Death penalty is focus in jury selection for Athena Strand’s accused killer
.jpeg "Athena Strand, 7, was found dead on Dec. 2, 2022, after authorities say she was kidnapped outside her Wise County, Texas, home by a FedEx contract driver. Defendant Tanner Horner appeared in court in Fort Worht on Tuesday, Feb. 10, as the jury selection process continues in his capital murder trial.")
Tanner Horner, the FedEx driver accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old North Texas girl Athena Strand, appeared in a Tarrant County criminal court Tuesday as the jury selection process continues for his upcoming capital murder trial.
Horner’s attorneys and a team of prosecutors with the Wise County District Attorney’s Office conducted one-on-one interviews with prospective jurors on their fitness to serve.
“There are no wrong answers, only honest ones,” defense attorney Susan Anderson told one of the potential jurors.
About 57 individuals out of a pool of 300 were omitted Jan. 29 after indicating they’d already made up their minds about Horner’s innocence or guilt. The 243 who made the cut filled out an 18-page questionnaire, which attorneys used Tuesday as the basis for their examination.
Horner, 34, faces a death sentence or life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder in Athena’s death. Several of the attorneys’ questions for the prospective jurors centered on their thoughts about the death penalty.
This phase of the selection process is expected to take several days. Presiding Judge George Gallagher said they will narrow down the jury pool to around 55 people, who will return March 31 for the final selection.
Horner, a FedEx contract driver, delivered a Christmas gift of Barbies intended for Athena to her father’s home near the Wise County town of Paradise on Nov. 30, 2022. The 7-year-old went missing at the time of the delivery. Her body was found two days later at a site along the Trinity River, less than 10 miles from the house.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Horner confessed to authorities and said that he backed into Athena with his FedEx truck. She wasn’t seriously hurt, but he kidnapped her, strangled her and killed her so she couldn’t tell her father about the accident, he told investigators.
Horner’s attorneys have argued the defendant shouldn’t face the death penalty if it can be proved he has autism spectrum disorder, saying the condition would reduce his moral culpability. Gallagher denied the defense’s motion to remove the death penalty as a sentencing option at a Jan. 21 pre-trial hearing.
Horner is in the Tarrant County Jail while awaiting trial. The case was originally set in Wise County but later moved to Tarrant County after defense attorneys expressed their concern the defendant wouldn’t receive a fair trial there.
The trial is scheduled to begin April 7 in the 297th District Court.
