Defense Opens With Expert Attacking the Future Danger Rule | Pt 34 | Athena Strand Murder Trial

They could have opened with the grandmother. They could have opened with the neurologist on fetal alcohol, lead, and autism. The defense picked math. Dr. John Edens is a Texas A&M psychology professor who has testified fifteen or sixteen times in capital cases, almost always for the defense. He retired his Texas license years ago. He does not examine defendants. He did not examine Tanner Horner. He is here to teach the jury about one number. Watch what James Stainton does on cross. The state is not going to attack the credentials. The state is going to walk Edens to three concessions that will show up in closing. Whether this case is rare and extreme. Whose study population actually lived in general population. What happens when a person defaults to violence when provoked. Why this witness matters. Texas capital juries cannot vote death unless all twelve of them answer yes to Special Issue Number One, the probability that a defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would be a continuing threat to society. Edens is the defense's attempt to put a scientific-sounding reason to answer no in the jury's hand before the mitigation case even starts. --- WATCH WITH JUSTICE 0:00 to 10:00 - The credentialing. Texas A&M professor, 200 publications, fellow of major psychological associations, author of the correctional interpretive report for the Personality Assessment Inventory. The defense is building an authority the state cannot dismiss on paper. 10:00 to 24:00 - Edens walks the jury through the DSM-5 framework. Personality disorders. Mood disorders. Developmental disorders. Pay attention here because antisocial personality disorder is the diagnosis state experts lean on in future-danger cases, and Edens is about to tell the jury it does not predict anything. 24:00 to 36:00 - The numbers land. A 2015 study across four prisons says antisocial personality disorder is irrelevant to prison misconduct. A bigger study of 155 Texas capital cases, all with a state expert predicting future danger, tracked roughly a decade inside TDCJ. Five percent committed severe prison violence. Zero committed murders. This is the closing-argument ammunition the defense came to deliver. 36:00 to 57:30 - The real risk factors, according to the science. Age. Education. Gang membership. Prior prison violence. Notice what is NOT on the list. The crime that put somebody in prison. A history of community violence. Edens is telling the jury the intuitive answer to future danger is the wrong answer. 57:30 to 1:14:00 - James Stainton gets up. He does not attack Edens. He moves him. Paid expert. Testifies almost only for defense. Did not examine Horner. Watch Stainton walk Edens to admit that kidnapping plus sexual assault plus capital murder is rare and extreme, and that the 155-case study drew from death row population, not general population. 1:14:00 to end - The hypothetical that matters most. If a person defaults to violence when provoked, does prison violence become more likely? Edens concedes yes. Watch Stainton sit down there. The state has what it needs for closing. --- COMPLETE CASE COVERAGE justiceisaprocess.com SUBSCRIBE for daily trial coverage and hit the notification bell so you never miss testimony. JOIN to unlock the Case Notebook powered by NotebookLM, where you can chat with the evidence, ask questions about the testimony, and go deeper than any comment section allows. CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://www.justiceisaprocess.com/tx-... Complete case overview including charges, timeline, key players, and legal analysis for the capital murder trial of Tanner Lynn Horner in the death of Athena Strand. PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://www.justiceisaprocess.com/cov... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • LIVE BROADCAST: TX v. Tanner Horner   No Breaks Edition:    • NO BREAKS EDITION: TX v. Tanner Horner   Trial Analysis Podcast:    • PODCAST: TX v. Tanner Horner   Key Moments and Testimony:    • KEY MOMENTS: TX v. Tanner Horner   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #AthenaStrand #TannerHorner