aggravation phase #8 - VERDICT - Extreme Cruelty PROVEN

[sorrell skye]

Anyone who can crack even one tiny smile at their own child's death penalty murder trial is inhuman to me.

As I've watched videos of this trial and saw JA's mother share laughter & smiles with those sitting next to her, I've wondered how in hell she could have been experiencing any feeling of joviality while her daughter was on trial for 1st degree murder, especially after hearing the gruesome circumstances of the murder.

I was stunned.

 

[Bernina]

No one has been sent to death row for 82 years from that jurisdiction. JA may very well be headed there. So far this jury seems to be sticking to the facts and not swayed by emotion. Tomorrow will probably be an emotional day for them when TA family speak.
Does anyone think that JA will take the stand during this phase? I think she knows they arent going to believe her or feel sorry for her now.

BBM
Of the 125 Death row inmates in Arizona, 7 were convicted in 2011, 2 in 2012 and 2 in 2013 so far.....so what do you mean when you say the above? Are you talking Maricopa County? Or...?

 

[Niner]

A shout out to Det Flores Juan Martinez and everyone who has worked on this case; congrats Juan! You did it! You won our hearts in the process.

Travis' heroes!!

 

[JusticeJunkie]

She'll speak up for herself whether her attys want her to or not. That last interview was a dress rehearsal for her grand finale.

I'm guessing she'll opt for the sad, sincere Jodi on the cross. As in, "I understand why you decided what you did, and I know all my lies before trial made it impossible for you to believe me, and I am sorry for that. I am also sorry that Travis is dead. I know now that it didn't have to be this way, that if I had only reported his abuse when it happened that he might have been able to get help, and that I could have too, and that he would still be alive.

I can understand that you probably think that I deserve the death penality, and maybe I do. If you decide on life for me though, I plan on spending that life helping other victims of domestic abuse in whatever ways I can. I want you to know, though, that I forgive you if your verdict is for death, because actually, death is the ultimate freedom and I am not afraid of it."

The DT reads here. Won't be surprised if I hear your speech word for word tomorrow. No way her legal team could come up with something.

 

[Whack A Mole]

I am posing a question. If your child planned and committed a homicide, admitted doing it to you, would you
A) Encourage them to go to trial pleading not guilty or
B) Have them plead guilty and accept LWOP

I just had this conversation with my husband, and he said A. I said B. Just curious if it is a role thing, a gender thing or if I am alone in my thinking. Thanks

Female and I voted B as well. I don't expect forgiveness from my God if I don't admit what I did wrong and accept my punishment. I don't see how I could face the death penalty knowing that I lied to everyone all along the way. But I'm Catholic and I have a whopping case of Catholic Guilt. I could never think of approaching God while lying the whole way.

 

[KandyKane]

and the only way she is executed is if she requests it and they honor that request. They only have one more dose of Sodium thiopental. They would have to go find more so forget about seeing her get executed unless she wants it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/us/14lethal.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Not all states use sodium thiopental as part of their drug cocktail of choice for exectutions. In a case in Oklahoma though that was their method they used pentobarbitol instead (likely because of not having sodium thiopental on hand because of the shortage), and it went just fine.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20025977-10391704.html

 

[Kentucky Gal]

Her friend Donavan tweets for her. It appears that Donavan visits her or calls her and is told what to tweet by the convict.

Has Donavan been reported to her parole officers yet? I thought she wasn't supposed to talk to convicted felons, she has not met her rules for release so let's get Donavan taken care of first.

 

[indycornstalk]

What do you guys think about deliberation time for the penalty?
I'm thinking it will go a while. At least will prepare for a long deliberation.

NOPE. I believe with ALL MY HEART this Jury already has their MINDS MADE UP. They are already on board with the Death Penalty. If anyone thinks this jury or anyone on this jury hasn't seen the media circus going on around this trial, then I have some Ocean Front property there in Arizona for sale. This trial has been BLASTED everywhere, they have HAD to been exposed somewhere somehow, they KNOW what' the truth is. If they weren't prepared to give out the Death Penalty, they would have stopped today. It's a GO.

 

[Venom]

She'll speak up for herself whether her attys want her to or not. That last interview was a dress rehearsal for her grand finale.

I'm guessing she'll opt for the sad, sincere Jodi on the cross. As in, "I understand why you decided what you did, and I know all my lies before trial made it impossible for you to believe me, and I am sorry for that. I am also sorry that Travis is dead. I know now that it didn't have to be this way, that if I had only reported his abuse when it happened that he might have been able to get help, and that I could have too, and that he would still be alive.

I can understand that you probably think that I deserve the death penality, and maybe I do. If you decide on life for me though, I plan on spending that life helping other victims of domestic abuse in whatever ways I can. I want you to know, though, that I forgive you if your verdict is for death, because actually, death is the ultimate freedom and I am not afraid of it."

BBM
If I was a juror and heard that, I'd take that as an insult to my intelligence. I should hope that no one would believe her saying she's a domestic violence victim. JMO

 

[Really?]

Hey, thanks everyone of you for posting after the verdict today was reached. I totally missed it and am now reading on page 22.

