Tanner Horner's request for new trial in capital murder case denied

Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Aug 1, 2026

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FORT WORTH, Texas — The former FedEx driver who was sentenced to death in May for the capital murder of 7-year-old Wise County girl Athena Strand has had his request for a new trial denied.

Tanner Horner’s attorneys filed the motion in Tarrant County on June 4, alleging that widespread media coverage intimidated some key witnesses who refused to testify and made it impossible for the 34-year-old defendant to get a fair trial.

According to law, the judge had until July 20 to rule on the motion. Judge George Gallagher opted not to sign the order for a new trial, meaning the motion was automatically denied, a court spokesperson told the Star-Telegram.

Derek Adame, a criminal defense attorney in Denton County and a certified death penalty lawyer who is not involved in the Horner case, said filing a motion for a new trial is a common strategy, even when attorneys don’t have much ground to stand on and don’t expect the request to be granted.

“In my experience, it’s pretty rare that a motion for new trial gets granted,” Adame told the Star-Telegram during a phone interview in July. “The bar is pretty high. You basically have to show, you have to prove that there now exists evidence, or evidence that you did not have before during the trial.”

Building a case for the future is another reason attorneys ask for a new trial, Adame said. Even if the motion isn’t successful, it still gets the information into the court record and gives the defense something to build on during the appeals process.

Capital murder trial

The capital murder trial ran from April 7 through May 5 in Tarrant County’s 297th District Court. On the first day, Horner pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing Athena after delivering a package to her family’s home near Paradise on Nov. 30, 2022. The former FedEx driver was arrested on Dec. 2, 2022, after investigators traced the package and saw a video clip of him placing Athena in the truck.

Following Horner’s guilty plea, the jury heard evidence from both sides to help them decide on a punishment verdict. Prosecutors introduced video and audio evidence showing that Horner sexually assaulted the child before brutally murdering her and dumping her body in the water along the Trinity River.

During the course of the trial, Horner’s attorneys brought in expert witnesses to talk about the defendant’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, lead exposure and troubled home life. They tried to convince the jury that he should receive life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After less than three hours of deliberation, the jury handed down the death penalty. They voted unanimously that Horner is a future danger to society and that there were not sufficient mitigating circumstances to justify a life sentence.

All death penalty sentences in Texas are automatically appealed, and Horner’s attorneys filed notice of his appeal in May, according to court records. That appeal is still pending in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.