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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — After six days of jury selection in the A.J. Armstrong capital murder trial, 20 men and women have passed through in-depth one-on-one questioning and could sit on the jury that decides if Armstrong will go to prison for the rest of his life with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
On Monday, three people were chosen to return to the final jury selection on May 31. The panel initially started with 74 people.
The three people include a 59-year-old father and husband from Katy who told prosecutors he’s comfortable with the idea of Armstrong being tried as an adult. However, he was 16 years old when investigators say he murdered his parents, Dawn and Antonio Sr., in July 2016.
Another potential juror asked to return is an army veteran and first-generation Korean immigrant who moved to Texas from California. He told the state and Armstrong’s attorneys he had no prior knowledge of the Armstrong case.
A TV news journalist could also be on the jury. She says she doesn’t know anything about the murders, despite working in a newsroom, but did acknowledge knowing there had been two prior trials.
On Tuesday, another large group of potential jurors will appear at Judge Kelli Johnson’s court, and the process begins again.
The men and women chosen from the second group will be questioned individually, for one hour each, throughout the remainder of the week, then merge with the 20 people selected from group one. Armstrong’s attorneys and prosecutors will pick their jury at the end of the month.
Armstrong’s third capital murder trial is set to start on June 5. His first two trials happened in March 2019 and October 2022, ending in hung juries.