NEWS REPORTER: It is a case that truly shocked Houston.
A teenager charged with killing his own parents.
NEWS REPORTER 2: Armstrong Jr. is accused of killing his father,
former NFL player Antonio and Mother Dawn last July.
NEWS REPORTER 3: He faces life in prison
with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
NEWS REPORTER 4: Armstrong claimed he heard shots and saw a masked intruder in the house.
He planned it and he practiced it, and he lied about it.
Where's the evidence?
That doesn't mean he killed his parents.
JUDGE: We are unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict.
The court declares a mistrial.
NEWS REPORTER: In 2019, a jury could not decide if AJ really did it,
and now he is going to be in a courtroom to prove his innocence
in his capital murder retrial.
What does a murderer look like?
Every time we turn around, there's something new.
It's time to let this young man go.
NEWS REPORTER: It's another twist in this AJ Armstrong case.
I know I'm innocent, so it just has to work out for me.
I don't expect any outbursts.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JUDGE: We, the jury, find the defendant...
RICK: I'm Rick DeToto.
I have represented AJ over the last five or six years.
I've been in charge of the case since it began in 2016.
Mistrials are pretty rare.
In a case this big, it's even rarer.
AJ and his family were a little bit disappointed in the verdict.
It was a long trial. It was a grueling trial.
We have a saying in what we do as defense lawyers.
Any time our client walks out of the courthouse a free man, it's a victory.
So in my mind, the way the prosecutors aggressively went after AJ in this case,
that was a victory.
The jury split was eight to four.
Eight voted guilty,
four voted not guilty.
The state was unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Unfortunately, the prosecution in this case continues to be relentless.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
The state, Houston Police Department,
they are convinced that AJ committed this crime,
and they're still committed to putting AJ in jail.
AJ is accused of capital murder of killing both his parents,
Dawn and Antonio.
RICK: AJ told 911 he was in this closet
whispering because he believes the person is still in the house.
RICK: The police tell him to go get his sister, Kayra,
she was 12 years old.
They come down the stairs.
The police say that AJ unlocked the door and turned off the alarm system.
The weapon is found in the kitchen.
It was Antonio Senior's weapon.
They found the note by the weapon, it says,
"I have been watching you for a long time."
The police finger-printed everything.
DNA tested everything, and they didn't find anything.
But police officers arrested AJ within 10 or 15 minutes,
they put him in handcuffs before they had any evidence.
There's no blood on AJ.
There's no physical evidence that links AJ to murdering his parents.
We believe that the Houston Police Department
failed to investigate all leads and not just the leads
that lead to what they believe.
They made up their mind immediately that AJ did this, and that's confirmation bias.
That brings reasonable doubt to the situation.
So we're preparing for trial number two.
We're working really, really hard
to show that someone else other than AJ
possibly could have committed this crime.
It doesn't mean we have to prove someone else did it.
We just have to demonstrate evidence to the jury
that it could have been another person.
So that you would have a reasonable doubt
as to whether or not AJ committed these crimes.
In the last trial, our main alternative suspect was Josh,
AJ's half-brother.
We learned that he's allegedly schizophrenic,
and has complete access to the house.
We believe that this is clearly evidence that points to another person.
It's interesting that the state has never sought to seek these records.
They've never sought to interview the doctors or Josh or anybody.
The fact that law enforcement did not investigate Josh,
to me, it's clear evidence that the prosecution was negligent.
As we approached the second trial,
we subpoenaed more medical records,
because there may be something in those records
that's much more substantive for purposes of reasonable doubt.
This was a very difficult decision for the family,
very difficult for us to bring to them, but,
in the end, it's going to help us get AJ his freedom.
This case is very personal for me.
AJ's kind of become, like, you know, my adopted son a little bit.
I've been with him since he's 16.
It's a lot of pressure when you really care for someone.
It's really serious for AJ. It continues to be real serious.
He's looking at life in prison.
It's a daunting possibility for this young man,
but we're gonna fight like hell and do everything we can
to make sure that doesn't happen.
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
AJ: The first trial was very hard.
Harder than I was expecting it to be.
The exhaustion mentally and physically that you go through.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
It really becomes real
that you're fighting for your life when you're in the courtroom.
So as the trial went on, the nerves grew more and more.
I definitely know for this next trial
how to be prepared to deal with all of that.
KATE: Since the beginning, we've gone through nine months of jail,
house arrest for five years.
When he was first arrested, I was 15, um...
