GUILTY TX - Gatlin, 2, & Luke Armandariz, 8 mos, strangled, Young County, 13 April 2011

[OkieGranny]

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article5953281.html

Jury selection begins this week for a Graham man accused of killing his two young sons and sending photos of the dead children to their mother...

After a series of legal maneuverings, the trial was moved from Young County to Tarrant County. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday with the trial set for Feb. 16.

The state is seeking the death penalty in the case, which is being prosecuted by Lisa Tanner and Tom Cloudt, assistant attorneys in the Texas attorney general’s office.

 

[MamaJoJo]

The chilling text messages a young father sent to his ex before allegedly murdering their two young children were revealed in court on Friday.

<snip>

'I commend the spirits of these two boys to the Lord. I would much rather be with them than to be out partying with friends,' wrote Armandariz to his ex, Lauren Smith, just hours before the boys are believed to have died.

<snip>

On the day the boys died, Armandariz also sent a photo to Smith that appeared to show Luke dead and dangling from the closet with rope around his neck.
This was followed by the final text, which also showed both boys alive and lying next to him, and read; 'We love u, goodbye.'

<snip>

Prosecutors claim that Armandariz strangled both boys with handle of a cloth grocery back before putting their bodies in a pillowcase that he then wrapped in a tarp and shoved into the crawl space.

Armandariz's bizarre 911 call shortly after he killed the boys was also played for the jury this week, in which he told the operator; 'My girlfriend asked me to kill my babies. What was I supposed to do? My girlfriend told me to kill both of them. What was I supposed to do? I hate her, I hate her, I hate her so much. I&#8217;m so scared now.'

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...OURS-strangled-two-boys-death-sent-photo.html

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article10760954.html

Text messages exchanged between a Young County man and the mother of the boys he is accused of killing show the hatred and distrust the parents had for each other, according to testimony Friday in the man&#8217;s capital murder trial...

Texts sent to Armandariz&#8217;s phone by Smith suggest that she believed she was talking to a woman whom Armandariz was with while he cared for their sons, prosecutor Lisa Tanner said. Tanner allowed for the possibility that Smith was fooled, explaining that it was impossible to positively identify the person receiving her texts.

One of the texts read: &#8220;If I were you I&#8217;d get the hell away from him. Looks can be deceiving.&#8221; Another text said: &#8220;Gabriel knows everything. When you think he&#8217;s not watching he is. When you are through playing house let me know.&#8221;

 

[giagreen]

So the mother left the guy 2 months ago because he was abusive; and left the babies in his custody, because as we all know violent crazy males are perfectly safe around small defenseless children. He sends photos of the dead kids with messages via cell phone...and then proceeds to hide the bodies under the house in order to avoid prosecution.

This one has "insanity defense" written all over it and justifiably so! If he was abusing her and she had to flee why didn't she take her babies? Or get hurt/shot while attempting to retrieve her babies? And then he calls and makes weird death threats, followed by sending pictures of the dead kids and she runs to work to tell her coworkers.

Yes. Perfectly reasonable.

I agree. I was in an abusive relationship and he is the father of our son. I left him 9 months ago.....AND OVER MY DEAD BODY WOULD I HAVE LEFT MY SON. NEVER. When I left WE left.
Mothers need to start being charged for putting their children in harms way.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.texomashomepage.com/stor...w-pictures-and-m/30584/CUWDis9U606dcGieaEOXOg

The prosecution reviewed a timeline of text and picture messages sent between Armandariz and Lauren Smith, the boys' mother, on April 12th and 13th.

Ranger Corey Lain says the morning of the murder, Armandariz made more than eighty attempts to contact Smith including pictures of the boys, as well as picture of his own genitals, but Lain testified Smith made no attempts to contact him.

Prosecutors say after Armandariz sent two pictures of Luke hanging from his neck around 4:30 p.m., Smith made several attempts to call Armandariz.

Prosecutors also introduced a green strap they say was used to kill both boys.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.texomashomepage.com/Stor...f-capital-murder/30584/CUWDis9U606dcGieaEOXOg

It took the jury less than an hour to reach their guilty verdict but the defense says they expect to show what really led Armandariz to kill his kids during the punishment phase...

The punishment phase of the Gabriel Armandariz capital murder trial is set to start on Monday at 8:30...

The ex-boyfriend of the mother whose two boys were killed in Graham in April 2011 testified Friday morning about a text message he exchanged with Armandariz on the day of the boys' deaths. Larremore says he hated Armandariz from day one and they would frequently exchange insulting text messages... He says he texted Armandariz that Gatlin and Luke were his kids and that he was going to take them away and rename them Larremore. He says around 2 p.m. Armandariz texted him, "I win."

 

[MamaJoJo]

http://www.texomashomepage.com/Stor...f-capital-murder/30584/CUWDis9U606dcGieaEOXOg

Oh, my! That's SOOOOO awful. So, so, so awful.

 

[Elizabella]

This case is beyond horrific...

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article13930643.html

After convicting Armandariz on Feb. 27, the Tarrant County jury had two sentencing options and, on Thursday, the nine women and three men chose life without the possibility of parole instead of sending him to Death Row.

 

[Elizabella]

I guess they pitied him for some reason. Or thought he should live out his life knowing what he had done.