A new attorney for convicted murderer Kaitlin Armstrong says she deserves a new trial because her old attorneys didn’t adequately explain her traumatic childhood or that she was pregnant near the time she was arrested in Costa Rica, where she fled after killing pro cyclist Mo Wilson.
Jessica Freud filed the motion on December 15, claiming there is also evidence that a prosecution witness lacked the qualifications to say how Armstrong’s DNA came to be on Wilson’s bicycle and because a judge refused to suppress Armstrong’s statements when she was first questioned by police, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Armstrong, 35, was found guilty of Wilson’s May 11, 2022, murder and sentenced in November to 90 years in prison, as CrimeOnline reported. Prosecutors presented evidence that Armstrong was jealous of Wilson’s relationship with her cyclist boyfriend Colin Strickland, with whom she had a brief affair when Armstrong and Strickland were on one of several “breaks” in their relationship.
Wilson, 25, was found shot to death a friend’s apartment in Austin, where she was staying for a race, hours after a clandestine swimming and dinner date with Strickland.
Prosecutors said Armstrong was tracking correspondence between Wilson and her boyfriend through a shared iPad. They also claimed that on the day of the murder, Armstrong managed to find where Wilson was staying in Austin through Strava, a fitness app that allowed users to log their workouts. Wilson reportedly logged a three-mile bike ride on the app shortly before her murder.
During a May 14 interrogation, police reportedly showed Armstrong footage of her car outside of the apartment where Wilson was found dead. The same day, Armstrong flew out of Austin and boarded a connecting flight to New York LaGuardia Airport. She later fled to Costa Rica, where she was found 43 days later.
Armstrong also spent thousands getting plastic surgery in an attempt to alter her appearance.
Freud claimed in her motion that had Armstrong’s previous attorneys presented better evidence about her trauma, her punishment would have been less severe. She said part of the trauma was two pregnancies, including one near the time she was arrested, but does not say what happened to either of those pregnancies.
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[Featured image: Kaitlin Armstrong/police, Colin Strickland/Flo Bikes, and Mo Wilson/family]
