FWIW
Here is my transcript of the Alexander family members sharing their victim statements.
Arias Sentencing
This is not an official transcript, nor is it connected in anyway to any of the participants.
All errors are my own.
JSS = Judge Sherry Stephens JA = Jodi Arias, Convicted of 1st Degree Murder, Defendant
KN = Kurt Nurmi, Reluctant lawyer for Defence Team JW = Jennifer Willmott, lawyer for Defence Team
MdlR = Maria De la Rosa, Mitigation Specialist for Defence Team
SA = Sandi Arias, Mother of Defendant
JM = Juan Martinez, Prosecutor
TS = Tanisha Sorenson. Travis's sister SA = Samantha Alexander, Travis's sister
HW = Hillary Wilcox, Travis's sister HS = Heather Schafer, Travis's aunt
April 13, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYFfGV_HI4
Jodi Arias Sentencing. Part 1. Alexander Family Speaks.
This video begins a little into a conversation regarding a Restitution Hearing resulting from the murder of Travis Alexander by JA.
0:00
JA: I believe it should fit.
JSS: Alright. We're going to set a restitution hearing for June 1st at 8:30. The Court is retaining jurisdiction over restitution. Miss Arias, you have a right to be present at any restitution hearing the Court sets. If you wish to be present, I will order that you be transported from the Department of Corrections to participate in that hearing. Your other option is to waive your presence and allow counsel to represent you at that hearing. What would you ilke to do: be present or waive?
JA: May I have just a second.
JSS: Yes.
JA: I'd like to waive my presence.
JSS: The minute entry shall so reflect. You may be seated.
0:50
JSS: Mr. Martinez. Do any of the victims wish to be heard?
JM: Thank you. The first individual who will address the court is Heather Schafer.
JSS: Miss Schafer, please come forward. Right up to the podium. Begin by telling us your name.
1:14
HS: Heather Schafer. I have a picture that I would like to put up.
JSS: Alright. We don't have the system on, so if you'll just wait a moment.
2:01 (As HS steps to the podium and prepares to speak, she is interrupted.)
JW: Your Honour. Before we begin, did the Court also receive letters written on behalf of Miss Arias?
JSS: No.
JW: They were emailed directly to you on Friday.
JSS: I have not seen them. Do you have a hard copy?
2:13
JW: I do.
2;49
JSS: I will need to take a brief recess to review these letters before the sentencing concludes.
JW: All right.
3:01
JSS: Miss Schafer.
HS: Good morning, Judge Stephens.
My name is Heather Schafer. I am Travis's aunt. This is a picture of how I'd like to remember my nephew--his trusting eyes, his effervescent personality, and his charming smile. Instead, I will be forever haunted by visions of his fanatic, impossible attempts to cry out for his life through a severed windpipe.
I have been beside Travis's five siblings since his death in 2008, and, while offering emotional support, we've lived together, sharing a rented home in Arizona throughout the guilt phase and both penalty phases. Along with the rest of our family, I have suffered great sorrow and pain during these trials. We have heard countless indignities and unfounded accusations that have besmirched Travis's good name, reputation, and moral character. I have seen heinous pictures of my nephew, which I will never be able to erase from my mind.
My residence is in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I have spent countless hours and substantial amounts of money commuting back and forth to the trial. I found it necessary to step down from my position as a Starbucks Store Manager so I could dedicate my time and support to my nieces and nephew throughout this trial which now has been ongoing for over two years.
The events resulting from the slaughter of my nephew have entirely overshadowed the relationship I had with my nuclear family. Over the past nearly seven years, I have missed numerous events and family outings that I can never replace, and my marriage has also suffered. All of us, my husband, my children, my nieces, my nephew, and myself, will never be the people we were before June 4, 2008 when Jodi Arias savagely murdered my nephew, Travis Alexander.
We all have a deep and unending sadness which will be with us the rest of our lives. We have problems relating to our significant others and our friends who have never experienced such a senseless and horrific death of a loved one. We will never again be able to look at family photos of Travis and not think of his butchered, nearly decapitated body left to rot.
Judge Stephens, I humbly implore you to sentence this unrepentant murderer to the maximum sentence of natural life so she will never, ever again have the opportunity to destroy more innocent lives like she did to us and to Travis. Thank you.
JSS: Thank you for your statement.
JM: The next person to speak is Hillary Wilcox. She is Mr. Alexander's sister.
6:12
HW: Hi. My name is Hillary Wilcox. I'm Travis's little sister. I loved my brother very much, and I miss him so much. Travis was not only my brother, but we were really close friends. I looked up to him. When we got married, my family didn't have a lot of money and he willingly paid for part of it. My dad was not alive at that time, also. And so, instead of having a daddy/daughter dance, I had my dance with him.
