HOUSTON – Antonio Armstrong Jr. is still fighting for his innocence, three weeks after a jury found him guilty of murdering his parents while they slept in their southwest Houston home back in 2016.
Armstrong Jr., who is currently being housed at the Harris County Jail, has since been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
The now 23-year-old started the appeal process shortly after being sentenced and has since hired an attorney, Patrick McCann, to represent him.
McCann said he’s preparing to work with Armstrong’s original defense team to see if there are any grounds to file a motion for a new trial.
He has a September 15th deadline to do so. A criminal defendant’s team has 30 days from sentencing to file a motion for a new trial proving there was significant legal error made.
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“Motions for new trials are about things that are outside the record,” McCann said. “Everything from a witness that wasn’t allowed to appear to, or wasn’t able to appear, to evidence that may have been withheld that nobody knew about. It’s always a challenge given the short timeframe.”
KPRC 2′s legal analyst Brian Wice said winning on appeal is an uphill climb.
“To prevail on a motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence you have to show a number of things, none of which are easy,” Wice said. “You’ve got to show there’s evidence that’s not just newly available but that you didn’t know about at the time. You’ve got to show the evidence is relevant and material. But you’ve also got to show that all together, more likely than not, that newly discovered evidence would have brought on a different result.”
As McCann works through the appeals process, he’s hoping to keep Armstrong in Harris County.
“I’m hopeful he stays here both to help me with the massive amount of information I have to interpret and download. And also, so that he can fully be here without the hassle of a bench warrant for his return,” said McCann.
Wice said appeals take between a year and 18 months from sentencing.
Armstrong Jr. continues to have the support of his family throughout this process, with his grandmother telling KPRC 2 in an exclusive interview that her grandson was “not guilty.”
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