He was 16. So now I'm 22.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
It's been difficult.
So we've about seen every side of each other,
every good and every bad.
But I think that's just made us stronger.
We decided that regardless of what could happen,
this is something that we wanted to do.
HENDRIX: Mama.
AJ: I'm just glad he ges to be around me,
and he knows who dad is, and we just...
we have fun.
-I thought you said you wanna-- Oh, you wanna close it. -No, zip it.
HENDRIX: Bye, mommy! Bye!
-Okay. Bye! -Bye.
KATE: Now with the son, it makes things way more intense.
-Go ahead. We're gonna watch you jump. -Can you give me a kiss?
KATE: Yeah, it's just a lot at stake.
Oh, I love you!
It's really scary.
You know, I have to be there for AJ, um...
because this is... I mean, this is awful.
He's the father of my child and...
the love of my life.
So...
I just picture me having to start a whole new life and...
(SNIFFLES)
um, how I'm going to be there for Hendrix and...
how I would be a single mom.
RICK: So, it looks like we're doing this again.
I think we need to kind of review what we need to do better in this trial.
Well, there's definitely things that we need to go over
and figure out how we're going to...
to attack this on the next go round.
I think one of the first things, obviously,
is that we need to continue looking for information regarding Josh,
as far as an alternative suspect,
to show that there is reasonable doubt in the case.
The other thing was their whole entire case is based on the alarm system.
Police are saying they see no signs of forced entry.
It was locked. It was armed.
And so therefore, they said, it's got to be somebody in the house that did it.
So one of the things I'm gonna do is try to figure out
if the alarm system was faulty,
but we got to have support for it.
RICK: Yeah, that's a good point.
Let's see what we can turn up.
I feel a lot of pressure for this retrial that we've got to get this young man
back on the road and back where it needs to be.
CHRIS: We've got a lot on our plate.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Joyce, pull up his case.
See if you can find the copies of the medical records.
RICK We're trying to show how biased
the police department was in this case.
They've only said that AJ did it.
In fact, they've ignored, completely ignored, alternative suspects.
Wow, this is really, really important.
These records show, what appears to be a statement
that Josh witnessed his parents being murdered.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
"Saw parents murdered?"
That could be interpreted differently.
But I would argue, potentially,
what he's allegedly said in those records
puts him in the house at the time of the murders.
RICK: It's about reasonable doubt.
It doesn't mean we have to prove someone else did it.
It's our job to prove to the jury that it could have been another person.
And, thus, there's a reasonable doubt that AJ did not commit these murders.
It could absolutely mean the difference between him going to prison and not.
RICK: So let's do a brief run through.
We continue to investigate Josh,
for purposes of reasonable doubt,
and we get a bunch of medical records
that we didn't have before.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
We have records that indicate that Josh says,
"I saw my parents murdered."
We believe that this is evidence
of an alternative perpetrator.
Yeah.
It implies he's in the room.
So we know, Josh...
lives two minutes away.
Josh has complete access to the house.
He's lived there. In fact, a couple of weeks before the incident,
he lived in the same room that AJ lived in.
HPD comes in, they go into the house,
they found the parents murdered.
Josh is contacted.
So then, Josh shows up at the scene.
The police bag his hands for gunshot residue.
No residue.
But there's a form...
the HPD has to fill out for purposes of the gunshot residue.
And it asks, where were you at the time of the shooting up until now?
And Josh refuses to answer.
So why do you think the Houston Police Department
would not want to investigate Josh?
Right?
AJ said there was a masked intruder in the house,
but within 11 minutes, the first officer says it's AJ.
They made up their mind. Confirmation bias?
Yeah, really it is.
RICK: The Houston Police Department failed to look at any other evidence
that someone else did this.
That brings reasonable doubt to the situation.
KAYRA: Losing my parents and everything has affected me a lot.
Going through what I went through,
it was hard.
It's very hard, period, to think of the possibility
that even one of my brothers could be in the situation.
I adore my brothers.
Regarding AJ,
I know a lot of people judge him.
You know, call him a murderer.
It's not him at all.
If it was any possibility of it,
I wouldn't support my brother like I do.
But I was like, I've grew up with him.
I've known him my whole life, truly and dearly.
It's just not possible.
It's not him. He's not that kind of guy, he...
He doesn't hurt a fly, like, he's just...
he's never been like that.
KAY: The impact that it has had on our family,
I can't put it in words.
You know, when you hear somebody tell you this is,
your grandson did this,
you this did this, you're like, what?
