Jurors at the moment are deliberating after listening to closing statements on Thursday within the homicide trial of Kaitlin Armstrong, a Texas girl accused of fatally capturing skilled bike owner Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in 2022.
Wilson, 25, was discovered affected by a number of gunshot wounds at a pal’s residence in Austin on the evening of Might 11, 2022. The biking prodigy was as soon as romantically linked to Armstrong’s then-boyfriend, Colin Strickland, a fellow skilled bike owner, and was discovered shot hours after assembly up with him, police stated.
Armstrong, 35, was arrested in June 2022 at a hostel in Costa Rica following a 43-day search and has been detained since then on a $3.5 million bond. She has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide in Wilson’s demise.
Kaitlin Armstrong enters the courtroom through the first day of her trial on the Blackwell-Thurman Prison Justice Middle, Nov. 1, 2023, in Austin, Texas.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman by way of AP
After calling practically 40 witnesses over the two-week trial, Travis County prosecutor Rick Jones advised the jurors there’s “overwhelming” proof that factors to Armstrong pulling the set off.
Prosecutors introduced proof that they are saying confirmed Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Cherokee circling the residence’s block the evening of the murder, that her firearm was used within the murder and her DNA was possible discovered on Wilson’s bicycle.
“Solely Kaitlin Armstrong, the defendant, suits these details that was introduced to you thru that witness chair,” Jones stated.
Prosecutors additionally replayed audio on Thursday of the moments Wilson was fatally shot — twice within the head and as soon as within the coronary heart “for good measure,” Jones stated. In addition they confirmed the jurors footage they stated confirmed Armstrong making an attempt to flee from deputies within the weeks main as much as the trial whereas being transported to an off-site medical appointment.
“She’s not simply working from the sheriff’s division,” Jones advised jurors. “She’s working from you and also you and also you and also you and also you and also you and also you.”
Jones implored the jurors to not go down the protection’s “rabbit holes.”
Protection legal professional Geoffrey Puryear provides opening arguments through the first day of trial for State of Texas v. Kaitlin Armstrong on the Blackwell-Thurman Prison Justice Middle, Nov. 1, 2023.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman/USA Right this moment Community
Of their closing statements, the protection stated Armstrong is “trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial proof.”
“There’s a variety of sizzle, however there’s not a lot steak,” protection legal professional Rick Cofer stated. “This can be a case based mostly on assumptions, it is based mostly on affirmation bias and an absence of direct proof.”
Cofer stated police narrowed in on Armstrong to suit a straightforward narrative of a “spurned, jealous lover” and did not examine different potential suspects within the case.
“She needed to be portrayed as a jealous psycho to create the motive,” Cofer stated whereas refuting the prosecutors’ characterization of her as being a jealous girlfriend.
Protection legal professional Geoffrey Puryear additionally refuted the state’s DNA and ballistics proof and advised jurors Armstrong was free to go away when she flew to Costa Rica days after being interviewed by police about Wilson’s demise.
In wrapping up their closing, prosecutors requested why Armstrong used a false identify and passport to fly to Costa Rica and sought cosmetic surgery as soon as there.
“These are all indications of guilt, girls and gents,” state legal professional Guillermo Gonzalez advised the jurors. “This is not anyone on a frolic. That is anyone who’s a fugitive and desperately making an attempt to get away.”
Armstrong declined to testify through the trial.
Strickland took to the stand and testified about his and Armstrong’s on-again, off-again “tumultuous” relationship.
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