The defense team for the FedEx driver accused of murdering a seven-year-old Texas girl claim the suspect has autism and should therefore not face the death penalty.
Tanner Horner is accused of kidnapping and strangling Athena Strand at her Wise County home in late 2022, Fox 4 reported Wednesday, noting Horner’s lawyers filed 28 motions regarding the case.
One of those motions seeks to preclude the death penalty due to the man’s reported autism. The Fox article continued:
The motion states that the court has “categorically prohibited the imposition of the death penalty where a particular characteristic of the defendant renders him less culpable, negates the retributive and deterrent aims of capital punishment, or creates a risk of an erroneous death sentence.”
It goes on to say that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder exhibit nearly all the same impairments as those with intellectual disabilities. Because it is unconstitutional for people with intellectual disabilities to be sentenced to death, the court must strike the death penalty option in this case.
Horner reportedly told investigators he accidentally hit the child with his truck when he was backing it up.
He was delivering her Christmas present, a Barbie doll set, when the incident happened, according to Breitbart News. She was still alive after he hit her, but he panicked and put her inside the vehicle.
“After Athena told him her name, he attempted to break her neck but was unsuccessful. He then strangled her to death with his bare hands in the back of the van, the affidavit stated. Horner told investigators he killed Athena because he feared she would tell her father about being hit by his truck,” the outlet said. Horner later showed officials where he left her body in Boyd.
Following her killing, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said officials were asking the district attorney to pursue the death penalty.
Video footage shows thousands of people gathered at a memorial for the child:
Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, told reporters, “The joy Athena gave her family and the joy she felt on Christmas is something we will never feel with her again.”
The CBS 11 report said the suspect’s van had a video camera that recorded the moment he put her inside the vehicle:
The Fox article noted, “The trial was also moved to Tarrant County because defense attorneys successfully argued Horner wouldn’t get a fair trial in Wise County, given the extensive media coverage of the case.”
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