It's like another dagger,
just being driven
in your heart, it's...
(SIGHS SOFTLY)
I don't understand it all, I don't know it all.
I just know, our family has already been ripped and torn.
Our family would like to have our lives back.
And, I want my grandson AJ to have his life back.
So he can continue to be the daddy that he is
and whatever else he decide to do with his life and his future.
(HENDRIX SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
CHRIS: I want to go through some of these records.
The prosecution says this was a closed house.
It was locked, it was armed.
And so therefore, they said,
it's got to be somebody in the house that did it.
So the motion detectors need movement
every three minutes in front of each sensor for it to stay active.
With no movement in front of them for three minutes,
the sensors go idle.
Problem is, is that the record says
the sensors were active for 47 minutes.
That means somebody had to be in front of them the entire time,
all the way up to the point that the alarm system was disarmed.
It's impossible because we know that AJ
was upstairs for 16 minutes on the 911 call.
That's more than three minutes needed to make,
especially the downstairs motion detector go idle.
But it stayed active.
AJ had to come down off that top floor,
had to go around the corner to his sister's room, wake her up.
As he's bringing her down the stairs,
the motion detector downstairs should have picked him up.
But the problem with that is, is that it never went idle to begin with.
So that's why the argument is that
either they themselves were faulty or they had reporting errors.
Their whole entire case is based on the alarm system.
So that means if the motion detectors weren't working,
where's the evidence?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
I don't really know how to put it into words
what it feels like to lose your parents.
Um...
But it's not...
it's not something I would ever wish on anyone.
I really don't know
if I've grieved or not,
I...
I felt an incredible...
pain over all of these years for...
like, my parents being gone.
Have to face that reality that not only they're gone,
but they're trying to put me in jail because they think I did it.
It's... it's tough.
I'm ready to start trial and finally be able to put this behind me.
NEWS REPORTER: It is a case that truly shocked Houston,
a teenager charged with killing his own parents.
In 2019, a jury could not decide if AJ really did it.
And now he is going to be in a courtroom
to prove his innocence in his capital murder retrial.
BAILIFF: All rise for the jury.
RYAN: On July 28th, 2016,
Antonio Armstrong Sr.
and his wife, Dawn, went to bed in their southwest Houston home.
They were shot in the head.
At 9:52 pm,
the alarm was set in the Armstrong household.
Kayra Armstrong and Dawn and Antonio Sr. went to bed.
Defendant did not go to bed.
He was in his room on his phone.
At 1:02 am,
the defendant's activity on his phone stops.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Seven minutes later, the motion sensor
on the second floor is activated.
Don and Antonio were shot between 1.09 and 1.25 am.
At 1:25 am,
a gun was placed on the kitchen counter.
We know because that motion sensor was activated on the first floor.
Fifteen minutes later,
at 1:40 am,
the defendant calls 911
and says he just heard gunshots
and ran immediately to call 911.
There was no forced entry.
The alarm was on.
The killer was not an intruder who came and left.
He was in the house the whole time that night.
RICK: Ladies and gentlemen.
They are wrong about the alarm system.
They told you information about the sensors.
We're going to present evidence that they are inaccurate.
Now,
there's a lot going on with Josh.
Josh is AJ's brother.
The medical records are going to go on and on.
Extremely psychotic.
Delusional, paranoid.
Law enforcement has done almost nothing
to investigate Josh.
We believe that that's confirmation bias.
Within 11 minutes
of going into the house on the day of the murders,
Sergeant Jaralica made up his mind
that AJ did it.
No blood on his clothes.
No physical evidence linking this young man to what happened.
I believe you will have no choice
to find this young man
not guilty.
Thank you.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
COURTNEY: Three HPD officers who were the first on scene
testified about what they saw that day.
They tried proving that police had just a few minutes to secure the scene
and evidence showed that there was probable cause to charge AJ fairly quickly.
RICK: They made a decision immediately to charge AJ.
Any evidence whatsoever that goes the other way,
uh, Josh, access to the house, they refused to look at it.
COURTNEY: Today we saw the gun
investigators say AJ used to shoot and kill his parents.
They are trying to make AJ appear
as a cold, indifferent killer.
COURTNEY: Prosecutors showed text messages between AJ
and his parents claiming he lied about his grades, about smoking weed,
about sneaking out to see his girlfriend.
RICK: Those text messages are nonsense.
There's nothing in these text messages that indicate any type of motive.
COURTNEY: Today we saw alarm records from the Armstrong House
that say that the doors and windows were secured.
