Kaitlin Armstrong murder trial set for June start as judge dismisses defence motions

Kaitlin Armstrong will now stand trial in June 2023 accused of the murder of cyclist Moriah Wilson. 

Judge Brenda Kennedy, presiding over the case, has now dismissed two motions filed by Armstrong’s defense team to suppress evidence. 

In a court hearing on Wednesday, Judge Kennedy said: "There was no evidence of any intentional disregard for the truth," regarding Armstrong’s defense team's attempt to challenge the truth of the information used by US detectives to support the search and arrest warrants during the first stages of the investigation. 

The trial was initially scheduled to begin in October but was delayed pending Judge Kennedy’s decision on the motions from Armstrong’s legal team. The trial will now begin next summer, June 2023.

Armstrong has already been charged with first-degree murder in connection to the shooting of Wilson in East Austin, Texas in May. She is currently being held in custody in a Texas jail and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On 19 October, Armstrong’s defense team requested that some of the evidence in the case was thrown out. Rick Cofer, Armstrong’s attorney has already claimed that the investigation and information used to support the warrant for his client's arrest contains “factual errors” and “incorrect assertions”. 

Cofer also previously suggested that due to the “widespread, biased publicity”, a fair trial was not possible for Armstrong. 

Prosecutors have now acknowledged errors in the original affidavit used by detectives but suggested that the errors were not a reckless attempt to disregard the truth. 

According to Cyclingnews, Judge Brenda Kennedy has also now recognised this in court and said “there was no evidence” that the errors were intentional. 

Armstrong’s legal team have also questioned the legality of the initial questioning of their client in May 2022. It has been suggested that when she was brought in with an outstanding class B warrant for her arrest that concerned an unrelated incident, she was then briefly detained and questioned about the death of Wilson. 

Cofer and his team say that the interview conducted by a detective was an “illegal interrogation” because the class B warrant was unrelated to the murder investigation. Furthermore it has been suggested that the detective in question did not read Armstrong her rights during the questioning. 

However, Judge Kennedy said that Armstrong’s team did not convince the court that the detectives acted illegally and that the court would not suppress the evidence of the interview in the trial set to begin on 26 June 2023.