Horner's Punishment Trial: Justice for Athena

0:00Tanner Horner, the former delivery driver, who killed seven-year-old Athena Strand back in 2022, pleaded guilty to Capitol murder and aggravated kidnapping this week. Now, the jury is deciding his punishment, either death or life without parole. The trials' punishment phase kicked off Tuesday and keeps rolling Wednesday morning and for worth. Horner was dropping off a Christmas package at Athena's home on November 30th when he grabbed her, put her in his van, and strangled her. He first claimed he hit her by accident with his truck, panicked, and then killed her. But evidence like dashcam video shows her alive inside the van, blowing up his story. Folks close to Athena, her teacher, stepmom, and law enforcement took the stand, Tuesday. They shared how there was zero reason for her to be in that truck. Defense lawyers pushed back, talking about his assburgers, moms drinking during pregnancy, heat exposure, and possible brain damage to argue against. Execution.

1:00Wednesday brought more testimony, like from Texas Ranger Joe Espinoza, who grilled Horner right after arrest. Horner lied about Athena being alive and led searchers to a spot where her body wasn't even at first. The judge also okayed redacting graphic video of her body before showing it to jurors. As this heart-wrenching case wraps his testimony, the focus stays on justice for Athena, whose story even sparked Texas's new Athena alert to speed up. Missing kid searches. That's the story for today. Tampa Bay News Today, driven by AI, I'm Cory with the story.