What happens next after Tanner Horner death sentence?

Murder Files Unsealed · May 9, 2026 · 45m · transcript

In 2026, former delivery driver Tanner Lynn Horner was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the 2022 kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Athena Strand. Despite the defense’s attempt to use autism and neurological impairments as mitigating factors, the jury was moved by harrowing evidence, including audio recordings of the victim’s final moments. Following the verdict, the Strand family expressed a sense of profound justice while noting that the defendant would eventually be forgotten. Under Texas law, Horner’s sentence triggers an automatic appeals process that typically lasts over…