Discussions on Formal Sentencing Hearing - Jodi Arias #12

[krkrjx]

IMO, JSS was a paragon of virtue throughout this case. Yes, her voice broke when she declared a mistrial in the first penalty phase, perhaps betraying her true feelings. But other than that one moment, she was stalwart throughout both trials.

I was so happy that Samantha took the last few moments of her victim impact statement to acknowledge Judge Stephens, the toll this trial must have taken on her, and the fact that Jodi did her best to manipulate Her Honor's court. Samantha didn't lower herself to Jodi's mean-spirited vitriol, instead, she elevated the discourse by taking the high road, which is where Judge Stephens had been all along.

I'm pretty sure Judge Stephens thought Jodi deserved the death penalty, but I have the utmost respect for her for putting her personal judgments aside and doing her best to ensure that the trial played out according to the law.

ETA:

Am I the only one who thinks Judge Stephens seems like a super nice person? Can you imagine family get-togethers with her? Everyone would be so polite and well-mannered in her presence. Ahhh, I can almost feel the negative energy evaporating as she enters the room...

I would not want Judge Stephens presiding over a trial of the murderer of my love one. Nope. I would want a judge that would take better charge of the courtroom and move things along but, most importantly, not allow my loved one's memory to be maligned.

On the other hand, I would love to have Judge Stephens as a close friend or family member. I bet she is a wonderful person, easy-going, caring and considerate. I believe she would be sensitive and would weigh her words before speaking even in an informal setting. Most of all, I think she would just be fun to be around and probably has a great sense of humor.

 

[Caylee Advocate]

Did you all know that Bobby Juarez was on TV series "Lost" as an "other" and Tania Raymonde (actress who played the murderess on the Lifetime movie) was in the cast. BJ is allegedly writing a book about CMJA.



Bobby and Tania pic:

 

[Sulamith]

GiGi, my favorite outrageous story about Jodi was when the manager of The Purple Plum was being interviewed and he shared that she once pretended to be new in town so this handsome young patron would show her around town. It worked. She is that chick in the Black Widow movie , jello to any mold that fits the situation.

It reminds me of a story we read in grade school called
The Open Window by Saki
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OpeWin.shtml
Here is a video of it https://youtu.be/nZfSa0z8mvo

Entire Black Widow Movie with Debra Winger & Theresa Russell
https://youtu.be/cjzmsRa2GJ4

I loved the movie "Black Widow". Wonder what ever happened to Theresa Russell.

 

[FelicityLemon]

Fair enough. Maybe the definition of ghetto is different depending on which part of the USA a person lives. When I lived in Southern California, some teens would call a person "ghetto" and they meant a poor black drug addict, gang member. Where I live now, in Texas, a person who lacks discretion and disrespects others is called "white trash" or "trailer trash". Whatever the definition, I do not like name calling.

LOL, people might understand that post as a backhanded way of calling out that nice WS member as trailer trash or white trash. :drumroll:

 

[MsJosie]

T

http://greatday.com/motivate/960422.html

http://jodiarias.blogspot.ca/2008/04/if-you-ve-ever-spent-much-time-at-playg_30.html

The first link will take you to the original article. The second link will take you to a notification that the page captured in the image is not longer available on JA's blog.

Thank you very much!

 

[GigiG]

GiGi, my favorite outrageous story about Jodi was when the manager of The Purple Plum was being interviewed and he shared that she once pretended to be new in town so this handsome young patron would show her around town. It worked. She is that chick in the Black Widow movie , jello to any mold that fits the situation.

It reminds me of a story we read in grade school called
The Open Window by Saki
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OpeWin.shtml
Here is a video of it https://youtu.be/nZfSa0z8mvo

Entire Black Widow Movie with Debra Winger & Theresa Russell
https://youtu.be/cjzmsRa2GJ4

I'll have to read The Open Window, I'm sure I'll appreciate it. Thanks for the reference. I have seen the Black Widow movie (more times than I'd like to admit!). I believe that was based on a true story?

As to the Purple Plum, I wish we could be privy to those statements. So curious about how people perceived her both before and after the murder.

I dunno, there must be something in my DNA that attracts me to this stuff...

My sincere thanks to you, Zoey, for being so gracious as to recommend these things, knowing they would be of interest to me.

ETA I just watched the clip of The Open Window. How absolutely eerie...

