GUILTY TX - Athena Strand, 8, Abducted & Murdered by FedEx Contract Driver, Tanner Horner, Paradise, 30 November 2022 #2

[Megnut]

This witness made a career-ending decision involving photographing evidence (letting an intern do it, then initially lying about it).

She is not on trial.

TH is.

He made a life-ending decision, murdering a child.

Which he has pleaded guilty to.

The evidence supports that.

So WTH is the Defense doing?

I knew they would but....

 

[tlcya]

Defense is asking general questions about evidence collection and cross contamination in an effort IMO to suggest the tech may have inadvertently contaminated evidence in Horner's case. Witness is calm and answering her questions with yes' ma'am. Her face is red, you can see she is not comfortable with this but was likely prepped and expected it. She is maintaining her calm demeanor despite the subtle insinuations behind these questions.

 

[tlcya]

This witness made a career-ending decision involving photographing evidence (letting an intern do it, then initially lying about it).

She is not on trial.

TH is.

He made a life-ending decision, murdering a child.

Which he has pleaded guilty to.

The evidence supports that.

So WTH is the Defense doing?

I knew they would but....

what little they can to keep their client alive MOO

 

[tlcya]

defense is suggesting that nobody seized the package Horner delivered on the day it was discovered and photographed. The witness was not tasked with collecting it and she has no knowledge of who collected it or when.

The inference being set forth is that the package is contaminated due to some delay in it being taken into evidence. State will clean it up I am sure.

ETA not sure where she is going with this. It is not disputed that the package was delivered on the day of the abduction and it was delivered by their client. I haven't heard of any evidence of the murder being found on it.

 

[joe jones]

it seems they didn't collect Walmart box of Barbies on day Athena was abducted, it was brought to Sheriffs office a week or so after,

 

[joe jones]

This witness made a career-ending decision involving photographing evidence (letting an intern do it, then initially lying about it).

She is not on trial.

TH is.

He made a life-ending decision, murdering a child.

Which he has pleaded guilty to.

The evidence supports that.

So WTH is the Defense doing?

I knew they would but....

this is what a good defense atty should be doing, but I don't understand why this is relevant as he has pled guilty

 

[Tealgrove]

I see the DP coming. He deserves it.

MOO

 

[browneyes]

The murderer pled guilty. I don’t understand how nitpicking over details of evidence collection is going to make one bit of difference. IMO

 

[Megnut]

The State should object to the Defense asking this witness questions about photographs of other investigstor's actions.

She wasn't there.

 

[Spectrix]

Could someone please clarify for me, did this rotten excuse for a human actually show the police where he took Athena's body in the end, or did the police find it from cellphone data? Or... both?

 

[tlcya]

Could someone please clarify for me, did this rotten excuse for a human actually show the police where he took Athena's body in the end, or did the police find it from cellphone data? Or... both?

I believe his cell phone and the truck data led them to the body of water he disposed of Athena in.

 

[Megnut]

Could someone please clarify for me, did this rotten excuse for a human actually show the police where he took Athena's body in the end, or did the police find it from cellphone data? Or... both?

Digital forensics alone iirc.

 

[Megnut]

Court is in recess for lunch, 1 hour.

 

[gucci2times]

Local news here is reporting that the audio of Athena in the van won’t be heard by the public.
Also, pictures of her body at recovery site won’t be shown except to the jury.

I figured this would be the case

 

[tlcya]

The State should object to the Defense asking this witness questions about photographs of other investigstor's actions.

She wasn't there.

but how else will the defense testify?

 

[RaspberryMama]

I am so relieved that the audio of her final hour and post-mortem photos won’t be heard / shown publicly. The thought of some pervert using her all over again makes me absolutely rage-filled. I’m also glad it sounds like her family won’t be exposed to all of it. They are already carrying enough pain with them for the rest of their lives.

But, oh, the poor jury!!

 

[gucci2times]

Unpopular opinion but I found his interview jabbering yesterday really interesting (I’m a shrink lol). Someone’s psychosocial history and narrative reveal a lot about them. This is somebody who plays the victim, takes zero responsibility (no pun intended!!), has little empathy for others and struggles with feelings of inadequacy. This is the psyche of someone who would prey on children. I am curious to hear how other people in his life describe/perceive him prior to these events.

Beyond the circumstances of the crime and strength of evidence (and guilty plea), after learning more about him, I am rooting even harder for the death verdict. What a sicko loser.

 

[scottishgal]

Defense is asking general questions about evidence collection and cross contamination in an effort IMO to suggest the tech may have inadvertently contaminated evidence in Horner's case. Witness is calm and answering her questions with yes' ma'am. Her face is red, you can see she is not comfortable with this but was likely prepped and expected it. She is maintaining her calm demeanor despite the subtle insinuations behind these questions.

Struggling to understand the point though of defense cross exam etc, when he already pleaded guilty?

I can understand audio being played for jury etc to put DP on table, and defense drawing it out on trying to establish sympathy for TH's childhood yada yada

But why are they going through each and every step like evidence collection ....

Why is it that the 'alter egos' of these killers are never do-gooders ?

 

[scottishgal]

Unpopular opinion but I found his interview jabbering yesterday really interesting (I’m a shrink lol). Someone’s psychosocial history and narrative reveal a lot about them. This is somebody who plays the victim, takes zero responsibility (no pun intended!!), has little empathy for others and struggles with feelings of inadequacy. This is the psyche of someone who would prey on children. I am curious to hear how other people in his life describe/perceive him prior to these events.

Beyond the circumstances of the crime and strength of evidence (and guilty plea), after learning more about him, I am rooting even harder for the death verdict. What a sicko loser.

Agree all this makes me want the DP more than cold silence would have .....He is desperate to live and yet denied this baby her life.....

 

[scottishgal]

I like to think of myself as a non violent person, but the thought of my kid at 7, or any kid at 7 , being taken fills me with a more than human rage at the offender....