It has been one month since a jury found 23-year-old AJ Armstrong guilty of murdering his parents in their southwest Houston home in 2016. Now, the attorneys for the husband and father are looking to get him a fourth trial, according to court records.
This puts another segment into a seven-year saga as Armstrong went through two trials prior that resulted in hung juries.
Armstrong’s appellate attorney, Patrick McCann, filed the motion for the trial on Thursday, just one day shy of the 30-day deadline, adding a slew of mishapps occurred before the final verdict was given that warrants another trial.
The motion presented said there was an issue with a key witness named Officer Celestina Rossi, who is a blood spatter expert. Rossi was the woman who found the blood sample on Armstrong’s T-shirt inside the crime lab, court documents read.
Defense attorneys for Armstrong also state that Rossi has been previously accused of planting evidence.
Additionally, the motion states there was an alternative theory regarding who could have murdered Dawn and Antonio Sr. that was conferred outside of the presence of a jury that should’ve been permitted into evidence.
It reportedly related to a hearing by someone who alleged that AJ’s father, Antonio, was reportedly “running a prostitution ring outside of their family-owned gym in Bellaire,” the motion stated.
According to the motion, McCann says the jury did not know any other alternative suspects.
Records note that the motion claims that AJ’s sentence was “unconstitutional” because he was only a juvenile at the time of the crime.
AJ’s former attorney, who was there at each trial, Rick DeToto, sent an affidavit, siding with the reasons stated in the motion presented by McCann, records show.
At this time, Armstrong is in custody at the Harris County Jail as he awaits transfer to prison.
