Kaitlin Armstrong trial: Austin prosecutors seek gag order as defense blasts 'biased and flawed investigation'
Travis County prosecutors are seeking a gag order to bar Kaitlin Armstrong's lawyers from discussing the case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EXCLUSIVE: In a flurry of court filings this week, 34-year-old Texas murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong’s defense team again demanded a speedy trial and lambasted the prosecution’s "biased and flawed" investigation and an "unserious and disingenuous" request for a gag order.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza’s office filed a motion to prohibit comment to the media Thursday, after Armstrong’s defense team requested a handful of subpoenas and accused police of failing to read her Miranda rights during an interview days after the alleged love triangle slaying of pro cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson, 25.
Armstrong’s attorneys opposed the gag order request – arguing that it would only apply to their client since the prosecution’s version of events is already well-documented in the public sphere.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"By delaying this request for a communications ban, and after promulgating its own narrative in the press during that time, the state has waived any serious argument that a total ban should now come into effect," they argued in documents viewed by Fox News Digital.
TEXAS MURDER SUSPECT KAITLIN ARMSTRONG'S LAWYERS ACCUSE POLICE OF USING INVALID ARREST WARRANT
Booking photos taken after Kaitlin Armstrong's extradition to the U.S. appear to show a change in her facial features. (US Marshals, Travis County Sheriff's Office)
According to investigators, surveillance cameras spotted Armstrong’s Jeep SUV outside the apartment where someone shot Wilson to death in the bathroom on the evening of May 11. They also said that shell casings found at the scene matched those from a gun belonging to Armstrong.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Earlier that night, Wilson had gone out to dinner with Colin Strickland, a 35-year-old fellow pro cyclist and Armstrong’s live-in boyfriend.
Armstrong was questioned and released – and her defense team asked the judge to throw out that evidence, arguing she was not mirandized and that Austin police made other mistakes during her initial questioning.
Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson smiles after a gravel cycling race. (The Wilson Family)
As Fox News Digital has reported, after her release, she sold her car, flew to New York, visited her sister, and then caught a flight from New Jersey to Costa Rica.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FUGITIVE KAITLIN ARMSTRONG: TIMELINE OF AUSTIN MURDER SUSPECT'S DISAPPEARANCE AND CAPTURE
After a 43-day manhunt, Costa Rican investigators captured her on an immigration violation and deported her to the U.S., where she has been incarcerated ever since.
Warrants obtained by Fox News Digital revealed gruesome details about the slaying.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On the evening of May 11, police found Wilson dead on a bathroom floor with at least three bullet wounds, two to the head and a third to her chest that allegedly occurred "after she was already laying supine on the floor," documents say. She had an exit wound on her back, and police found a bullet and chipped tile beneath her.
She also had lacerations on a finger on her right hand and under her chin, according to the warrant.
Colin Strickland seen outside his Austin, Texas, home on June 17, 2022. (MEGA)
Strickland also told detectives Armstrong had previously gone to a shooting range with her sister to practice her firearm skills and that he hid his contact with Wilson by putting her in his phone under a false name.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An anonymous tipster who police say they believe to be credible also alleged that Armstrong had expressed a desire to kill Wilson out of jealousy months earlier when she learned of the relationship. Despite that apparent anger, Strickland bought her a 9mm handgun in December or January, the warrants state. Ballistic forensics later linked it to shell casings found at the crime scene.
Strickland and Wilson had a brief tryst in October 2021 while he was on a break from Armstrong, his girlfriend of three years, according to the warrants. The California resident was visiting Texas in May ahead of a competition and met up with Strickland in Austin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Surveillance video shows Armstrong at an airport after she fled Texas. (US Marshals)
Other motions filed on behalf of Armstrong this week include a request to examine the ballistic evidence and to suppress evidence they say police obtained improperly.
Cofer, Armstrong's attorney, argued that a misdemeanor warrant obtained by the Austin Police Department in May used in her initial questioning — before she was released — was invalid, and therefore prosecutors should not be allowed to use evidence gathered at the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He also alleges that when APD officers initially questioned Armstrong at her home on May 12 following Wilson's May 11 shooting death, they did not read her Miranda rights and did not let Armstrong leave until she asked for the sixth time.
Armstrong’s lawyers are demanding a speedy trial and have argued that there’s much more to the case that has not yet been made public.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Miss Armstrong wants her day in court," Cofer told reporters after her arraignment on July 20. "She wants a trial, and you heard the district attorney threaten sanctions over her desire for a trial. As a matter of course, cases should not be indicted if prosecutors are not prepared to proceed."
Armstrong is due back in court on Aug. 24 for a pretrial hearing. She has pleaded not guilty, and her attorneys maintain her innocence.
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.