Travis and I had many of the same goals. He wanted to get married. He wanted a family. I am married, and I have a family--a family that my brother never got to meet. My brother actually never knew that I was actually going to be able to have kids because I have major difficulties having kids. He never got to meet my, my children. And it upsets me that my kids will never get to play with his kids, so they can't grow up together.
Throughout all this, many other people have told me that I have been so strong, that I've handled this with grace. And I feel that I have. I've been blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints and, no doubt, my faith helped me through this. Like I said, I have a family. I'm a mother. I had to be strong. I couldn't let this affect my family. I couldn't let this affect my kids or let it affect my marriage. But, none of this has been easy for me.
With great sacrifice and pain to myself, I've done my best to block my brother from my life. I don't want to remember him any more, 'cause it hurts too much to remember him alive. Because, if I remember him, I remember how he was brutally taken from us. And I can't handle it. This is what I've had to do so I could cope. So I could handle it.
I hate that she has taken my past and my brother and, also, my future memories of him. I do have moments of weakness and those are the times for those weaknesses when I'm in the shower. And I know it's because that's where she, she killed him. So I have to shake it out of my head and quickly get out of the shower.
Judge Stephens, I know you've seen the pain that she put my brother through and how she smeared his name falsely. And I want that you see the pain that she put our family through. And I hope that you can give her the maximum sentence that you can possibly give her because she deserves nothing more.
I thank you for that consideration.
10:29
JSS: Thank you for your statement.
10:43
JSS: Mr. Martinez
JM: Next to address the court is Tanisha Sorenson.
11:15
TS: Good morning, Judge Stephens.
JSS: Good morning.
TS: My name is Tanisha Sorenson. As I'm sure you know by now, I am one of Travis's little sisters, the one closest in age to him. I've been here every single day of this painstaking trial, just as you have. And, I'm sure, you know this is no easy task. Every single day that I've sat here has been very painful and wearing on my spirit. Seeing my brother's autopsy photos. Hearing the lies. It's just been about all I can take.
I didn't choose to be here. I didn't ask to be here. But, I'm here for one reason only. And that's to see justice for my beautiful, sweet, caring, amazing brother. I didn't want to be the girl whose brother was brutally murdered. I didn't want to sit here day in and day out hearing the details of my brother's body being tortured. I didn't ask for my life, and that of my siblings, to be put on blast by every social media network and on every news channel.
I didn't want to turn on the TV and watch my family suffering, and seeing myself suffering because of the actions of pure evil. I see the pain in our faces, and the tears we've cried, and it never stops. My family has had to deal with the torment and agony that she has caused, and we will for the rest of our lives.
I've continually been harassed by a small group of people that, in my mind, are just as evil as the one who has done this. These people support her actions and send me pictures of my brother's dead body, his autopsy photos, his blackened face and his slit throat to my email and my Facebook page. These same people said they were going to stand outside the courthouse today to harass me and my family all because we are fighting for justice for our brother, Travis.
I did not ever think we would be victimized over and over again just for coming here and wanting justice for a man I loved and cared about. A man who was my brother and my protector. A man who deserved to be living now as I seek. Travis Victor Alexander should be alive today. And I shouldn't have to be here today waiting for justice to be served and handed down.
This person, who has decided to take the role of God, needs to suffer the consequences of her own actions. She has come up with lie after lie, more stories than news stories. Travis should have died in a much later life, long after he became a husband, a father, a grandfather, and, maybe, even a great-grandfather. He should have been able to see the thousand and one places that he dreamed of seeing. But, instead, he was brutally murdered by this jealous, obsessive person who had decided for herself that if she couldn't have him, nobody else would.
This person, who once said she couldn't think of anyone who didn't love Travis. That is she killed Travis, she would beg for the death penalty. The one who wrote in her journal that the person who did this sickening crime deserved a needle in their arm. What happened to that? What happened to that, Jodi?
This road to recovery and repair our family is going on will continue. It doesn't end here. I just want to leave this courtroom in Arizona, and this evil that sits in this room behind me. I want to remember my brother. Travis Victor Alexander is a man who was: a man of service, a man of love and inspiration, a man of God, a man who cared so much for others. I want to lay my head down at night knowing his murderer will pay for his senseless murder at Perryville Prison for the rest of her life, please.
I've prayed every single day before court, that she would just come clean and tell the truth, stop murdering my brother and clear his name That she would just tell the truth. I hoped, I hoped that she would have some remorse but she has shown no mercy on Travis nor our family. And, what I'm asking of you judge, is please don't spare her any mercy in her sentence today.
Thank you.
