Overview
- A Tarrant County jury sentenced Horner to death on Tuesday in Fort Worth after a multiweek penalty trial.
- Jurors found he would be a continuing threat and that mitigation did not warrant life, which made death mandatory under Texas procedure and triggered automatic appeal.
- The case went straight to sentencing because Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping on April 7.
- Prosecutors played an hour-long recording from inside Horner’s delivery van and presented forensic testimony that a male DNA source could not be excluded from swabs in the child’s sexual assault kit.
- Judge George Gallagher said the case now goes to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and Horner will be moved to death row with no execution date set; Athena’s family delivered tearful statements, including her uncle’s vow that he would “face the wrath of God.”