 

[Sulamith]

LOL, people might understand that post as a backhanded way of calling out that nice WS member as trailer trash or white trash. :drumroll:

No. The poster was calling MDLR "ghetto".

 

[GigiG]

LOL, people might understand that post as a backhanded way of calling out that nice WS member as trailer trash or white trash. :drumroll:

Without going back to know for certain, I'm pretty sure the person who first posted that is younger (as in not as old as me). And despite her saying the meaning hasn't (really) changed, the term does mean different things to people of different generations. I don't think by using that term she meant anything more than something generally pejorative. That's how I understood it. JMO.

 

[Nancy_Drew]

*brain bleach warning* Since the killer thought it appropriate to let the world view her 'assets' - we all know her trunk will stash a lot of contraband.

:drumroll:

Hahaha!! Gross!! ...that certainly gives "butt dial" a new meaning.... (and if that is where she concealed it she probably liked it!) uke:

 

[Nancy_Drew]

Without going back to know for certain, I'm pretty sure the person who first posted that is younger (as in not as old as me). And despite her saying the meaning hasn't (really) changed, the term does mean different things to people of different generations. I don't think by using that term she meant anything more than something generally pejorative. That's how I understood it. JMO.

Thank you GigiG. :beats: I would never want to offend anyone (except for MDLR ;0).

 

[Nancy_Drew]

Fair enough. Maybe the definition of ghetto is different depending on which part of the USA a person lives. When I lived in Southern California, some teens would call a person "ghetto" and they meant a poor black drug addict, gang member. Where I live now, in Texas, a person who lacks discretion and disrespects others is called "white trash" or "trailer trash". Whatever the definition, I do not like name calling.

I think you missed the point of my original post. It was to say that, I in no way condone name calling or people treating others disrespectfully. It was in direct reference to the very low class way that MDLR was behaving and treating others.

 

[Becky Sharp]

I loved how JSS only allocated 10 minutes to read these letters. I'm sure she knew who wrote them and how irrelevant they were given that no one sppke for Jodi in favor of mitigation. I realize the break when she read them was longer than 10 minutes, but maybe she had to give time to everyone to use the restroom? Maybe she had a coughing fit or couldn't stop laughing at the letters? Maybe she called her kids to make sure they were having a good day? Maybe she had to steel herself to endure one final round with the Perryville Princess? Maybe she had to dream up that extra special sentence in the sentencing order?

Let's be appreciative of JSS: I can't imagine how she managed it all.

Thanks so much Rickshawfan. I agree whole-heartedly. She was always so composed, so poker-faced, and I like to imagine that she regularly went to her chambers to bwahaha. But who knows.

For what it's worth, I'm writing this as two plumbers are right now roto-rootering my backed-up cellar drain. A nod to you, CMJA.

 

[lithgow1]

GiGi, my favorite outrageous story about Jodi was when the manager of The Purple Plum was being interviewed and he shared that she once pretended to be new in town so this handsome young patron would show her around town. It worked. She is that chick in the Black Widow movie , jello to any mold that fits the situation.

It reminds me of a story we read in grade school called
The Open Window by Saki
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OpeWin.shtml
Here is a video of it https://youtu.be/nZfSa0z8mvo

Entire Black Widow Movie with Debra Winger & Theresa Russell
https://youtu.be/cjzmsRa2GJ4

Kind of off topic but thanks for mentioning Saki! I love his short stories. The one about the cat who is taught to talk and turns out to be an eavesdropper and a gossip is very funny - it's called Tobermory if you don't know it. The Open Window is a classic 'ghost' story.

 

[FelicityLemon]

Without going back to know for certain, I'm pretty sure the person who first posted that is younger (as in not as old as me). And despite her saying the meaning hasn't (really) changed, the term does mean different things to people of different generations. I don't think by using that term she meant anything more than something generally pejorative. That's how I understood it. JMO.

Having been reading her posts for a few months now, I feel confident in saying she did not mean it the way I think someone else is taking it I agree that the generations have different meanings even subtleties. I'm nearing 60, but I knew where she was coming from and her heart is good.

She's a very nice WSer, quick with great sense of humor that I see. Good grief, I've put my foot in my mouth more than once in these forums - yikes! So easy to be misunderstood on the net.

:loveyou: :blushing: :happydance: :cupcake:

 

[FelicityLemon]

Hahaha!! Gross!! ...that certainly gives "butt dial" a new meaning.... (and if that is where she concealed it she probably liked it!) uke:

YER KILLIN' ME!

