Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 35, was once sentenced on Friday to 90 years in jail and a $10,000 high quality for the homicide of Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson.
A jury of her friends in Travis County delivered a in charge verdict on Thursday within the nine-day trial on the Blackwell-Thurman Legal Justice Middle in Austin, Texas.
Lawyers introduced witnesses within the penalty segment, which started overdue Thursday afternoon right away after the jury took not up to 3 hours to planned and go back a in charge verdict for homicide. Armstrong had pled now not in charge to first-degree homicide fees.
Sooner than abbreviated ultimate arguments on Friday, jurors heard from Wilson’s oldsters and brother, after which the daddy and sister of Armstrong. The jury thought to be a termed sentence of five to 99 years or existence in jail with out a parole. The decision was once learn at roughly 2:30 p.m. CT with confinement for 90 years, with eligibility for parole after part of the sentence is served.
Protection of the lawsuits was once authorised within the court docket for opening statements, ultimate arguments, and the decision, which Courtroom TV known as the ‘Love Triangle Homicide Trial’.
Prosecutor Rickey Jones made the State’s ultimate observation, and he replayed a recording from a Ring doorbell digital camera that was once a part of the proof introduced all the way through the nine-day trial, noting “the very last thing Mo Wilson did in this earth, on Would possibly 11, 2022, at 9:15 p.m. was once scream in terror.”
That recording from the digital camera, which was once located outdoor the place of abode the place Wilson was once staying in Austin, was once performed for jurors and the audio resonated with screams from a feminine and the sound of 2 obvious gunshots.
After a pause, an obvious 3rd gunshot was once heard at the recording. Prosecutor Rickey Jones stated the primary two pictures struck Wilson within the head and had been deadly, whilst the 3rd bullet was once fired into her center.
Defence lawyers mentioned that now not all proof was once examined for DNA and there was once now not an intensive investigation about different imaginable suspects, in line with reviews in The Austin American-Stateman.
Wilson, a highly-successful gravel racer, had received the hole spherical of the Existence Time Grand Prix’s Sea Otter Vintage Fuego MTB 80K in April 2022 and 4 different early-season gravel races. She was once in Austin for the Gravel Locos race, forward of a defence of her name at Unbound Gravel, and was once discovered fatally shot in a chum’s rental in Austin, Texas on Would possibly 11, 2022.
After a six-day inquiry, police issued an arrest warrant on Would possibly 17, 2022 for Armstrong, who fled the rustic the use of her sister’s passport, flying to Costa Rica. She was once apprehended 43 days later and taken into custody.
Armstrong’s trial started on November 1, 2023, with the State offering 8 days of testimony from witnesses together with Armstrong’s boyfriend Colin Strickland, who was once the final individual to peer Wilson alive. Wilson and Strickland had a temporary romantic dating all the way through a breakup between Armstrong and Strickland in 2021, and a couple of witnesses testified to Armstrong being jealous of Wilson.
Armstrong subsequent faces a separate prison rate of seeking to break out from custody, inflicting physically damage, for a failed break out final month. If convicted, she faces an extra twenty years in jail.
Wilson’s circle of relatives issued a observation after the decision on Thursday, calling the previous yr and a part a ”unhappy tale”.
“As a circle of relatives, we consider justice has been served, and naturally we’ve many of us to thank, however first I wish to thank God for giving us energy, convenience and a measure of peace thru this trial procedure. We all know many other people again house and across the nation had been praying for us and we recognize that very a lot.”
The observation then thanked many people, together with lawyers and public protection officers, earlier than noting that the end result had “no winners”.
“Instead of the prosecution crew, there actually are not any winners right here. This unhappy tale is an ideal instance of why integrity and honesty are a very powerful in our non-public relationships, and the way dishonesty can ceaselessly result in accidental penalties. Egocentric manipulation, jealousy and hatred by no means result in excellent results. Violence is rarely an effective way to unravel non-public problems, actually, violence doesn’t clear up anything else however best ends up in extra struggling.”
