Tanner Horner's Mother Stops Believing Her Son on the Stand | Pt 35 | Athena Strand Murder Trial

She drank enough in her pregnancy to give herself cirrhosis. Today she took the stand to save her son, then told the jury she no longer believes him. Melissa Horner is the defendant's mother. She spent twenty-five years on heroin, has cirrhosis from drinking, and testified today through the pain of two neck surgeries with screws she says are working their way down her back. She is the defense's first mitigation witness, here to give the jury the origin story of the broken brain her lawyers are asking twelve people to spare her son for. Watch this testimony in four movements. Her own childhood of abuse and addiction. The eight and a half weeks she drank heavily before she knew she was pregnant. The Asperger's diagnosis at Cook Children's and the childhood meltdowns where Tanner would punch himself in the head. Then the last five minutes, where the defense asks her what she now believes happened. Watch that last answer. The jury is choosing between death and life without parole. The defense is building the broken brain case one witness at a time, and the neurological experts on fetal alcohol exposure, lead poisoning, and autism are still to come. Everything those experts testify about has to attach to something real. Melissa Horner is what they attach to. --- WATCH WITH JUSTICE 0:50 to 14:20 - Her own story first. Mother had her at sixteen. First stepfather started assaulting her at four, and her mother did not believe her when she reported it. What finally ended it was going to rehab at fourteen for weed. 14:20 to 22:00 - By seventeen she is in topless bars to live. Twelve years of dancing. Meth to get on the stage. Twenty-five years of heroin after that. An intentional overdose. Watch her tell the jury plainly what her life was like. 22:09 to 39:30 - She meets Terry at the club. He rapes her the first night. She marries him at nineteen. She drinks heavily through the first eight and a half weeks of her pregnancy with Tanner before she knows. Then watch small-child Tanner find her nodded out on the toilet and tell the house she is dead. 47:30 to 58:52 - Cook Children's. Six weeks of testing. Asperger's. Watch her describe the meltdowns where Tanner punches himself in the head hard enough that she thought he might knock himself out. This is the behavioral evidence the defense experts will attach to. 58:52 to 1:09:00 - Home with Mimi and Papa. The grandfather who raised Tanner and taught him music and also bullied him. The day Tanner picks Papa up off of his mother because he is finally big enough to protect her. Then the grandson, and Tanner as a scared new father. 1:10:09 to end - The defense asks what she understands about what happened. At first she believed her son. Now she does not. Watch her last answer. That is the ballgame. --- 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