What’s next for Tanner Horner? Athena Strand killer’s death sentence triggers automatic appeals process; what it means

Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to murder last month. He killed Strand in 2022, and her body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise. fort worth. She died from blunt force trauma and strangulation.

The death sentence ended the trial, but the process was far from over. Kristi Jack, a partner at Varghese Somerset, has handled numerous death penalty cases, and death sentences trigger an automatic appeals process that can take years, CBS News reported.

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Texas law requires all death penalty cases to be automatically appealed. That means Horner’s sentence will be reviewed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals before it can proceed. His lawyers had previously asked that the death penalty be scrapped because he suffers from autism and “various mental illnesses.”

“It’s been three and a half years since she was kidnapped and killed,” Jack said. “If I had to estimate, it’s probably going to be at least twice that long before he’s executed. So, by that point, you’re talking about almost a decade of their lives that they’re going to have spent trying to get over their grief, getting over their loss.”

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Jack explained that death penalty appeals in Texas can include several stages, including review by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, post-conviction claims, and possible federal appeals.

The trial is over, but the impact of the case won’t end with the verdict, Jack said.

“True justice would bring her back, but that’s not possible,” Jack said. “I’m sure that’s what her mother was thinking…I’d give it all up just to have her back.”