Trial to stay in Harris County
Agreement on jury selection reached in Armstrong capital murder case
The third attempt to try Antonio Armstrong Jr. on a capital murder charge will remain in Harris County after a lastminute agreement to conduct a lengthier, more thorough jury selection, effectively avoiding a hearing that could have shuffled the trial to another county.
As a courtroom packed with Armstrong supporters watched, Judge Kelli Johnson signed off on a motion by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office — filed 15 minutes before the hearing was expected to start — to interview prospective jurors individually, rather than in large groups. The defense agreed with the motion.
Jury selection will start in February and take about six weeks, the judge said.
The alternative was for both sides to argue whether the trial should move elsewhere in Texas after two failed attempts by jurors in 2019 and 2022 to reach a verdict. Johnson requested the hearing, an unusual move for a jurist to make in a case. Defense attorneys usually request a change of venue, believing their client cannot receive a fair trial because of pretrial publicity, and their motion is almost always denied.
The same judge refused in 2018 to move the high-profile trials of a Harris County sheriff’s deputy and her husband charged in a chokehold death, saying then that the county is home to more than 2 million prospective jurors and that a fair and impartial jury could certainly be found.
Vivian King, chief of staff to District Attorney Kim Ogg, said changing venues for a trial is an “extreme decision.” It’s cheaper and easier to allow both sides to question prospective jurors individually.
“It would have been a lot of logistics involving using someone else’s courtroom in another county, where they can’t use their own courtroom, and the expense of having to move,” King said.
Lawyers for both sides and the judge would be required to work out of that county for the length of the trial had it moved.
Unlike most requests to change the venue, Armstrong’s lawyer, Rick DeToto, did not originate it, and he opposed the move. He appeared poised to go to great lengths to convince the court Monday that the trial should remain in Houston.
Court records indicate he issued subpoenas to multiple local lawmakers and officials to come to court and take the witness stand. The Harris County Attorney’s Office moved to quash the subpoenas for County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Rodney Ellis, and District Clerk Marilyn Burgess. The city, meanwhile, moved to quash another subpoena aimed at beckoning Mayor Sylvester Turner to court.
The judge released the officials from the subpoenas after deciding that Armstrong’s trial will remain local.
DeToto declined to comment on the judge’s decision as he left court.
The decision to keep DeToto client’s case in Houston comes amid increasing attention on the years-old case.
Outside the courtroom, someone recently attached a large banner to the Southwest Freeway bridges in Montrose demanding that Armstrong’s capital murder charges be dropped. The locale is a common spot for protesters to share their message with the thousands of motorists stuck in traffic there each day.
A QR code on the sign linked to a website urging supporters of Armstrong to pack the courtroom Monday and buy clothing labeled “Free AJ” to benefit his legal costs.
Johnson cited several examples of the attention the case has caused, including the banner and several observers in the courtroom wearing the “Free AJ” clothing.
And in the hours before the hearing, Houston’s NAACP chapter held a news conference with faith leaders opposing the transfer of Armstrong’s trial to another county, fearing that it could end up somewhere with a less diverse population.
DeToto previously asked the judge to consider going forward with jury selection in February and to base her decision on how the prospective jurors respond when asked about their knowledge of the case. Several jurors in the last selection process said they knew of the Armstrong family and were aware of the killings.
The defense attorney cited findings from recent hearings on whether the trials for former Houston police officer Gerald Goines and Alex Guajardo, a man accused of killing his pregnant wife, should head to another county. The judges in those cases have not yet ruled, and prosecutors contend in both cases that Harris County is large and diverse enough to produce an impartial jury.
The last trial to involve individual interviews of prospective jurors took place last year in the death penalty case involving Robert Solis, who went on to be convicted in the death of a Harris County sheriff ’s deputy.