Antonio “A.J” Armstrong Jr., seen here in 2019, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2016 deaths of his parents, Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr. It was the third trial after the first two ended in mistrial. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)
The third time was the charm for prosecutors in Houston for convicting a man who they say killed his parents through a pillow while they were sleeping when he was 16 in 2016.
Antonio “A.J.” Armstrong Jr. was sentenced to life in prison after the guilty verdict came down on Wednesday afternoon, according to court records. It was the third trial, as the previous two ended in mistrials because jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict. Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported the jury deliberated for about 10 hours over two days before reaching a unanimous conclusion of guilt.
“Today we’ve now seen what a murderer looks like,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters at a press conference. “It can be anyone. The fact that it was their own son, it’s a trauma, it’s a tragedy for the whole family.”
On July 29, 2016, Armstrong called 911 from a third-story closet to say he heard shots coming from his parents’ bedroom in their Houston home. He told the dispatcher he never saw any intruders, and the only people in the home were him, his 12-year-old sister and his parents. When police arrived at the home, they found his mother, Dawn Armstrong, and his father, Antonio Armstrong Sr., in their bed with gunshot wounds to their heads. Dawn Armstrong died at the scene, and her husband died the next day.
In court records, detectives noted no signs of forced entry, and A.J. Armstrong told dispatchers he turned the house alarm off while on the phone with 911. After a search of the home, officers found a .22 caliber handgun on the kitchen counter with a note that said, “I have been watching for a long time. Get me,” according to the affidavit.
Detectives also found two pillows with bullet holes that matched the caliber of the gun, along with a bullet hole in A.J. Armstrong’s bedroom, the affidavit said. In an interview with detectives, the younger Armstrong was “unemotional” despite knowing his parents were shot, court records said.
A.J. Armstrong, now 23, has steadfastly maintained his innocence, telling KTRK in 2020, “I didn’t do it.”
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“For me, it’s as simple as I didn’t do it. It’s just as simple as that,” he told the TV station. “I’ve been adamant about that since the moment everything happened, from the moment I was on the phone [with 911] until this day, I’ve said I didn’t do it. I’ll never change from that because I know it’s the truth. And for me that’s just, you know, that’s just the one thing that I really want people to know.”
He also filed a federal lawsuit against the Houston Police Department on Tuesday, alleging they planted evidence against him.
Armstrong’s defense attorneys have tried to pin the killing on Josh Armstrong, A.J.’s half-brother, who suffered from mental health issues.
The first criminal trial was in April 2019, but the jury couldn’t come to a verdict after two days of testimony. It was the same result in the second trial last October.
Jurors in this trial heard more than 40 hours of testimony from 31 witnesses over 11 days, according to KTRK.
After the verdict, Armstrong’s family members left the courtroom in tears and declined to speak with the media, the TV station reported.
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