Psychiatrist testifies in Tanner Horner murder trial

追加: 2026-04-30

[00:00:00]A psychiatrist who evaluated confessed child murderer Tanner her while he was in jail faced tough questioning while on the stand in his sentencing trial.

[00:00:09]Jurors will decide the punishment for her who confessed to kid kidnapping and killing seven-year-old Athena Strand.

[00:00:15]The defense is trying to prevent him getting the death penalty. Fox 4's Peyton Jagger in the newsroom with more from court today. Pton.

[00:00:22]>> Steve. Today we heard yet another reason Tanner her said he kidnapped and killed Athena Strand. All of these reasons conflicting. Hero apparently told the psychiatrist he panicked because Athena saw him snorting cocaine. The prosecution not letting up, pointing out that there is no evidence that the cocaine story is true and the only source of that information is her himself.

[00:00:46]>> The one who made you see >> Wednesday began with prosecutors cross-examining the defense's witness, Dr. Eileene Ryan, a psychiatrist. Dr. Ryan testified Tanner her lied multiple times to her during their 18-hour evaluation in jail, but eventually admitted he sexually assaulted Athena Strand, beating, kicking the seven-year-old girl, and strangling her.

[00:01:10]Dr. Ryan said her told her he grabbed Athena because she saw him snorting cocaine. And in her opinion, after her put the seven-year-old inside the back of the FedEx truck, he catastrophized.

[00:01:24]I'm not saying that his autism, PTSD, major depression, and ADHD caused him to do this, >> but Dr. Ryan says these diagnosis contribute to the way her thinks and problem solves.

[00:01:39]>> Well, how he solved the problem was obviously very disturbed and uh foolish. Um but that was how he problem solved. Prosecutors trying to poke holes in Dr. Ryan's evaluation, challenging some of her diagnosis for her, saying her didn't have problem solving issues, dumping Athena's body, cleaning up the FedEx truck, and then using the same truck for work the next day.

[00:02:08]>> To me, that his problem solving is working just fine at this point.

[00:02:14]Correct.

[00:02:15]>> I would say it's not.

[00:02:18]>> Well, it sure didn't slow him down, did it?

[00:02:21]It did not.

[00:02:22]>> Dr. Ryan also testified her created a fake alter ego named Zero to give him the ability to confess and distance himself from what he actually had done.

[00:02:33]>> I'm not sure what kind of um placement he would have based on the crime, but in terms of his actual violence risk, it would be low.

[00:02:44]>> Dr. Ryan's belief during redirect if her was sentenced to life in prison, posing a future danger. One of the factors the jury will weigh when deciding if her will be sentenced to death. And another defense witness we saw today was an expert on fetal alcohol syndrome who testified her mother's alcohol and marijuana use during the beginning of her pregnancy did damage to her's brain.

[00:03:11]Court resumes tomorrow morning. We will be there.