It was a busy Wednesday as attorneys in the Antonio Armstrong Jr. case continue to find an unbiased jury.
One of the big topics potential jurors were questioned on revolves around their beliefs about the Houston Police Department.
One juror shared that they were beaten and had the family car stolen by two men. The juror told Prosecutor John Jordan that the police didn’t do much. Adding, “My opinion is they are understaffed, and it makes it challenging to do their job.”
Another juror received questioning about their father, who is a Lieutenant for the Houston Police Department SWAT team.
Defense attorney Rick Detoto asked if the juror could have a potential bias because of their father’s current position. The juror shared there was no bias there. The juror told the court, “Anything I do, I try to put everything into it.”
When asked about prior knowledge of the case, the juror said, “I have no prior knowledge of the case in any capacity.
The burden of proof was a critical line of questioning for four jurors on Wednesday.
Two of them shared the burden was higher for prosecutors to prove their case.
One of those jurors told Jordan, “State, I feel go off of primarily what they want.”
When Jordan asked about the defense team, the juror said, “They will fight for everything if their client is going to jail. They want everything they need.”
At the end of Jordan’s questioning, the juror told him they need to be 100 percent sure of the evidence in the case.
A third juror told Jordan, “I do want to know all the details. If you do not present them, I don’t know.”
The fourth juror explained, “I would expect there to be something other than circumstantial evidence.”
By the end of the day, four of the 10 jurors will come back to court for the final part of voir dire.
Of those four, one juror mentioned they saw some media coverage of the case.
“I remember the story of a young man killing Mom and Dad,” he told prosecutors.
The juror reassured the prosecutors the news clips were short, and they didn’t remember much else because they had other family obligations.
The four jurors selected today will join 20 other jurors on May 31. That is the day the attorneys and the court will discuss the final strikes of jurors before heading into trial on June 5.
SEE MORE:
Antonio Armstrong Jr. trial heads into second week of jury selection