Overview
- The Fourteenth Court of Appeals abated Armstrong’s appeal and remanded the case for a trial-court hearing on his motion for a new trial.
- The trial court must hold the hearing by January 6, 2026, and file a transcribed record and supplemental clerk’s record by February 6, 2026.
- Justices did not decide whether a Brady violation occurred and instead ruled the trial judge abused discretion by denying a hearing.
- Defense lawyers say they learned after the 2023 conviction of a 2019 complaint to the Texas Forensic Science Commission accusing Officer Celestina Rossi of planting evidence in another case, a claim the commission later dismissed.
- Prosecutors argue the complaint is unrelated and non-disclosable and maintain the verdict rested on broader proof, including blood under a name tag on Armstrong’s clothing that tested as his father’s DNA, about which Rossi testified.