Jurors have been deliberating for 15 hours now in the A.J. Armstrong capital murder retrial.
A.J. is on trial for the second time, accused of killing his parents, Dawn and Antonio, as they slept in the family's southwest Houston home in 2016. A.J. was just 16 years old at the time of their deaths.
Judge Kelli Johnson told prosecutors and defense attorneys that based on the amount of evidence in this case, the length of testimony, and the amount of time jurors have been deliberating, she's urging them to continue.The jury sent a note to the judge explaining none of the jurors believe his/her vote will change and that they are deadlocked. Judge Johnson brought out the jury and read them the Allen charge.
Under the Allen charge, Johnson explained to jurors that if they cannot come to an agreement, there will be a mistrial. She encouraged jurors on the minority side to reconsider, but not if it compromises one's morals. Johnson also explained that any future jury will have the same struggles this jury may be dealing with and there is no reason to hope the next jury will find the process any easier.
In 2019, A.J.'s first capital murder trial ended in a mistrial with a hung jury. Jurors deliberated for 19 hours but could not agree. Defense attorneys now tell ABC13 that in that trial, jurors were split, with eight in favor of A.J.'s guilt and four who considered him not guilty. We previously reported the split was 10 and two.For news updates, follow Courtney Fischer on
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