8 Mitigating Factors Proffered by Def Team

[sorrell skye]

I don't believe any of the weak & pathetic so-called mitigating factors can outweigh the evidence of:

1. Premeditated murder

2. The two minutes that it took for her to brutally murder Travis Alexander, during which he suffered both physical agony and mental & emotional torture

She had the entire drive from Yreka to Mesa to change her mind.

According to her story, she shot him first. I don't believe one single syllable of her story, but since we're discussing mitigating factors & since her DT wants the jury to believe her ridiculous 'fog' claim, I'll go with her "story".

If she shot him first, as she claims, she could have then fled the house. Instead, she chose to stay and chose to inflict 27 bloodthirsty, merciless stab wounds, plus the final savage wound to his throat.

She had plenty of time to change her mind, or to choose another course of action, or to cease her attack.

She's a vicious killer. IMO, there are no mitigating factors than can redeem her or that can demonstrate that she has even minimal value to society.

 

[panthera]

8 Mitigating Factors Proffered by Defense Team
(copied ~verbatim from jury instructions in penalty phase May 17, except that fifth factor is split in 2 factors)

For anyone who wants to see & hear, Nurmi's opening stmt where he discusses these 8 mit/factors.


1. Age = 27 ………………………………...........
2. Lack of Criminal History………………………
3. A Good Friend …………………………………
4. Lacked Support from Family……………..….
5a. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Child ……….
5b. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Adult ………..
6. Tried to Make the Best of her Life …………
7. Consistently Tried to Improve Herself………
8. Talented Artist ………………………………..

<respectfully snipped for space>

My replies in bolded red.

1. Age = 27 ………………………………...........So what? She is an adult.
2. Lack of Criminal History………………………Perhaps just didn't get caught?
3. A Good Friend …………………………………To whom? Her other cellmates?
4. Lacked Support from Family……………..….She's not alone. Not everyone who lacks support from family murders someone.
5a. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Child ……….Not proven.
5b. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Adult ……….. Definitely not proven.
6. Tried to Make the Best of her Life …………Oh really?
7. Consistently Tried to Improve Herself………By latching on to men more successful than their predecessors?
8. Talented Artist ……………………………….. Debatable.

Now let's look at this again, only instead of the "mitigating circumstances" applying to JA, how do these 8 items apply to Travis? My replies in bold blue.

1. Age = 27 ………………………………...........Murdered at age 30.
2. Lack of Criminal History………………………Yes
3. A Good Friend …………………………………Most definitely, as testified to.
4. Lacked Support from Family……………..….Lacked support from his parents as a child and had to be raised by his grandmother. Strong support from his siblings.
5a. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Child ……….Yes
5b. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Adult ………..Yes at the hands of JA
6. Tried to Make the Best of his Life …………Absolutely
7. Consistently Tried to Improve Himself………Absolutely, and was successful.
8. Talented Artist ………………………………..Yes (referring to the comedic sketches we have seen on video).

Again, Juan will prevail.


MOO

 

[bettybaby00]

The only problem I see with this theory is if someone did abuse her, JA would have already dragged them out and hung them out to dry. I do wonder if her perceived lack of support is just a chicken or the egg type of thing. Did she ever go to her parents for support? Maybe they were supportive in a way that didn't work or suit her budding personality disorder. She could have felt no support and pushed back, causing the parents to retreat.

I can see how anyone close to JA's real personality could have been a little scared of her. I thought this was an interesting take on the interrogation video with SA.

snipped

ITA...if there had been real abuse, ie sexual, she would have latched onto that from the get go...its worked before coughCAcough...right? and she has already tried the physical abuse allegation with regard to her parents, but it didn't work for her.