16:54
JSS: Thank you for your statement.
17:00
JM: And last, Samantha Alexander.
17:17
SA: Good morning.
JSS: Good morning.
SA: I gave a Victim Impact Statement in the first penalty phase on behalf of my entire family. That statement was extremely filtered due to the rules when speaking to the jury. That being said, this statement is more personal to me and my experience and a little less filtered.
I wanted to start out by talking about the last day I saw Travis, towards the end of May, 2008. Just a couple of weeks before Travis was killed, he came to visit me at my home in Southern California. He was so excited to let me read the intro to his book that he was writing titled Raising You. This was his attempt to inspire and help more people to become the best person they could be, no matter who they are or where they came from. The Intro to the book detailed our childhood, what we overcame, how we would not change a single thing about it.
Travis and I got in a deep conversation about our lives: our crazy childhood, the horrible, unexpected deaths we'd endured, including both of our parents at a young age. We both agreed that no matter how miserable our lives were at times, our childhood is what made us who we are. Our childhood made us strong and able to conquer almost anything. Our childhood gave us no choice but to rise above our surroundings, change the cycle, and become successful.
Travis made the best of the cards he was dealt and became a successful motivational speaker. He wanted to share with the world that you can do anything despite your surroundings. You can be anything you want to be. That was the sole purpose of his book. My brother shared the sad details of our childhood to help others. He exposed private details of our lives growing up to make a difference and motivate others in theirs.
I am disgusted that Jodi used his words of encouragement, the words that he wanted to use to help others that were struggling, to assist her in her absolutely ridiculous defence.
Ironically, before Travis left my house that day, we got into a crazy discussion about the deaths--the deaths we've endured at such a young age. We both shared the fear of losing another family member. It made me so sick to my stomach to even imagine going through another death. I told him, I felt I couldn't handle it and he said the same the last time I saw him.
I think back about that last conversation we had about death. I think about how horrible and sick I got while we were talking about it. Little did I know, just a couple of weeks later, my entire life would be turned upside down. This is one of the worst possible things I can imagine. The day I found out about Travis's death was the morning of June 10th. I was on a river trip with my boyfriend and best friend in Parker, Arizona. I checked my voicemail because I had bad reception on the water when we were getting ready to take the boat out.
The first message was my little sister, Hillary. She sang some funny songs, and I was busting out laughing. The next message was my grandmother. My heart sank into my stomach, and I immediately had a burning sensation in my gut. She said, "Samantha, you need to call me. It's very important." I recognized her tone of voice from before, and I knew somebody was dead.
I called my grandmother's house, and Tanisha answered the phone. She screamed. She said, "Samantha, Travis is dead." I could barely breath out the words "what happened?" And nobody knew. She said he was found in the bedroom and the police couldn't provide any details. I was on the verge of puking. I couldn't believe my own ears. I remember hoping that I'd wake up from a horrible nightmare. But, I wasn't sleeping. And the nightmare was real.
After several hours of waiting, I found out that Travis had been murdered, and that he'd been shot and stabbed several times. I was sick. I could barely breathe. I kept thinking "How could this happen? What monster would do this to him?"
We packed up and left the river immediately. My boyfriend drove me to Mesa because I was too out of my mind to drive myself. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. I kept thinking, "Who would do this?", "Who would do this? Why Travis?", and, "Why my family again?" It was the worst feeling of my entire life. It was worse than all the other deaths combined. I felt so hopeless. I could not believe that there was someone out there, roaming free, who committed this heinous crime against my brother.
I started calling friends of Travis's asking questions. Everyone said the same thing. Travis didn't have enemies. The only person they could think of was his stalking ex-girlfriend, Jodi. All fingers pointed to her. I remembered who she was because Travis called me asking law enforcement advice. I believe--he said he believed that Jodi slashed his tires twice in two different locations. After remembering that, it completely clicked in my head, and, I knew in my heart, within a matter of hours after finding out about Travis's death, that Jodi was the one that murdered my brother.
We arrived in Mesa late on June 10th. After three days of waiting, we got a call that the crime scene was cleared, and we were allowed to enter Travis's home. I remember being so sick to my stomach knowing I was about to walk into the place my brother was brutally murdered and we walked in the front door.
Everything looked pretty normal. We started to walk up towards Travis's bedroom and I could barely breathe. My poor little sister, Hillary, couldn't even go in the room. I remember the first step I made in his room. Reality set in. I immediately noticed a large piece of carpet missing from the floor. I saw a hole cut into the wall in the hallway leading to the master bathroom. I looked down the hallway knowing where the shower was, and my heart sank. My stomach started burning. My ears started ringing, and I could barely hear.
