The Trial: USA

James Stainton spent years working to bring Tanner Horner to justice for abusing and killing a beloved child before callously discarding her remains in rural Texas on November 30, 2022.On this episode, Stainton shares with The Trial: USA’s Kayla Brantley what it was like to shoulder the task of seeking justice for Athena Strand and her devastated family. He also discusses capital punishment and why, as he argued at trial, Horner's actions are why the death penalty exists.Horner was sentenced to execution by lethal injection on May 5 after a five-week jury trial held to determine his fate. He’d previously pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping the first-grader, who was abducted from her family’s sprawling property in Paradise, Texas.Athena’s death devastated her family, friends and community. She inspired a law that enables law enforcement to employ quicker responses to missing children calls by issuing what has become known as an “Athena Alert.” Her family also started a charity in her honor in an effort to share the little girl’s legacy.Athena’s Army: https://asarmy.com/Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justice for a joyful little girl who was abducted outside her rural Texas home and murdered by a stranger driving a delivery truck.MaryAnn Martinez, the Daily Mail’s Texas bureau chief, was in the courtroom as a jury sealed the fate of 7-year-old Athena Strand’s killer, Tanner Horner.Athena, a first-grader with an affinity for the outdoors and the color pink, was abused and tortured by Horner, a FedEx driver, before he killed her and callously discarded her tiny frame in a nearby creek on Nov. 30, 2022.A frantic, multi-day search for Athena ensued. The child’s death traumatized her rural community.Horner pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping in April but a jury still had to determine his fate, which in Texas included the possibility of the death penalty. After a five-week trial,Athena’s family watched as the panel found that Horner should be executed by lethal injection.On this episode, Martinez discusses the case with host Kayla Brantley and takes us inside the courtroom for the dramatic last moments of the proceeding.We also learn what is expected to happen next as Horner waits on death row.Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Trial USA, we bring you everything we know so far about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, who police say was abducted from her home in the middle of the night. Investigators have confirmed forced entry and blood at the scene, and say this is now being treated as a crime. We speak to senior investigative reporter Steve Helling, who has been covering the case all week, about the timeline, the evidence, the alleged ransom note sent to TMZ, and what police believe may have happened.We then bring you an update on a case we previously covered in depth: Brendan Banfield, the former IRS agent accused of orchestrating his wife’s murder and killing a stranger as part of an elaborate cover-up. A Virginia jury has now found Banfield guilty on all major counts, and we break down the verdict, the prosecution’s case, and what happens next.And finally, we cover the stunning new charge involving Jill Biden’s ex-husband, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife in Delaware.The Trial: USA is part of the Crime Desk. Press here to subscribe today for ad-free listening, full access to all our shows, early access to new shows, and bonus episodes.Follow us on Instagram @TheTrialPod.Follow us on TikTok @dailymailcrimeFollow us on X @thetrialpodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel @TheCrimeDeskEmail us thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Click here to sign up for The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.Presenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informationFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Trial: USA, we break down the explosive case against luxury real-estate powerbrokers the Alexander Brothers. Once known for closing multimillion-dollar deals for A-list clients, the siblings are now facing serious criminal charges that threaten to bring their empire crashing down.Host Kayla Brantley is joined by Katherine Kallergis, senior reporter at The Real Deal - who helped uncover the case to explain how the allegations emerged, what prosecutors say happened, and why this trial could have major ripple effects across New York’s elite real-estate world.Also in this episode, a major development in the controversial 2011 death of Ellen Greenberg. After years of being ruled a suicide, federal prosecutors are now moving to reopen the case, reigniting questions that have haunted her family for more than a decade.Plus, we bring you the latest from the Brendan Banfield murder trial, where prosecutors allege a chilling plot involving betrayal, manipulation, and the killing of both his wife and a complete stranger.The Trial: USA is part of the Crime Desk. Press here to subscribe today for ad-free listening, full access to all our shows, early access to new shows, and bonus episodes.Follow us on Instagram @TheTrialPod.Follow us on TikTok @dailymailcrimeFollow us on X @thetrialpodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel @TheCrimeDeskEmail us thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Click here to sign up for The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.Presenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informationFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trial: USA breaks down the criminal cases dominating American courtrooms — and the national conversation.In this episode, we focus on the capture and prosecution of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, following a covert U.S. operation that stunned the world. We explain how the mission was carried out, the federal narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores now face, what happened at their New York arraignment, and the legal battle ahead over immunity, jurisdiction, and whether this case will proceed to a full trial.Elite security expert Will Geddes joins the show to explain how high-risk extractions work and why this operation may change how the world views executive security.We also cover key developments in the Nick Reiner double-murder case and the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, as 2026 begins with major legal questions around accountability and power.The Trial: USA is part of the Crime Desk. Press here to subscribe today for ad-free listening, full access to all our shows, early access to new shows, and bonus episodes.Follow us on Instagram @TheTrialPod.Follow us on TikTok @dailymailcrimeFollow us on X @thetrialpodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel @TheCrimeDeskEmail us thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Click here to sign up for The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.Presenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informationFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Los Angeles, Nick Reiner, the son of filmmaker Rob Reiner, has appeared in court accused of killing both of his parents inside their Brentwood home. Prosecutors are laying out what they say was a brutal attack, as investigators examine warning signs, family dynamics, and whether the death penalty could be in play.We also bring you a major update from Brown University, where police say the suspect in last week’s campus shooting has been found dead after a multi-state manhunt. We walk through the timeline — from the shooting during finals week to the killing of an MIT professor days later — and the unanswered question at the center of the case: why.And a significant verdict in Massachusetts. Brian Walshe has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering his wife, Ana Walshe, nearly three years after she vanished.The Trial: USA is part of the Crime Desk. Press here to subscribe today for ad-free listening, full access to all our shows, early access to new shows, and bonus episodes.Follow us on Instagram @TheTrialPod.Follow us on TikTok @dailymailcrimeFollow us on X @thetrialpodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel @TheCrimeDeskEmail us thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Click here to sign up for The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.Presenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonEditor: Chelsey RanoreCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informationFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a while since Caroline & Liz had time to catch up and say hello to you all, and with the launch of our exciting new Crime Desk newsletter, thought now was as good a time as any!sign up to the newsletter at newsletter.thecrimedesk.com for free.Become a full member of The Crime Desk with a month’s free trial at www.thecrimedesk.comFollow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrimeEmail us: thetrial@dailymail.comWhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with TrialPresenter: Kayla BrantleyProducer: Lucy RobsonCreative Director: Caroline CheethamExecutive Producer: Jamie EastClick here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter. It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.