"They Have to Humanize Him" Defense Strategy in Sentencing Trial of Athena Strand's Killer

Added: 2026-05-03

[00:00:00]We saw Athena's mom actually testify, which is just heart-wrenching.

[00:00:05]Um I mean, it just just absolutely heart-wrenching. And we've got sot one where Athena's mom has said she just felt like she was dying. She describes going to actually see her daughter's remains and how she looked and having to clean her up after this. It's just it's awful. If we could play sot one.

[00:00:26]And where were you at that time when you when you got the information she had just been missing?

[00:00:32]I was in my house. My phone had died.

[00:00:36]And uh And my older sister came banging on the door. Like you would have thought the house was on fire.

[00:00:45]And she just I opened the door and she said, "Athena's missing."

[00:00:50]And immediately I said, "No, she's not."

[00:00:53]So, I went and got my phone.

[00:00:56]And Jacob's name popped up on my phone.

[00:01:00]Some people will say that moms know when when things happen. Do you agree with that?

[00:01:08]Yes.

[00:01:09]And I just It felt like I was dying. I couldn't breathe.

[00:01:18]But I knew I had to keep going.

[00:01:21]I almost had to brakes because I thought I was having a heart attack.

[00:01:28]But I just told myself that if I kept going he would be okay and I would find her.

[00:01:38]I went in about an hour before I had actually told Jacob to show up because [snorts] I didn't know what she would look like. And I didn't know how bad it would be.

[00:01:54]>> [snorts] >> And I didn't want him to see our daughter like that.

[00:01:59]So I went in around 8:00 in the morning with just my dad.

[00:02:08]Her ears were messed up.

[00:02:11]And she had incision lines.

[00:02:16]And her chin was scraped up.

[00:02:20]And so we put her in a hospital gown cuz I didn't have clothes for her. And she was naked.

[00:02:29]>> [snorts] >> And I searched her body looking for any reason that that wasn't my baby.

[00:02:42]And then we did her makeup so Jacob wouldn't have to see the discoloration and how bad it was.

[00:02:53]You know, Ashley, I don't know that the prosecution needs a whole lot more um evidence than that to justify the death penalty that they're seeking.

[00:03:05]That's That's just horrible. And you know, anybody, whether you're a parent or not, you got to empathize with that mom. There she is with pink. She She colored her She dyed her hair pink for this and she's wearing pink because that was little Athena's favorite color. And so, if there's anything that puts the horrific nature of the crime of murder into context, it's got to be that testimony right there. I mean, I can't I cannot even imagine. I'm wearing pink um in her honor. I saw that the mom is wearing pink and I'm sure she wants to try to have some connection now to this little girl. I I I can't imagine sitting as a juror. I mean, I really can't. Um you know, I have two daughters, you have a daughter. Uh we're going through life's milestones, you know, for those viewers that don't know, Phil and I we're both going through our daughters graduating from high school and getting ready to go off to college and you know, going through that and I I just I can't even imagine having to make a decision like this. Um it's it's awful. But the defense is doing what they can to try to humanize their client um and I think that really is the goal. And And I think it's important for our viewers to really understand that people that do death penalty defense, they very much do not agree with the death penalty. And so, the same thing with experts, you know, I know a lot of experts in this case have gotten a lot of heat um and people really hate them. And it's it's easy to get mad at them for doing their job, but I think it's also important to understand a lot of them have very strong religious convictions against the death penalty, um moral convictions against the death penalty, just the whole process. And so, that sort of draws them to that. So, what they're trying to do really is just humanize him um to say that the state should not kill him. Um but we've heard, you know, we've heard We actually heard from his mother.

[00:04:44]So, Melissa Horner, who is Tanner's mother, testified on day nine of the trial. Um she testified about some of the things that happened in his youth and his childhood. Um you know, a kind of a bad upbringing, uh drinking, drugs, you know, found his mother drunk, you know, passed out from drugs a couple times. Um apparently he was sexually assaulted when he was younger by a family member. So, there you know, there are some things that that were going on um in his trial. She said that she did admit to watching the trial, which was interesting. So, she she's not been able to keep away and she actually panicked on the stand when they caught her that she had been live-streaming the trial. I think we've got that at sot three.

[00:05:24]What is your understanding of what happened in this At first or after right now? Well, let's talk about it from first.

[00:05:37]Well, at first I believed in what my son told me. And what did he tell you?

[00:05:42]That he had backed into a little girl.

[00:05:44]He panicked and strangled her.

[00:05:48]And um So, you said at first I believed that.

[00:05:53]And now do you believe something different?

[00:05:57]He said, "Yeah."

[00:05:59]You know, has he been watching the live streams of the of the trial?

[00:06:02]>> Don't let me Don't let me go to jail.

[00:06:04]What was that? Don't let me go to jail for that. No. Yes, I have. Okay. You're You're not in I'm just asking if you've had the op- had the ability to watch the trial properly.

[00:06:14]>> The trial.

[00:06:16]So, now that you've Now that you've seen these things what is your understanding about what happened?

[00:06:28]I don't know what to say.

[00:06:30]I'm so sorry.

[00:06:33]>> [laughter] >> I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say.

[00:06:40]>> [clears throat] >> You know, Ashley, this is a defense witness. And by the way, speaking of her watching the the live stream, she's under instructions, as are all witnesses, not to watch any of the proceedings until after they are released from their subpoena and they finish testifying. So, it's technically a violation of the judge's instructions.

[00:07:02]And so, that's why she was saying, you know, don't don't let me go to jail.

[00:07:05]>> Right. It's technically contemptuous, but in this case it's I don't think anybody's making a big deal about it.

[00:07:11]Certainly not the prosecution because the big point here that I want to make is that this mother, Melissa Horner, is I don't think she's really that great of a defense witness because I think she's actually helping the prosecution because um she [laughter] she she she gives the jury sort of the impression that even his mother is, you know, just mortified at the horrific nature of his crimes.

[00:07:39]Obviously she loves him as his mother, but but she's very much mortified and appalled by what her son has now admitted to doing. So, honestly, I think that her testimony is probably a net positive for the prosecution. Yeah. No, I do, too. And the one thing I did want to point out before we we move on um to our break, the defense did on on yesterday, on Tuesday, on day 13 of the trial, they called who I thought was a an interesting witness, um Dr. Eileen Ryan. And she is a defense expert. She's a psychiatrist. She And one of the things that I've been sort of focused in on is this dissociative disorder, this this Zero that he's been talking about. She testified about that. And she said regarding Zero, Dr. Ryan doesn't believe that he has dissociative identity disorder. She believes Zero was a fabrication to help Horner confess because he was deeply ashamed. And so, telling the truth through a third party was easier for him. She also said that his mental health diagnosis did not cause him to hurt Athena or render him insane at the time of the crime. She was just talking about the mitigating factors that she found that said he was a severely compromised individual. So, I don't think she did a whole lot of helping, either.