The capital murder trial of Tanner Horner may not take place early next year as originally scheduled.
Just days after a scheduling order was issued in the case by 271st District Judge Brock Smith setting jury selection to begin in late January/early February with a mid-March trial date, Horner and his defense team with the Regional Public Defenders Office (RPDO) filed a notice that he does not consent to Smith continuing to preside over the case.
TANNER LYNN HORNER
“It is my wish that the entirety of my case be transferred to Tarrant County, Texas,” Horner wrote in the pretrial motion filed Oct. 7.
Horner is facing a potential death penalty in the 2022 murder case of 7-year Athena Strand.
On Sept. 20, Smith granted a motion by Horner to move his capital murder trial out of Wise County, and the judge ordered the trial be held in Tarrant County. According to state law, when a judge grants a motion for change of venue, the judge continues to preside over the case only if all parties agree.
As of Wednesday, no public record could be found indicating if the case had been assigned a judge and a court in Tarrant County yet.
Since a new judge and a new court will now be taking up the case, it is likely a new scheduling order will be issued at some point in the future.
Before filing the motion for a new judge, Horner and his defense team filed a motion Oct. 4 asking Smith to reconsider his scheduling order to allow more time to investigate issues in the case in preparation for trial. The motion also notes that a new member of the defense team started working on the case in August and does not have time to review all the evidence in the case. That attorney also has another capital murder trial previously scheduled for next May that would not allow the attorney “time to recover from the physical and emotional tolls sustained by those representing a capital defendant, for months without respite, in a proceeding that is literally a matter of life or death before immediately moving on to the next one,” the motion states.
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton confirmed that the motion has no effect on his office’s prosecution of the case.
Horner remained in the Wise County Jail Wednesday with bond set at $1.5 million.
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