Great first post Wake_me! Welcome :seeya:
Long time lurker, first time poster. I apologize if this is a complete rehash of other user comments, but these threads move so quickly, it is hard to keep up. Sorry for the long post, but I'd like to share my thoughts.
Regarding JA asking TA about taking photos of him shaving/in the shower. I was disappointed that JM continued questioning her, as it seemed to clear to me these were two separate incidents due to the fact of her mentioning the shaving pic was used as a myspace profile pic. Fortunately the rest of the day made that fumble largely forgettable.
I found this a bit disturbing, too. It was clear to me too that JA was talking about another occasion w/Det. Flores in that video. I felt that Juan was twisting this and it didn't need to be. I think it could have been maybe more effective to just get her to admit that she has convinced TA in the past to pose for similar photos, and the jury could easily m ake the connection that she did it again this time to make him vulnerable for an easier kill.
Just my opinion, no tomatoes, please. I am totally a Juan supporter, just did not feel this was effective. :truce:
Something that stood out to me was this exchange.
JM said (paraphrasing) "that's when the horrible man with the mean face was coming at you."
JA: "I never said he was horrible!"(in between tears)
JM: "Thank you for correcting me"
Wow, I completely missed this!
These is no way I can reconcile her version of events with how I perceive reality. According to her, he picked her up and body slammed her with force on the hard floor causing her to hit her head, hurt her torso etc, and maybe had the wind knocked out of her slightly. He then stood over her by her knees and as she put it "he kept coming and coming at me" She then made a half roll to her side, got up and ran away.
I agree her whole story sounds like snippets from movies and MMA/WWE fights. Complete with words and phrases no one would really use (IMO); 'body slam' like a linebacker. BS. Her reenactment was ridiculous.
Just visualize that. She said he was in arms reach, she is viciously slammed down. He is "coming at her" and she half rolls to the side, gets up and runs off. There is no way he couldn't have grabbed her right there if he wanted to.
Another thing that made me scratch my head was the whole closet door issue. When JM says she could have just kept running when she had time to decide to keep going or go for the gun, she says if she kept running he could have been coming the other way towards where she would have exited. However, then she implies that everything happened at once and as she closed the door he was right there opening it. So if that's true, she knew he wasn't trying to cut her off in the other hall and could have kept running that way.
What I thought made today more effective for JM, later in the testimony he stopped arguing small points with her. He would ask something, she would deny it with some absurd statement and he just went on to the next point. It came across as much more effective in regards to the flow not being interrupted by her. It didn't give her a chance to regain her mental balance and it showed.
I found it very telling when she was getting rattled and he was asking why she was having trouble and JA said something along the lines of "well I do when you break it down like that." To me it was like her admitting she didn't think her story through with enough detail. Sure it seemed suspect even the way she glossed over it in direct, but he completely decimated her version of events IMO
So right on, I think you have hit the nail on the head. I really think she made this story up from what she has seen on TV and in movies, and that just doesn't stand up to real life scutiny.
It was absolutely beautiful how JM made her agree to what logically must've happened, once the fog hit, given the evidence. At points it sounding like she was reciting memorized lines, and unconvincingly . (ones she had used before too) For example when JM told her to tell her about the bits of memory that had come back after the fog began. Then she repeats the " i remember dropping the knife in the bathroom" line. However she did forget to mention her screaming this time.
JM also got her to basically admit that she was completely into the sex except for maybe a couple of instances. So we've gone from him being a sexual deviant and her being abused because of that, to her doing things on a couple occasions that she might not 100% enjoy, but did so to satisfy him...because that never happens in normal relationships. /sarcasm
I think Juan did a fantastic job of showing she was leading the way in the sex arena w/Travis. And that she had a long history of stalking behaviors. I hope he brings in Bobby on rebuttal.
Finally, a question regarding JA being a photographer. Was this something she ever did as a profession, or is she just one of those girls who buys a digital camera, learns how to apply some filters in a photo editing software program and then calls herself a photographer?
Based on what I have heard/read, I would say the latter. She tries to make it sound like she was a pro, saying she was working on someone's wedding photos, saying she was going to photograph Darryl's sisters newborn (who never showed up in So. CA to meet Jodi, and was really just an alibi according to me). But it is just her way of making her hobby sound important.
She really had nothing going on in her life, and IMO why she was so taken with TA and the PPL lifestyle. She has delusions of grandeur, and could not bear to see that lifestyle taken away from her by TA.
