Kaitlin Armstrong has been sentenced to 90 years in jail for the homicide {of professional} bike owner Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson.
The jury deliberated for a number of hours on Friday ahead of achieving the sentencing determination, which additionally integrated a $10,000 nice.
The sentencing got here an afternoon after a jury discovered her accountable of first-degree homicide after deliberating for fewer than 3 hours.
Wilson, 25, a emerging gravel racer, used to be discovered affected by a couple of gunshot wounds at a pal’s house in Austin, Texas, on Might 11, 2022, in what police stated on the time gave the impression to be a centered murder.
Armstrong, 35, a Texas yoga trainer, used to be arrested in Costa Rica following a 43-day manhunt and charged with first-degree homicide in reference to Wilson’s dying.
Wilson used to be at one time romantically connected to Armstrong’s then-boyfriend — Colin Strickland, a fellow skilled bike owner — and used to be discovered shot hours after assembly up with him in Austin, police stated.
“She achieved an entire life of achievements in 25 years after which used to be taken clear of us,” Travis County prosecutor Rick Jones stated previous to the sentencing.
Armstrong confronted a sentence of 5 to 99 years in jail or existence in jail.
Prosecutors requested the jury to believe of their sentencing determination the “calculated” nature of the taking pictures and Armstrong’s try to flee, in addition to the worrying have an effect on of the homicide on Wilson’s circle of relatives and buddy, Caitlin Money, who discovered Wilson bleeding at the flooring of her house.
State legal professional Guillermo Gonzalez requested that the jurors get started at at least 40 years in jail and “move ahead from there and make a decision what is acceptable.”
The protection had no advice for the sentence.
“As a circle of relatives, we imagine justice has been served,” Wilson’s father, Eric Wilson, stated out of doors the courthouse following the sentencing.
“Our lives are modified without end, however with this difficult ordeal now in the back of us, we’re in a position to transport ahead and proceed our therapeutic — and we can do that with Moriah’s robust, made up our minds, delicate and sort spirit, for we all know that is what she’s going to need us to do,” her father stated.
All over the two-day sentencing listening to, the court docket heard from individuals of Wilson’s grief-stricken circle of relatives.
Her mom, Karen Wilson, stated her daughter used to be destined to “are living and transfer and shine and pay attention and snort and be any such distinctive particular person.”
Her brother, Matthew Wilson, stated his sister used to be his “closest confidant.”
“My sister had her existence taken from her for no explanation why in any respect,” he stated.
The protection additionally offered witnesses, together with Armstrong’s father and sister, previous to the sentencing.
Her father, Mike Armstrong, described his daughter as “robust” and “anyone who does not get flustered by way of issues.” He gave his condolences to the Wilson circle of relatives, pronouncing, “I do know what we’re going via is horrible, however what they’re is worse.”
All over the weekslong trial, prosecutors offered video, cell phone, ballistic and DNA proof they stated proves Armstrong killed Wilson. They stated Armstrong had get admission to to her boyfriend’s emails and textual content messages with Wilson, and that she used to be ready to trace Wilson’s location via a health app. A DNA professional additionally testified that there is “very robust fortify” — the best qualifying class — that Armstrong’s DNA used to be retrieved from Wilson’s bicycle, which used to be discovered out of doors the buddy’s place of abode.
Prosecutors additionally offered proof that they stated confirmed Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Cherokee circling the place of abode’s block the night time of the murder and that her firearm used to be used within the murder.
“Most effective Kaitlin Armstrong, the defendant, suits those info that [were] offered to you via that witness chair,” Jones instructed the jurors all over ultimate statements Thursday.
The protection stated Armstrong used to be “trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial proof.”
Protection legal professional Rick Cofer stated police narrowed in on Armstrong to suit a very easy narrative of a “spurned, jealous lover” and did not examine different possible suspects within the case.
Armstrong, who had pleaded now not accountable, declined to testify in her personal protection.
An afternoon after being interviewed by way of police about Wilson’s homicide, prosecutors say Armstrong bought her Jeep and later fled to Costa Rica.
She used to be arrested in June 2022 at a hostel on Santa Teresa Seashore in Provincia de Puntarenas following a 43-day seek. Jones stated that days ahead of her arrest, Armstrong spent $6,425 on cosmetic surgery.
Armstrong used to be additionally accused of making an attempt to flee from custody previous to the beginning of the trial.
She used to be charged with break out inflicting physically harm — a criminal — after the Travis County Sheriff’s Place of job stated she in brief kept away from two corrections officials whilst being transported to an off-site scientific appointment on Oct. 11.
ABC Information’ Keturah Grey and Gina Sunseri contributed to this record.
