Tanner Horner’s fate has been sealed.
The former FedEx driver, who admitted to the tragic murder of Athena Strand, received a death sentence. This comes almost a month after he confessed to charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
Horner remained stoic in the Texas courtroom May 5, as seen in multiple livestreams of the jury’s verdict.
“It’s the order of the court that you, Tanner Lynn Horner, has been judged to be guilty of the offense of capital murder as found by the jury,” Judge George Gallagher said. “Jury having answered, the special issues make it mandatory that your punishment be death. It is, therefore, the order of this court that your punishment be death.”
According to People, the verdict was reached by a Fort Worth jury after three hours of deliberation. This followed intense arguments from Horner’s defense team, who were advocating for life imprisonment without parole. Both the prosecution and defense concluded their presentations on May 5.
The jury, as reported by the AP, determined that Horner posed a future risk for criminal violence and remained a threat to society.
The judge announced that Horner’s case will automatically move to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review, with a lawyer appointed to handle the direct appeal process.
Horner was also inquired whether he wished to have a second lawyer for a writ of habeas corpus, a legal avenue that allows for further examination of his sentence separate from the formal appeal.
In response, Horner simply replied, “Yes.”
Across the five-week trial, jurors heard multiple testimonies—including both of Strand’s parents—and heartbreaking details surrounding the 7-year-old’s killing in November 2022.
One piece of evidence proved especially chilling—audio captured from inside Horner’s delivery truck, with jurors forced to hear recordings of Strand’s abduction and killing. The child’s naked body was found days later in the Trinity River.
“You will face the wrath of god, but I want you to know that you are nothing,” Strand’s uncle Elijah Strand said during his victim impact statement in court May 5. “You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be remembered. Her name will forever be celebrated. And everyone will forget you.”
Horner’s mother also testified during the sentencing trial, per CBS News, telling her son through tears, “She was just a baby.”
