Tanner Horner’s legal team has filed an appeal seeking a new trial following his death sentence for the 2022 capital murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County.
Horner, 34, pleaded guilty at the start of his April 2026 trial in Tarrant County to kidnapping and killing the girl while working as a FedEx contract driver. He admitted to luring Athena into his van while delivering a package to her family’s rural home on November 30, 2022, then strangling her and dumping her body near the Trinity River.
After weeks of testimony in the punishment phase, a jury deliberated less than three hours before unanimously recommending death by lethal injection on May 5, 2026. Judge George Gallagher formally sentenced Horner the same day.
Horner’s attorneys filed the appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals shortly after sentencing, triggering the state’s automatic review process for all death penalty cases. The filing argues for reversal of the conviction or sentence based on issues from the trial record…