BBM:

sigh.....i do not care for her mother....her antics in the courtroom have been IMO very disrespectful. not only to the alexanders, but also to the system itself, as well as her inability to grasp the gravity of JAs situation.

with that said, i really hesitate to judge SA too harshly b/c i've never been in her shoes, and we have no idea what the home life was like.

in some ways it makes me think of my brother and myself. he's 6 years older than me. beginning at a pretty young age he looked to buck authority, and did things his way or not at all. he wasn't a bad kid, but by his early 20s he got involved with drugs, and had a serious heroin addiction for close to 20 years. i used to think to myself....why? we had the same upbringing, the same parents, the same rules, care and attention. what would make my brother throw away the best years of his life? ie., getting into trouble with the law, breaking my parent's hearts, getting nearly killed by the unsavory people he associated with, seeing his friends die, and then even though he's been sober for years now, he like many addicts contracted hep c, and will never be free of that. i could never understand what it was about our "lives" that would make him turn towards drugs in this way, while i did not. i finally realized that every person is different. every family member is different, and within the family dynamic, everyone experiences the same set of circumstances differently.

my brother was destined somehow to go through what he did, just as i was destined to go through the trials i've had in my own life. Nature sometimes simply does outweigh nurture.

reminds me of a quote from one of my fav movies. "A River Runs Through It." the story of 2 brothers; one who strives to be good, better himself, and do the right thing, versus his younger brother who doesn't. the younger brother isn't "bad," or "evil," he just wants to experience the world his way, and when the going got tough, he tried to charm his way out of his predicaments.

this quote from the father summed it up beautifully, and could very easily also characterize someone like Sandy Arias.

he was a reverend, hence the religious overtone...

Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know, who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding.

 

[Sweet Fox]

Question to those who desire the death penalty for Jodi (It doesn't matter to me whether she gets the dp or lwop): Suppose Jodi stood up tomorrow and told the entire truth about how she murdered Travis and then apologized the family for her egregious actions including painting Travis out to be a sexual deviant. Would you still want her to receive the death penalty or would you find her honesty, finally, to be a redeeming quality to receive lwop?

Yes, I feel she deserved the death penalty. If she did apologized - it would be yet another lie that only adds insult to injury. Even if sincere, it's much too little, much too late. It won't bring TA back. LWOP it not acceptable because she'll adopt very well to incarceration in the general population. If she was kept in isolation for the rest of her miserable life, that would be acceptable to me. But the alone way to guarantee isolation is vie a death sentence.

 

[panthera]

Question to those who desire the death penalty for Jodi (It doesn't matter to me whether she gets the dp or lwop): Suppose Jodi stood up tomorrow and told the entire truth about how she murdered Travis and then apologized the family for her egregious actions including painting Travis out to be a sexual deviant. Would you still want her to receive the death penalty or would you find her honesty, finally, to be a redeeming quality to receive lwop?

Would still want her to receive the DP as any statements she could make of that nature now would be completely self-serving. She has had since June 4, 2008 to be "honest".

MOO

 

[panthera]

I'm sure this has been brought up. But why did the DT say she's a talented artist, yet failed to say she's a talented photographer?

Don't want to remind the Jury of her infamous photographs, specifically of murdering Travis?

Just a guess.

 

[sorrell skye]

Don't want to remind the Jury of her infamous photographs, specifically of murdering Travis?

Just a guess.

Thankfully, Prosecutor Juan Martinez made sure to mention her *skills* as a photog.

I'm in awe of this man - he doesn't miss a beat.

 

[Sedonia Sunset]

I'm sure this has been brought up. But why did the DT say she's a talented artist, yet failed to say she's a talented photographer?

Setting aside the fact that she's only average as an artist or photographer, I think the reason they are stressing her as a talented "artist" is because she can continue to draw or possibly even paint in prison (and then sell them to gullible people who like to collect murder memorabilia). She won't have access to any cameras in prison, other than being the object of the lens via mugshots and surveillance video, so drawing it is.

 

[raine1212]

Everyone please remember Tricia's True Crime Radio Show tonight! Let's all show our support.