Big up for everyone ,!!

Yeah, karma is a biotch .

 

[Whack A Mole]

The DT reads here. Won't be surprised if I hear your speech word for word tomorrow. No way her legal team could come up with something.

I really feel for the defense. They have presented a client that nobody likes. She seems to think according to her last interview that the public is split. I've not met one person who thinks she should go free or is innocent. I'm not sure if lying to her or if she's lying to herself, but I don't think there will be a big line of people asking the state to spare Jodi's life.

 

[shiloh42]

I don't think this is a little or insignificant matter. In JA's world, she is a living, breathing person with thoughts and feelings. Everyone else is just furniture, to stay in the background until needed, to move around as she pleases, and discard when their use is done.

Anyone who gets close to JA, ends up with chaos and trouble. Look at the fallout for ALV and DR. Samuels. Nurmi and Wilmott will end up under the bus as well.

Anyone who thinks they can outsmart her, or tangle with her will end up under that bus.

Nurmi showed surprising intelligence by keeping his distance and ignoring her during the trial. I imagine Wilmott thought " if I act like I like her and that she is my friend, the jury will assume she is ok and not deserving of the DP". Obviously things have changed and Wilmott now realizes her mistake.


JA will need a basis for appeal. Ineffective counsel is probably her first gambit.

Ineffective counsel will definitely not work imho. JW and KN may be slimey but they did their best and she had good representation. She can claim that certain items excluded should have been included (e.g. the apparently forged pedo letters), but imho she'd have a hard time proving anything wrong in this case.

 

[Mare10]

I saw it several times on JVM.....not sure now as we are watching the baseball game...GO CARDS!!

This just struck me as being so profound. JA will be working on her appeal 24/7 no more games for her. Thanks

 

[cece5300]

Is the mitigation phase expected to go past tomorrow or could the jurors potentially start deliberating tomorrow or Friday?

 

[Zuri]

Great (albeit difficult) question! Personally, due to circumstances within my family, we've actually had to have conversations like this with each other and with LE/case managers/treatment teams. I will say, as much as I love my children I would encourage them to plead guilty. Especially if their was the possibility of the death penalty. All of this would come from me being the first to turn them in if they admitted their guilt to me.

We've had a family member murdered in cold blood and it was difficult for our family. We knew the other families of the boys that killed my aunt and they were devastated that their children could commit such heinous acts (they also beat an elderly man to death in the next county from us). It's a terrible thing to consider, but I'm fairly certain that is what I would do. However, I think it would be a long time before I could be "supportive" of them after they committed premeditated murder.

I am so sorry for your loss and what you all have been through. I posed this question in post 1417 because I have been haunted by the Alexander Family's faces. When I look at them I saw my own family's faces many years ago. Including my own in Samantha's. It had not dawned on me why I was drawn to this trial until my therapist asked me.

If I knew that my child was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would encourage them to plead guilty in exchange for a LWOP sentence so as not to put any victim's family through a trial, especially like this one. Fortunately, my children are incredibly kind, nice people so hopefully this would never happen. My husband on the other hand would hire the "Dream Team". :seeya:

 

[Steely Dan]

Damn, I missed the reading of the verdict live, but I saw it on NG. Maybe you'll actually get what you, supposedly, really want JA.

 

[dani]

Hey great news, I just got a text alert saying the jury found CMJA eligible for the DP !

lol... timely on the text, timely...

LOL…I'm still waiting for the text that the jury has a verdict in the GUILT phase! Here's a sentence I never thought I'd use, "Thank goodness for HLN!":floorlaugh:

 

[Maryann123]

Juror number one concerns me. Her half-hearted "yes" was the result of what could be several scenarios. Maybe she was just sad to have to come to that conclusion. Maybe she was hedging because she knew it was the prelude to the death penalty. Maybe it was the result of her fellow jurors telling her a "yes vote" was not a death sentence, that she had the ability to vote "no" during that phase, but this round was just to establish that she qualified for the death penalty. I hope I'm wrong. There were some others that didn't come across as being strong "yes" votes, but I assume it was because they were on the back row. (further away from the microphone) I guess we will know pretty soon.

 

[marlap]

Thanks for the work you do.

I am a Victim's Advocate. I work for a local Police Department. I am an actual victim of Domestic Violence, twice actually, by two different people. I am quite clear on the definition of a Victim.

I just also believe that this situation deserves Reverence, and there is nothing wrong with that. Many people have been victimized and traumatized by what happened. I'm sorry that I had a different feeling besides celebration.

 

[Venom]

NOPE. I believe with ALL MY HEART this Jury already has their MINDS MADE UP. They are already on board with the Death Penalty. If anyone thinks this jury or anyone on this jury hasn't seen the media circus going on around this trial, then I have some Ocean Front property there in Arizona for sale. This trial has been BLASTED everywhere, they have HAD to been exposed somewhere somehow, they KNOW what' the truth is. If they weren't prepared to give out the Death Penalty, they would have stopped today. It's a GO.

I was thinking that they're prepared to give her the death penalty since they voted she was eligible for the DP. I, too, think they may have their minds pretty well made up.