My mind immediately started to paint a picture of what happened the day that my brother was brutally murdered. I was so sick. I was standing in the same exact place the horrific fight took place. I could imagine the pain, the agony, the screams and the fright that my brother was going through, what was going through his head when he was losing the fight of his life.
I walked down that bathroom hallway where it was obvious the main crime scene occurred and I looked at the shower where I knew he was found. My eyes filled with tears, and I instantly started picturing my poor brother 's dead body in the shower. He was there for five days. Five days he was there decomposing in the shower. I'm sure his soul was screaming for someone to find him.
It made me so sick to think that I was having the time of my life at the river while my poor brother lay dead in the shower. After regrouping, we started to pack up the house. We packed up for three days straight. I remember, when it would get dark we were scared someone was going to come back and try to attack us. We were so scared of our own shadows, but, we finally got it done.
Travis's friends had a memorial for him before we left town. It was amazing. There were hundreds of people there who loved Travis. So many came up to my sister Hillary and I and gave us huge hugs, and just hugged saying how sorry they were and told us what an amazing brother we had.
One person at the memorial stood out like a sore thumb. I recognized her from pictures that Travis had shown me before. It was Jodi. She had that evil smirk on her face that's similar to her booking photo. I remember getting the chills because she was within a few feet of me, and I suspected that she did it. It made me feel so helpless. Deep down, I knew that she killed my brother and I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't want to go to jail or hell because of what she did so, I put my faith in the justice system.
On July 15th, 2008, 36 days after we found out about my brother's death, 42 days after he was murdered, I received a phone call from Detective Flores. He told me he had arrested Jodi for the murder of my brother. It was the worst wait of our lives--not knowing if anyone was ever going to get arrested for what happened. Not knowing if we were next to be attacked. Not knowing anything except the horrible injuries my brother sustained and how he must have suffered.
I feel so sorry for anyone that has ever walked or will ever walk in those shoes. I had a sense of relief due to the arrest and a sense of rage. I found out that what I suspected all along was correct. I cannot believe that not only did she do this to my brother, and left him there to rot; not only did she act as if she had no idea, but she had the audacity to go to his memorial in Mesa with a smirk on her emotionless face as if she was envying her work.
This person had the nerve to send my grandmother flowers two days after Travis was found, expressing what a good man my brother was and how sorry she was for our family. She had the nerve to write my family a letter on Travis's 31st birthday. The first birthday he didn't get to celebrate. She explained how sorry she was. She wrote about what a great man my brother was and how she owed him her life. She describe the bandit story in full detail. She expressed so much remorse about not being able to save Travis, defeat those evil monsters, and for leaving him there to die. She explained that they threatened to kill her and her family if she called the police.
She claimed she was wrongly accused and the real monsters that were responsible for this heinous crime are still out there, and that they needed to be brought to justice. She said these monsters deserved the death penalty. If there is one thing that I can agree with Jodi on in that letter is that the monster
responsible for this, the monster that did this to my brother, deserves the death penalty.
I have not had a good night's sleep since my brother was murdered. This endless trial made us hear the graphic details of the murder over and over. The images of my poor brother's dead body will never go away. The justice system has completely failed us over and over. It disgusts me how many rights the defendant has. The victim's rights are a joke in comparison. With that being said, I understand the decisions you made in this trial. I understand why you allowed the delays by the defence. I have seen the public backlash because of it. I am so sorry that you had to go through this experience not only once, but twice.
After the hung jury of the first trial, if there was an option for you to sentence Jodi to Life Row where jodi would have been treated like a Death Row inmate, for the rest of her life, we would have taken that. The option should be there in the case of a hung jury in a death penalty case. That option would also have eliminated the chance for a tainted juror getting on the jury the second time around. Judges should have the power to sentence Life Row. It would have spared us all the time, money, and additional suffering to be here. We attempted to plead with Jodi by sparing the Death Penalty and trading for Natural Life and no appeals. She would not budge. That is the only reason we all had to go through this again.
I know that we are, we have the right to address the defendant directly. Jodi has shown no remorse. She continuously makes atrocious lies about my brother, dragging his name through the mud after she dragged his body through his own blood. She stooped so low as to throw her own mother and father under the bus when she knew damn well she was never abused just to spare her own life. I wouldn't waste my time addressing her, because she isn't worth my breath.
In closing, I just want to express my appreciation to you. I know this trial has impacted your life. There is only one person to blame for that, and that is Jodi. I thank you, Judge Stephens, for being strong enough to see this trial to the end. I know how difficult the decision is to make, and I pray that you will make the right one by sentencing Jodi to Natural Life without the possibility of parole.
Thank you.31:18
JSS: Thank you for your statement.
