HOUSTON – The teenager accused of killing his father and mother is facing his third jury trial.
Antonio Armstrong Jr. maintains his innocence seven years after the killings. His case is expected to begin with a seated jury on June 5.
On Monday, before court began, Armstrong sat behind his grandparents on the right side of the courtroom. Both of his grandparents have been with him during each step of the trials.
The first two murder trials ended with a hung jury.
With the start of a new Voir Dire process, prosecutors and defense attorneys will take the month of May to sit a jury. Each juror will go through individual questioning during the process.
Both teams of attorneys reorganized their perspective areas to face the jurors.
Seventy-four potential jurors came to the 178th courtroom on Monday. Under oath, the jury pool shared they didn’t know any of the attorneys involved in the trial or who Antonio Armstrong was.
After hearing the indictment, 24 members of the jury pool told the court they had heard of Armstrong’s case through the news.
The Voir Dire process is more of a process of elimination. The prosecution and defense both have an opportunity to deselect jurors for a variety of reasons.
Knowing about the trial may be one of those reasons. Three of the potential jurors shared they learned of the case through the media.
One of the jurors shared they found out about the trial because of a news headline Friday. Another perspective juror told the court, “I’ve read too much about it,” and “I have an opinion.”
The third juror told the room, “It’s come around so many times.” When Judge Kelli Johnson asked if they could be impartial, she replied, “No.”
Bias may be another reason for deselection.
One of the jurors shared, “Walking into this room, I definitely had an opinion.”
While some jurors may get stricken at the end of each day, the final strikes for a jury will occur at the end of Voir Dire.
KPRC 2 Investigates shows you how important jury selection can be during its innovative and in-depth approach to covering the third trial of Antonio Armstrong on ‘The Bench.’ Tune in to the show for insider knowledge of the trial as KPRC 2′s legal experts weigh in.
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