The killer had to come from inside the house.
But the defense says these records simply cannot be trusted.
RICK: They say the house is closed and the alarm records are 100 percent accurate.
But Mr. Collins, on cross examination, was able to show that there was
at least 77 different errors in those alarm records.
NEWS REPORTER: Two of AJ Armstrong's former football coaches
took the stand this morning.
They told jurors AJ had a great relationship with his parents.
COURTNEY: The defense psychiatrist testified
that he thinks that Josh showed signs
that he was mentally unstable before the murders.
He just didn't get treated for it,
so there's no documentation of it.
He based his belief on interviews he did with Kay Winston,
Antonio Sr.'s mother, and Kayra Armstrong,
Josh and AJ's sister.
We try to prove that Josh's psychosis, his mental health issues
were occurring prior to the murders.
We were able to show the medical records that we discovered,
where it appeared Josh said, 'saw parents murdered.'
And this is why there's reasonable doubt in this case.
But then prosecutor John Jordan ripped into the doctor,
saying what the family says just doesn't add up.
Kabya Armstrong, AJ's younger sister,
walked us through that night before the murders,
she said it was like any other night.
Kayra told the jury AJ was acting quote "normal."
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
RICK: Jury speculation is a hopeless art.
It's very difficult to tell what they're thinking.
We just hope that we have proven that there's no reason to convict AJ,
there's reasonable doubt throughout this case
and get him home back to his family.
BAILIFF: All rise for the jury.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I know it's been an emotional time.
I don't expect any outbursts.
The court finds that based on the fact
that the jury has deliberated...
currently at 17 hours and 58 minutes.
The court, on its own motion at this time is declaring a mistrial.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
So with that,
your duty as jurors is over.
We appreciate the time and energy that you've devoted to this case.
And with that, please retire the jury.
BAILIFF: All rise for the jury.
What do you think? Your reaction to what just happened in there?
It's time to free AJ.
It's been six years, it's been two trials.
It's been 40, 50 witnesses.
It's been probably millions of dollars of expenses
by the district attorney's office.
It's time to let this young man go.
They brought their best prosecutors,
they tried to bring their best case,
and the split,
as far as we know when they broke, was eight-four, not guilty.
So it got worse for them.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NEWS REPORTER: Big developments in the AJ Armstrong case.
The district attorney's office confirms
it will try AJ for a third time
n the death of his parents.
RICK: I'm disappointed.
It's pretty rare when we have a second retrial, much less a third.
It's more difficult from the standpoint that the state has the advantage
because they know everything that we're going to do.
Again, we are going to present the alternative perpetrator theory
to show the jury that they cannot prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.
We just can only hope that we've done everything
you need to do to get to that point.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
NEWS REPORTER: It is Armstrong's third capital murder trial
after the first two ended in mistrials in 2019 and 2022.
COURTNEY: This is it.
This is the third time an unprecedented third capital murder trial.
The feeling this morning is different.
New flakes of blood were just found weeks ago
under a sticky badge on Armstrong's shirt he was wearing the morning
he was charged with killing his parents.
We'll hear from experts about whose blood that's believed to be,
and we'll see how it makes a difference for trial three.
But under the judge's strict media rules,
we will not be able to record any of the trial.
Prosecutors starting off telling jurors the house alarm records
plus AJ's cell phone activity, fit together perfectly like a puzzle.
Defense attorney Rick DeToto pointed the finger
at AJ Armstrong's brother, Josh.
We heard testimony from the guy at alarm.com
who really dug into the Armstrong's home security system.
He told jurors that according to these records,
the alarm was working, it was on,
and no doors or windows were opened.
The defense challenged the alarm records.
They talked about glitches
on some of those alarm records.
Today, HPD CSU investigator Jimmy James,
telling jurors that he spent five hours
in the Armstrong house taking photos and bagging evidence after the murders.
Then, the defense attacking the fact that James didn't swab the doorknobs,
didn't collect samples from the bloodstain that was found on the wall.
You could tell prosecutors were frustrated,
and Armstrong's attorneys were feeling confident.
NEWS REPORTER: New blood evidence is now at the center
of AJ Armstrong's third capital murder trial.
NEWS REPORTER 2: The evidence in question was found on a shirt AJ wore the night of the murder,
and it was located under a name tag
placed on AJ by Houston police officers.
REPORTER: Celestino Rossi, a DNA expert,
testified that it is very likely
Antonio Armstrong Sr.'s blood.
