Defense Rests in Tanner Horner Punishment Trial as State Begins Rebuttal

Overview

• Defense lawyers finished their mitigation case, and prosecutors began calling rebuttal witnesses as the trial moves toward closing arguments.
• Texas prison official Tim Fitzpatrick testified that inmates serving life without parole live and work around others with contact visits, while death row inmates are isolated under tighter security, and he said hope of parole best drives good behavior.
• Defense psychologist Dr. Jolie Brams said Horner is on the autism spectrum and used the “Zero” persona like an imaginary friend, describing impairments that shaped his life but did not excuse the crime.
• On cross-examination, Brams agreed Horner would have understood that sexual assault, strangling, and beating could cause death.
• Prosecutors earlier presented van audio of Athena Strand in Horner’s FedEx truck, DNA testimony that did not exclude Horner, and medical findings that the child died from blunt-force injuries, smothering, and strangulation after a planned abduction.