This Sunday 8 PM Eastern join Skye and Chris Hughes along with Katiecoolady as they discuss the end of the Arias trial and their memories of Travis Alexander on Tricia's True Crime Radio CLICK HERE TO LISTEN SUNDAY 8 pm EASTERN

 

[Mrs G Norris]

This is interesting .. for some reason they ask her about her photography, http://youtu.be/HaJmaW6YxuE?t=10m43s anyone listening to her would think she was actually a real photographer ..

 

[LambChop]

If Jodi feels that she is responsible killing Travis but that he's now in a far better place then why would she have an issue with "an eye for an eye" in the biblical sense during her sentencing phase?

 

[DAWN TREADER]

Would still want her to receive the DP as any statements she could make of that nature now would be completely self-serving. She has had since June 4, 2008 to be "honest".

MOO

Good point! She also told the jurors she honestly didn't know the answer to the question from one of them about whether she would have decided to tell the truth if she'd never been arrested.

 

[Sweet Fox]

This is interesting .. for some reason they ask her about her photography, http://youtu.be/HaJmaW6YxuE?t=10m43s anyone listening to her would think she was actually a real photographer ..

She does think of herself as a professional photographer. In fact, she listed herself on linkedin as an "Independent Photography Professional"

 

[panthera]

Good point! She also told the jurors she honestly didn't know the answer to the question from one of them about whether she would have decided to tell the truth if she'd never been arrested.

Exactly. And again, what is the purpose of her scheduled statement now? I realize it is to try to save her life, however, none of these mitigating circumstances are even relevant to her and obviously the Jury didn't believe her the first time.

:waitasec:

MOO

 

[Sleuths4Me]

These factors do not mean anything to me. I would be very surprised if the jury gave her life instead of death. IMO if any one of the jurors was concerned about giving death the other verdicts would have taken much much longer than they did... especially the aggravation phase. I believe that we will have a verdict on penalty within 2hrs after they start deliberating and it will be death.:twocents:

 

[concernedmother]

Think they will get done tomorrow if there arent yet more delays?

 

[aeneas1]

this works just fine for me:

mitigating circumstances: none sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.

 

[NewsHound22]

Number 6 states trying to better herself...I recall Nurmi saying something about how she joined the Mormon church..who here agrees that if Travis was Muslim she would be wearing a burka right now?

 

[Tsunvirtual]

I thought mitigating factors were to show that a person had something to contribute to the world. I think these mitigating factors look like JA wrote them up herself. They are juvenile fantasy.

1. Age = 27 &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;...........motive: biological clock was ticking and Travis wasn't going to marry her. Was close to being "too old" for the other good Mormon males to be interested.
2. Lack of Criminal History&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;Growing pot. Animal abuse. Perjury. Stalking.
3. A Good Friend &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;Until you piss her off or she upgrades.
4. Lacked Support from Family&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..&#8230;.Not true. She only wanted family when she needed them.
5a. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Child &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.oh please. She got hit with a wooden spoon. IMO she wasn't hit enough.
5b. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Adult &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. Says Jodi and only Jodi.
6. Tried to Make the Best of her Life &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;In what way? Trying a new religion for each BF? Tried to be a sex goddess? Tried to see 1000 places before she died on someone else's dime?
7. Consistently Tried to Improve Herself&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;the only thing I can see is that she got her GED and breast implants.
8. Talented Artist &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; I won't say she has NO talent. It's just not of a level that the world would miss.

Based on the interview she gave after the verdict she still doesn't get it. Only her fan club believes she was a victim. She just continues to make herself look worse by spitting out more hatred of TA and Juan. If she had any proof to back up any of her claims the trial would have been a good time to bring it up. All she has is lies and innuendo, no substance. I think her scheduled statement will remove any chance she might have had at LWOP.

 

[AngelWings444]

Mitigating factor #8 - Talented Artist

Those hands, are the same ones who stabbed Travis Alexander almost 30 times and nearly decapitated him. No weight whatsoever.