But, "hold on," said defense attorney Rick DeToto.
DNA testing done back in 2016
found no blood was ever found on Armstrong's clothes.
Rossi conceded to the defense
that stain could have gotten there from cross contamination.
REPORTER 2: Prosecution has called its final witness
in the AJ Armstrong Capital murder retrial.
REPORTER: Dr. Ian Lamoureux said that
after reading hundreds of pages
of Josh's psychiatric medical records,
he thinks Josh suffered from PTSD
after his parents were murdered.
REPORTER 2: Second week of AJ Armstrong's third trial for the murder of his parents.
The prosecution rested today and the defense began its case.
REPORTER: Today we heard from the Armstrong family members.
Kayra Armstrong describing her family as very close.
AJ's grandmother also took the stand.
She told the jury that AJ was a normal 16-year-old kid
who, yeah, sometimes lied to his parents,
but that doesn't make him a killer.
REPORTER: The defense psychiatrist testified that he thinks Josh had
full on schizophrenia around that time.
It's their theory all along
that Josh could be an alternative suspect.
JUDGE: All right, ladies and gentlemen,
You may proceed.
CHRIS: Ladies and gentlemen,
we have a record that says what the activity of the cell phone was doing.
But there's no evidence as to what AJ was doing.
This is all speculation.
When you start pressing the state about where is the evidence,
there is nothing.
RICK: Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution
all of a sudden discovers blood under the nametag.
We also know there's no blood on the shirt.
How do get those blood specks on that sticker?
Me and my investigator went down to the property room.
Evidence put in boxes.
And we pulled the evidence out of the box.
What did we see at the bottom of that box?
There's specks in the box!
Specks of blood.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Rossi says that there's a possibility
that one of the specks is from cross contamination.
That cross contamination is enough reasonable doubt
to acquit this young man.
That is enough.
Find AJ Armstrong not guilty.
What does a murderer
look like?
Folks, he's the only person awake in the house
at the very time of the murders.
He's not in his room.
We know this because his phone is moving.
You are duty bound.
to convict this defendant on the alarm records alone.
The alarm records show that nobody entered that house that night.
Period.
The murder weapon
is in the house.
If anybody comes into a house to commit a murder,
they're going to leave with said murder weapon.
The way you know is that the murder weapon's in the house,
the murderer is still in the house.
The evidence doesn't lie.
He lies.
JUDGE: All right, ladies and gentlemen,
you have heard all of the evidence.
So retire to the jury room and begin your deliberation.
COURTNEY: Jurors have been deliberating since around 10 o'clock this morning,
still without a verdict.
In the last few minutes, we just heard another bell,
which means that the jury either has a question potentially reaching a verdict.
I gotta go. I gotta go in.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
JUDGE: All right, ladies and gentlemen.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(CRYING)
If you let us please get past.
RICK: To have this result after seven years is a tough pill to swallow,
but we will not ever stop fighting for AJ.
I've said this many times, we'll be here always for him
and his family is strong as they can be
and they will not stop fighting for AJ.
They will continue through an appeal and whatever comes after that.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
I want to thank the members of the jury
who today convicted Antonio Armstrong Jr. of capital murder.
Today, we've now seen what a murderer looks like.
Thank you.
RICK: It's devastating.
It's not what we thought would happen.
We fought our butts off for seven years
and I think we've done everything we possibly could have.
I don't feel justice has been done.
I don't think that AJ is guilty by any means.
I think that he's 100 percent innocent.
But you never know what's going to happen in a jury trial.
We're going to be strong, we're going to carry on
and we're going to keep fighting for AJ.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Prepaid collect call from
an incarcerated individual at Harris County Jail.
My AJ.
-AJ: Yes, ma'am. -Hi, my grandson.
How you feeling?
AJ: I was completely blindsided by that verdict.
It was a gut punch like never before.
KAY: To have went through and suffer what you have.
Everything we've been through for seven long years
and then to have this to happen.
AJ: Just staying strong.
You're doing great, grandson.
AJ: Yes, I am.
AJ: Y'all let everyone know
that the AJ Armstrong story
did not end with him going to jail.
It's going to end with him walking out of jail.
A free man, back to his life, back with his son, his family.
(VOICE SHAKING) My story is not in this point,
(SNIFFLES)
and I know it might not seem like it right now.
This is not how my story is gonna end.
(SOBBING)
I'm gonna get out
and we're gonna have a great story to tell.
(CONTINUES SOBBING)