Tanner Horner was sentenced to death in May for the brutal abduction and killing of the 7-year-old girl
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The FedEx driver who was sentenced to death after he admitted to abducting and killing 7-year-old Athena Strand will not get a new trial.
Attorneys for Tanner Horner, 34, argued he could not receive a fair sentencing trial after his guilty plea because extensive media coverage of his case intimidated potential key witnesses out of testifying, an argument rejected by prosecutors, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
The motion was automatically denied when a Texas judge declined to make a ruling before a July 20 statutory deadline, the Star-Telegram reports.
“We are pleased that the Motion for New Trial was denied,” Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said in a statement to PEOPLE. “Whether the Court signed the Order or it was denied as a matter of law makes no difference. It is simply a part of the process in getting justice for Athena. She is what matters and we will continue to fight for her every step of the way until justice is finally served.”
Horner pleaded guilty to murdering the first-grader in April, but still went before a jury to determine if he should be sentenced to death, which the jury signed off on in May.
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The murder occurred on Nov. 30, 2022, as Horner was delivering a package to the Strand home in Paradise, Texas, and Athena was playing in the driveway. Horner initially claimed to investigators that he accidentally hit Athena with his truck and then strangled her in a panic.
But during the sentencing trial, jurors were shown chilling surveillance footage from inside Horner’s delivery truck depicting Athena upright and awake, calmly asking Horner various questions before he covered up the camera. The camera’s audio continued recording and suggested that Horner proceeded to sexually assault and attack Athena.
Athena’s naked corpse was discovered dumped by a river.
Horner’s defense team unsuccessfully tried to convince the jury to give him a sentence of life without parole, noting the defendant had been diagnosed with autism and bipolar disorder and was exposed to lead as a child.
The jury still chose to sentence Horner to death after just three hours of deliberations. Because he was facing a capital murder charge, the sentence was automatically appealed.
