Week 3 of jury selection of AJ Armstrong trial starts as 7 potential jurors added to pool

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Monday begins week three of jury selection for A.J. Armstrong’s third capital murder trial. Seven of the nine potential jurors questioned were asked to return for final jury selection at the end of the month.

Those seven potential jurors include an Army veteran with an engineering background, a real estate agent from Spring, and a transportation manager who immigrated from Mexico as a child.

A few people admitted to hearing about the case previously, including a Marine Corps veteran who said he knew “it was getting retried again.” However, he said he didn’t know the details about the double murder.

Dawn and Antonio Sr. were shot to death in their southwest Houston home in July 2016. Armstrong, 16 years old at the time, was charged with capital murder.

The first two trials resulted in a hung jury.

A social worker questioned for more than 30 minutes told the court she had heard about the two previous mistrials from a national news program which “caused (her) to pause.” She added that she had “concern that there had been evidence not explored.” The woman was excused from serving on the jury.

Since jury selection started on May 1, 139 men and women have been summoned. Out of the 139, 53 people moved on to be questioned individually.

There is now a pool of 36 men and women who could be potential jurors. Judge Kelli Johnson says she would like that number closer to 50 people.

A third and final large panel of people will be summoned to the 178th Criminal District Court for questioning on Tuesday, May 16.

Another 65 potential jurors are expected to be questioned.

The final day of jury selection is set for May 31, with the trial slated to begin June 5.