00:00What God was thinking when this guy was created, I don't know.
00:04Maybe God decided to punch out for the day, took a personal day.
00:07I don't know.
00:08But this, not even a monster, that's unfair to monsters.
00:12If there was ever a reason to punch someone's lights out permanently, it is this case.
00:19On November 30th, Athena Strand is reported missing.
00:23He is delivering a box of Barbie dolls to Athena.
00:28And that box is called, You Can Be Anything.
00:33He comes back.
00:35He brings Athena to the back of his truck.
00:37He picks her up.
00:38He puts her into the van.
00:40She says to him, are you a kidnapper?
00:43At first, he tells her to be quiet or he will hurt her.
00:46At some point, and here is probably checkbox number two, why he is going to be strapped to a gurney
00:53and a needle stuck in his arm.
00:55You are very pretty.
00:58That's what this man says to this seven-year-old child before he tells her to take her shirt off.
01:06We have proof that she was sexually assaulted and he killed her.
01:11Blunt force trauma, suffocation.
01:14And as the expert testified during the penalty phase, she suffered.
01:19In Texas, the prosecution has to establish what we call special issues.
01:26The primary special issue is that you are going to continue to be a danger to the rest of us.
01:36And in the penalty phase, not only is the prosecution permitted to describe in grotesque detail.
01:44The horrific nature of the criminal offense conduct, the prosecution is also allowed to bring in other instances.
01:52In the penalty phase, the prosecution, as they did, brought in proof that this monster has raped at least one
02:01other woman.
02:03So the prosecution establishes that he is a continuing danger.
02:09And the prosecution is going to be able to show, or shall I say, the defense will not be able
02:16to show what we call any mitigation.
02:19In other words, something good about this defendant or something where it would be unfair to execute him, such as
02:27mental disease.
02:29And here, the defendant is going to hang his hat on.
02:34Don't kill me because I have suffered my whole life from mental illness.
02:39Now, the $64 question is, well, how do you do that?
02:46How do you combat, as a prosecutor, this notion that he wasn't mentally ill?
02:52Because, my God, what sane person could have, for one second, even comprehended doing this to anyone, let alone a
03:0170-year-old child, let alone actually doing it?
03:04And here's how the prosecution does it.
03:07His lies also seal his fate from the standpoint of this notion of, I was suffering from mental illness.
03:16He had the wherewithal to lie to law enforcement in explaining what happened.
03:22In other words, he says to law enforcement, I'm driving my truck.
03:28I hit this girl with my truck.
03:31I freaked out.
03:32And I killed her.
03:34I tried to break her neck, and then I suffocated her.
03:37I lost my mind because I had just hit her.
03:40And that's what happened.
03:42That was an abject, complete, bold face.
03:45You've got to be kidding me lie.
03:47But what that demonstrates is this man's understanding of what he had done and his efforts to try to soft
03:58sell what he had done.
04:01He's not denying that he killed her, but it is one thing to say, I hit somebody by accident, I
04:07freaked out, and I killed her, to cover it up.
04:11It is another thing to make the conscientious, the conscious effort to see a girl, bring her to the back
04:19of your truck, to get her into your truck,
04:22to kidnap her, to sexually assault her, kill her, dispose of her body, clean your truck, to wash away all
04:33evidence of what you had done.
04:35So that lie is just another demonstration of his understanding as to what he had done and cuts the legs
04:46out of any notion that he was suffering from a mental illness.
04:51You literally start out by saying, OK, this man woke up that morning, he had breakfast, he put his clothes
04:58on.
04:58He's able to get into his car and drive to the FedEx facility to pick up his FedEx truck.
05:04No mental breakdown, no freaking out, perfectly able to get to the FedEx center, got into the truck, knew he
05:13had to make deliveries.
05:14So, so far, once again, there's no mental breakdown.
05:17He was able to do all of these things exactly as he was supposed to.
05:22So now what do you want to say?
05:24Oh, it was just at that moment that everything went to hell.
05:29And my alter ego, my other personality, my bad person, my sick person now kicks in.
05:38Wow, what a coincidence.
05:39And then suddenly you snap out of the sick person and you go back to being saved because you recognize
05:46what you just did.
05:47You had the wherewithal to clean your FedEx truck.
05:51You had the wherewithal to drive to a gas station to get stuff to clean the truck.
05:56You had the wherewithal to go back to the FedEx facility and tell them, oh, by the way, don't give
06:02me just any truck tomorrow.
06:03Give me the same truck that I have today.
06:06So, unbelievable.
06:08Before it happens, no mental break.
06:11After it happens, no mental break.
06:14What an unfortunate coincidence for this man.
06:17That is why, in my opinion, mitigation is schmitigation.
06:21It means nothing.
06:22It's going out the window and he's going to get the death penalty.
06:26In Texas, which has the death penalty and historically has been the worst state in the union, if you are
06:35facing the death penalty, you're probably going to get it.
06:38There are two counties you sure as hell don't want to be in if you're worried about getting the death
06:43penalty.
06:44And that's Harris County and Tarrant County.
06:47Unfortunately for Mr. Horner, but fortunately for the rest of us, this case is being tried in Tarrant County.
06:56So, I can't say the odds are stacked against him because these are odds that he doesn't deserve.
07:01He doesn't deserve any odds, any chance.
07:03An argument could be made that Mr. Horner is better off getting the death penalty.
07:09Because if he gets life in prison without the possibility of parole, he ain't going to be around very long
07:16anyway.
07:17There are certain crimes that you commit and it is a badge of honor for someone in that institution to
07:24kill you.
07:25And they may kill you quickly or they may kill you slowly and torture you the way you tortured that
07:32child.
07:32But I can almost promise you, he ends up in jail for any extended period of time.
07:37He's coming out feet first anyway.
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