Yesterday, I had to tell my Mom that she butt dialed me, but she was okay because I couldn't hear what she was saying. Forevermore, I'll think of your interpretation of butt dialing.

:cheers:

 

[Becky Sharp]

Kind of off topic but thanks for mentioning Saki! I love his short stories. The one about the cat who is taught to talk and turns out to be an eavesdropper and a gossip is very funny - it's called Tobermory if you don't know it. The Open Window is a classic 'ghost' story.

Me too.

 

[Cailin Rua]

Agreed.

If I recall from HLN, the statement that JM doesn't fraternize refers to relationships with defense attorneys. I can guarantee that JM associates with some very intelligent and very articulate comrades: to maintain a vocabulary like his, your world has to have others who echo it back and have their own menu of "big" words.

I am saying this from personal knowledge. Actually, the WS site offers a good illustration. Have you ever noticed that when you respond to a poster who has, say, an SAT-level vocabulary, you trundle yours out too? Even though you may be home all day talking to 2-year-olds and never knew you had it in you?

While I'm on that topic (Rickshaw Fan brainwave), have you ever noticed that in imaginary responses to Jodi, you don't trick out your sentences with fancy vocabulary? (I've just noticed this now....) And when a poster on WS uses wording that is slightly "off" to make subtle and not-so-subtle digs at other posters? Same thing? It's all just repellent?

Methinks we can't mirror Jodi or Jodi-ish for a reason: there's something intuitively wrong with the language. We see her word choices as a joke. Contrast that with your reaction to JM. Very quickly, you'll find yourself talking to your husband (wife, partner) with some of his verbal wizardry, even though you've never used those words in your life! Remember "salacious" and "tumescent"?

In short, I believe we somehow intuitively know who to trust by the words they choose and whether they have the words "spun" correctly. If we are comfortable, we can readily make these words our own. (Aside: I swear, if I had to do life over, I'd be a forensic linguist.) No doubt, there are certain sentence structures we respond to as well: Jodi always sounds like she's borrowed (stolen, plagiarised) someone else's (which she has, almost invariably) and is cut-and-pasting as her phrases leave her mouth, whereas Juan sounds, well, as though he is manufacturing every little bit right on the fly, which is how language is supposed to work.

Jodi's vocabulary and phrasing give me the queasies, I tell you. Same with Jodi-ish.

I'm a licensed mental health therapist in my state and one odd thing that I have observed about my clients who I thought had narcissistic personalities was that they would use words incorrectly. Frequently they were big words but sometimes they were just the wrong words. And you could tell the person was pulling out this vocabulary out of a sense of superiority, but it just sounded wrong. Often they had a weird roundabout way of talking that made you think you, personally, were going crazy because you couldn't follow it.

I can see borderline traits in JA but I think there's more to it than that. The people with Borderline PD that I've treated have never been that malevolent.

 

[FelicityLemon]

No. The poster was calling MDLR "ghetto".

I understood her post and I understood yours

 

[FelicityLemon]

Has anyone else seen that letter posted on youtube that she apparently wrote 2 weeks before the murder? Basically whining about him not giving her credit for helping with his book. Is this new or have I just not seen it for awhile? It's quite a lengthy email. Wasn't sure if I could link it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk7WtPGhSTU&feature=youtu.be

oh. my. god. What a condescending twit. Yes, I'm name-calling her.

If I wrote that letter and it was seen by people other than the intended person, I'd be mortified! She's unbelievable!

Thank you for posting that link! ohmygod she's just awful in every respect.

 

[GigiG]

Having been reading her posts for a few months now, I feel confident in saying she did not mean it the way I think someone else is taking it I agree that the generations have different meanings even subtleties. I'm nearing 60, but I knew where she was coming from and her heart is good.

She's a very nice WSer, quick with great sense of humor that I see. Good grief, I've put my foot in my mouth more than once in these forums - yikes! So easy to be misunderstood on the net.

:loveyou: :blushing: :happydance: :cupcake:

Agreed. Plus, thanks for being yet another person (in addition to our beloved dog.gone.cute) to teach my granddaughter new words: "happy dance!" and "cupcake." Just goes to show ya, WS is about so much more than crime and justice, it's a community of really nice people. Thanks for being one of them!