracted from Armstrong's iPhone. Because prosecutors lost Armstrong's iPhone at the end of his first trial, all records extracted from the phone should now be suppressed. The attorney for Armstrong filed a motion in December asking for Armstrong's phone records to not be allowed into evidence for the retrial. Next is motions hearing on 3/2, trial reset for 3/26/20.