DALLAS — Lawyers for Tanner Horner, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old North Texas girl Athena Strand, are asking a Tarrant County court to take the death penalty off the table, saying he has autism.
Horner, a former FedEx driver, is charged with capital murder in Strand’s death, and he currently faces the death penalty.
In November 2022, Horner told police he struck Strand with his delivery van while backing up, according to court documents. He allegedly kidnapped her and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father about the incident, documents said. Horner then led authorities to where he had left her body in Wise County near Boyd, authorities said…