A view from the inside: observations from our own court observers

[Sleuth13]

We got one...or 15 today! Just need to figure out how to upload it (Anita Richman says I can do it without an url?).

I'm soo sleepy though now...will figure it out in the manana.:seeya:

Whoo hooo!!! I love that you were 2-steps ahead!! Looking forward to seeing the pix & thanks again to all of you for letting us be in the courtroom with you as opposed to a mere live feed!

 

[Sleuth13]

The bartender was forced to take photos from 3 different angles with 5 different phones. I can't believe none have been posted. :waitasec:

Love it!!! (and I'm sure the bartender did too!!)

 

[TxBlondie]

Question for our court observers: If Juror 14 is sleeping - isn't that a problem? Grounds for appeal? I thought all jurors had to stay awake?

Thanks,

Mel

I would think they'd just be dismissed and replaced by one of the alternates but I'm not sure. :waitasec:

 

[KBisMe]

(1) What was YOUR "WOW!" moment of the day?
Hmm... probably when JM brought up JA giving herself a papercut and asking her how she thought TA felt when she stabbed him.

(2) What line of questioning/sparring seemed to garner the most interest from the jury?
I was only in the afternoon session, but they took a lot of notes right after the 48 hrs. clip was played. They were definitely paying attention to the ?'s and A's that followed.

(3) How apparent was the change in Jodi's demeanor today in court & did it change the way you listened to (or believed) her testimony? and
It was another 180!! She went from the soft spoken "victim" during direct, switched to the arrogant and snarky REAL Jodi on Thursday, and she was back to soft spoken today. NOT AT ALL. I don't care if she whispers or screams... she's still LYING!

(4) Who commands more attention during the testimony: Juan Martinez or Jodi Arias?
Martinez, definitely. There were a couple of times that several jurors were looking back and forth between the two, but there are still a few that I never saw look at JA. At all.

I just wanted to add a few more wow moments that stuck out to me.

1) She admitted to memorizing dates, etc. for her testimony!! Funny that they were so clear during direct, but are all scrambled on cross!!

2) "I had never killed anyone before." :what:

3) You are testifying based on something someone told you instead of what you know? LOL

4) I had no memory of stabbing him AT THAT TIME.

 

[KBisMe]

Question for our court observers: If Juror 14 is sleeping - isn't that a problem? Grounds for appeal? I thought all jurors had to stay awake?

Thanks,

Mel

Maybe I worded it too strongly. The guy wasn't passed out in his chair or anything. Lol He took his glasses off several times and was rubbing his eyes. He swiveled in his chair and twice looked like he could've been sleeping. It might have been during sidebars, but I don't remember for sure. He did look back and forth between JM and JA during questions, watched the video clips, read the journal entries, etc. He just seemed really bored and sleepy.

 

[CJae]

I just wanted to add a few more wow moments that stuck out to me.

1) She admitted to memorizing dates, etc. for her testimony!! Funny that they were so clear during direct, but are all scrambled on cross!!

2) "I had never killed anyone before." :what:

3) You are testifying based on something someone told you instead of what you know? LOL

4) I had no memory of stabbing him AT THAT TIME.

Those all stuck out to me & wondered if/how the jury reacted!

The fact that she was well coached for direct yet cannot answer questions succinctly or convincingly on cross looks worse. Then include the lies that she easily spews with the detective, emotion (faked obviously) with her first and second attempts at subterfuge, puts her entire testimony into highly questionable territory. When he gets to THE day and her account in no way comes off as remotely possible I hope the jury will have totally had it.

Seems they are not missing JM point after point and her continuous word games are getting to them? He is not the one stalling or giving half answers or holding up the proceedings-she is along with her lawyers with those long sidebars.

It doesn't make me nervous the juror turned toward her. She could be staring her down or maybe reacting to her change in demeanor. ( Watching her closely for those leaks?) There is such a difference in her performance between Thursday and yesterday. That has to make them wonder what she's up to this time with her stories ( which keep morphing) and it insults their intelligence.

Thank You!!!!

 

[CJae]

Ok... I am home! I would love to jump right on and post.... but my wonderful hubby waited up and saved a plate of dinner for me and wants to talk endlessly about his stressful day of daddy daycare and how he is now superman. Give me a few, I'll get it up hete!

Woke up at 3 am and 1st thing I did was grab the IPad.

Looking forward to your report also!

Thank you!

 

[mollyf]

Thank you! You can follow my live tweeting here http://wildabouttrial.com/videos/jodi-arias-live-twitter-feed/ or on twitter at https://twitter.com/WildAboutTrial

Great! I'm wild about Wild About Trial. Thanks for the great mobile app. :loveyou:

 

[katiecoolady]

One kind of funny thing is I looked over and someone had Anita's juror list printed out and passing it around for reference. At happy hour I mean.

 

[katiecoolady]

Great observations from the courtroom. Maureen is the one I'm worried about. Damn. Glad you all got to meet! We will definitely have a verdict party!:great:

We did after Peterson and it was awesome!

That's where I first met you in person

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

:floorlaugh:
Hey, wait a minute. Maybe you're on to something.

