Tanner Horner Verdict is in!

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:03]All right, everyone may be seated.

[00:00:06]Good afternoon.

[00:00:08]Mr. Presiding Juror, it is my understanding the jury has reached a verdict on both issues.

[00:00:13]Okay. If you'd hand it, please, to the deputy clerk.

[00:00:18]>> [clears throat] >> Answers to special issues. Special issue number one, whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. Answer, we the jury unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the answer to special issue number one is yes.

[00:00:41]Signed by the presiding juror.

[00:00:43]Special issue number two, whether taking it into consideration all the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant's character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than a death sentence be imposed. Answer, we the jury unanimously unanimously [clears throat] find that the answer to special issue number two is no.

[00:01:11]Signed by the presiding juror.

[00:01:14]Does either side desire a poll?

[00:01:16]Yes, Your Honor.

[00:01:18]Yes, Your Honor.

[00:01:20]Ms. Anderson, >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Goebel, is there any legal reason why sentence should not be pronounced?

[00:01:25]No, Your Honor. Mr. Horner, if you'd stand, please. It's the order of the court that you Tenderland Horner is been adjudged to be guilty of the offense of capital murder as found by the jury.

[00:01:35]Jury having answered the special issues, making it mandatory that your punish punishment be death, it is therefore the order of this court that your punishment be death before the hour of sunrise on a day day to be determined by this court upon a mandate of affirmance issued by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals at the State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.

[00:01:56]You will be caused to die in accordance with the rules and regulations established by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice until you, said Tanner Horner, are dead.

[00:02:08]Said execution pre-procedure shall be determined and supervised by the director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

[00:02:15]The clerk of this court shall issue a death warrant in accordance with this sentence directed to the director director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for that purpose.

[00:02:25]Clerk shall deliver such warrant to the sheriff of this county and to be by him delivered to the director of the Department of Criminal Justice together with you.

[00:02:34]And you will remain to the custody of the Tarrant County Jail to await transportation to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at Huntsville, Texas and the execution of this sentence.

[00:02:45]I will sign this death sentence as required by law.

[00:02:49]Your appeal of the finding of this guilt by the jury and their determination of the answers to the question in this sentence are automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, Texas.

[00:03:01]You will be appointed a lawyer to represent you on direct appeal and your lawyer will receive a copy of the record of this charge of this case at no charge.

[00:03:11]You have the right to have a second lawyer to represent you on writs of habeas corpus. It's a separate matter from your direct appeal. Do you wish to have counsel appointed for your writ purposes? Yes, sir. Okay, then I will appoint you uh lawyers uh writ lawyers for that.

[00:03:29]Is Anderson, Mr. Gobel, if you will remain on his case pending your his decision uh and we have all the appellate paperwork filled out. I have received his uh acknowledgement certification of the right to appeal and I appreciate you doing that. You may be seated. Is there an allocution?

[00:04:03]>> [snorts] >> He may speak.

[00:04:12]He may speak from wherever he feels the most comfortable.

[00:04:21]>> [clears throat] >> Uh I'm Elijah Strawn. I'm Jacob's brother, Athena's uncle.

[00:04:30]Um There are no words that truly capture the devastation that Tanner Horner caused us and in our family.

[00:04:47]What he took from this world is not just a child.

[00:04:52]He took a life, a future, and a piece of every single person who loved her.

[00:04:59]>> [snorts] >> He took a granddaughter, a daughter, a niece, a cousin, >> [snorts] >> and a friend.

[00:05:15]She would call me Uncle Elijah cuz she for the longest time couldn't say the Elijah part of my name.

[00:05:25]>> [snorts] >> It was the best thing to see her running up to me with her arms open yelling Uncle Elijah.

[00:05:35]And that's one of my last memories I have of her.

[00:05:42]And now I get to never hear that again.

[00:05:48]Athena was more than just one hit.

[00:05:51]>> [snorts] >> She was laughter, curiosity, kindness, and innocence.

[00:05:59]And she had a dreams that she will never get to share.

[00:06:04]>> [snorts] >> Birthdays that she will never celebrate.

[00:06:07]And a life she'll never get to live because of his actions.

[00:06:15]Our family has been left with an emptiness that can never be filled.

[00:06:20]I have three daughters.

[00:06:22]Two that gets to got to meet her and grow with her.

[00:06:26]And one that will never be.

[00:06:32]And he took that away from them as well.

[00:06:36]A cousin and a friend.

[00:06:43]>> [snorts] >> He stole the sense of safety from all of us in our family.

[00:06:47]Me and my wife just got comfortable enough to let our kids play outside and that's even in our backyard, not close to the road.

[00:06:57]>> [snorts] >> He's robbed us of safety, peace, and our trust in the world.

[00:07:10]>> [snorts] >> And forever changed who we are as a family.

[00:07:18]And we are left to carry a grief that never fades.

[00:07:22]We are left with questions that we'll still never have answers.

[00:07:29]And we are left trying to honor a beautiful little girl whose life was taken in the most senseless and horrific way.

[00:07:43]Sandra Warner, I want to give hear this directly.

[00:07:48]You did not just take a life, you destroyed a family.

[00:07:52]You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence.

[00:07:59]You chose to cause pain that will last generations.

[00:08:06]You say you found God, but what you did to Athena stands in direct opposition to everything that you now claim to believe.

[00:08:15]>> [snorts] >> In Matthew 18:6, it says, "If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck than to be drowned."

[00:08:29]That is how seriously harm against child is judged.

[00:08:37]And you will be judged. You will face the wrath of God.

[00:08:43]But I want you to know that you are nothing.

[00:08:49]You are