We now have a number of in courtroom WSers! I think one of them, or someone new, should volunteer to get into a little mischief that lands them in the same jail with JA to really get the inside scoop!

Who's willing to step up to the plate for a little face-to-face chit chat with JA? :giggle:

Oh My Gosh...

What a horribly BRILLIANT method of gaining information on JA! :rocker:

:floorlaugh:

:jail:

 

[josie1986]

Just wanted to say thank you again for all the notes.

Sure wish I didnt live thousands of miles away.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sustained]

:seeya:

Lots of rooftop happy hours in Hotlanta !! :seeya:

 

[makayla]

THANK YOU to all who are attending - I'm so frustrated that my work schedule doesn't allow time for me to join you!

Love hearing all your thoughts and can't wait to see pictures!

 

[WhatsupAZ]

Here goes...

Because I was #14 in line I was ushered up to the front of the spectator, behind the one measly row of JA support. I was seated directly behind DB. Seems that nobody wanted to scooch up to close to her, so I had a gap in front of me giving me direct line of sight to JM and JA and a good portion of the jury.

Mother of JA and Aunt seated in first two seats of first row.

B4 jury is in... Nurmi makes his record about wanting footage from JM show from DH. He is asked to stand. I totally recognize him from his media interviews. He is asked for the tape and says he can give it. Then juan wants to possibly use him for rebuttal. He is admonished and asked to leave.

Kid break....already sheesh!

 

[kscornfed]

I would say no. Honestly, when I first came out... I wasn't as sure as I would've liked. I was more reassured while going through my notes though. They don't give a lot of expressions and it's really hard to read people when they've been told not to have reactions. The only one that made me nervous is Maureen.

Going back through my notes and remembering the little things....I'd say they are over her. She really does come off as robotic when she turns towards the jury and the 2 closest people to her don't even look her way. I don't think she is truly connecting with them. Maureen is the only one that might be buying into some of it. Maybe she's just staring her down though? Lol it's hard to be sure.

maybe 'maureen' is our 'strawberry shortcake'. remember her on scott peterson's jury? people were worried about her but she was solid as a rock for 'guilty.'

 

[WhatsupAZ]

I had to give the jurors my own names, but have gone back and named them with Anita's names.

I don't observe anything of note when the jury enters. They look pretty tired.

Things get started.

CPA Juror is looking at TA family for quite a while. (Just dawned on me that he also could have been looking at the media. I sure glanced over there a time or two.)

Jodi says she memorized things. Is this for real?

Jaun and Jody are chatting about her suicide attempt. Several jurors take notes on that juicy little exchange.

Chatty Kathy sitting next to me nudges and adks who the guy in the beige suit is. (Realy?) Half page of notes to her about him and "lady in the purple suit". KYN

(More notes to chatty kathy: those two will report you to the bailiff and have you kicked out!)

After a flurry of nonwhispers, DB jumps up and runs out to tattle on someone. Man on end of row is adked to leave and he is replaced by our Pasa!

 

[scorpio24]

I just wanted to add a few more wow moments that stuck out to me.

1) She admitted to memorizing dates, etc. for her testimony!! Funny that they were so clear during direct, but are all scrambled on cross!!

2) "I had never killed anyone before." :what:

3) You are testifying based on something someone told you instead of what you know? LOL

4) I had no memory of stabbing him AT THAT TIME.

I thought the memorization admission was HUGE, too! Glad you pointed that out. I have a feeling he will hammer her with it throughout the rest of is cross: "Is this what you KNOW, what you've memorized, or what somebody told you happened?" Thanks so much for your thoughts

(Look at me! Only took me 4 days to learn to use bold and colors! I'll have a cool signature before you know it!:rocker:

[Note to self upon preview: Pick a different color than navy. Otherwise, it's not nearly as impressive! ;-)]

 

[K_Z]

Are there any questions in the jury basket yet?

Is Jodi wearing leg irons? Or just the stun belt?

Do any of you have any personal observations about Judge Stephens that may not have been obvious to those of us watching the TV and/ or live feed?

She seems like a very intelligent, classy lady. I like how she is handling things thus far.

Jennifer Wilmott has taken a back seat for 2 weeks with Nurmi's direct. Any observations about JW? I personally like her style and approach better than Nurmi's-- she seems like an intelligent, classy lady, too. (Not her fault her client is so reviled.)

Any observations about Esteban Flores in court?

Many thanks to all of you who are local, and able to attend!

 

[WhatsupAZ]

Looobg drawn out banter about why she lied to Flores on arrest. Jury looks bored. My notes say "light 'em up, Juan!" We needed a power boost. I caught myself in lala land. Is the jury in la la land with me? Looks like it.

JA trips over herself when talking about RB. He was an afterthought, er, I mean he was the reason for the trip.

Newsflash to me: she called MM first after the murder? Did she mention this in direct?

She is insinuating that MM is now a liar. Can't wait for more on this!

#1(church lady) is clearly pursing her lips.

Neil in the back row blushed beet red when she said "because I Had never killed anyone before"
He blushes again when jody explains how her and Travis's kids will play together. He is clearly uncomfortable with her lying.