Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - Day 15

[Katharine]

How do the tests compensate for people that lie when answering the questions? She is a known liar, the test is given, but how do the graders or whatever they are called, take that into consideration....or they don't and just think she is telling the truth and give their report. The test would be invalid if she lied?! Please explain. Thanks in advance

I personally cannot answer this question and it sure is a very valid question, but this was taken from the article:

The MMPI-2 is not a valid measure of a person’s psychopathology or behavior if the person taking the test does so in a way that is not honest or frank. A person may decide, for whatever reasons, to overreport (exaggerate) or underreport (deny) the behavior being assessed by the test.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) contains four validity scales designed to measure a person’s test-taking attitude and approach to the test:

Lie (L) – The Lie scale is intended to identify individuals who are deliberately trying to avoid answering the MMPI honestly and in a frank manner. The scale measures attitudes and practices that are culturally laudable, but rarely found in most people. In other words, people who make these items are often trying to make themselves look like a better person than they really are (or that anybody is). The scale contains 15 items.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-mmpi/0005959

 

[janx]

The anxiety/stress one feels after murdering someone in cold-blood is a mitigating factor? :thinking:

Oh yes, and remember: She wasn't angry.

 

[MeeBee]

Well, I know this is cockeyed optimism, but I'm hoping she's doing this to verify & then charge him with contempt. She did correct JW's attempt to explain away the reason he didn't turn it over, so that's a start? I was actually relieved to hear her come back at JW with that statement, b/c it tells me she does understand at least that much of the issue.

Same here Lin. That kind of told me she's more on top of this than some think she is.

 

[ShadyLady]

Kicking her mother, squeezing a cat too hard, slashing tires and almost decapitating Travis. No anger? Okay then!

You forgot the dog....

 

[Hatfield]

The fact is, who cares what he did or did not say, and why in the heck is she so easily led to that goose chase rather than simply demanding now that it be turned over now.

You hit the nail on the head. This proves the judge is really not paying attention very well and she just tunes out the back+forth bickering between the DT and PA when they start going at it.

She goes down the rabbit hole and hides there during most of the debate. She doesnt have a good grasp of the overall DT motion as a whole or she should have thrown it out a long time ago.
And then when she realizes its finally her turn to decide something she cant decide from the bench and has to take it into advisement. I wonder if she goes to someone else for help after hours or something.

She should have rejected the DT claims 3 clones ago. She is not paying attention to the matter as a whole and she is crawling down the rabbit hole and confused with the details that are all unproven allegations from DT. Unproven, delay tactics, unproven again, .....cant produce evidence.....a recipe to toss it out 3 clones ago.

 

[Nali87]

They are not going to go with the defense claim in this round so how do they explain Jodi stabbing and shooting Travis if she DIDN'T have a huge amount of anger/adrenaline inside of her?

If she wanted to save the world from his evil ways, she could have picked up the phone and called the police.

If, like Gefner is saying, her anger levels are perfectly normal.. And she wasn't fighting for her life, how could she have killed him like that? That killing was full of rage.

 

[AZlawyer]

A question for AZL.

It appears to me that JA's secret testimony included claims of child abuse, and God knows what else; so, if she has in fact made these allegations can Juan play the Troy Hayden interview in which she states that (paraphrased) when it comes to mitigating factors it is a joke among her and the DT that she wasn't abused enough? TIA

I can't remember exactly what she told Troy, but of course if she contradicted herself the other statement can be introduced.

 

[Nali87]

I didn't put that into words right..

They're now saying Jodi was abused and was mentally ill but that she had normal levels of anger. Nothing that would suggest she is capable of extreme violence. But if that is true - how do they explain her murdering him the way she did? This was not a shooting. It was a butchering. They can't argue it was self defense. They CAN say she was mentally ill - but again - tied in with what their defense is claiming which is that she was a normal, battered woman with low self esteem and low levels of anger, how is such a woman capable of such violence?

How do they plan to spin this? Explain it to me someone - maybe I'm just not seeing it.

 

[ShadyLady]

I didn't put that into words right..

They're now saying Jodi was abused and was mentally ill but that she had normal levels of anger. Nothing that would suggest she is capable of extreme violence. But if that is true - how do they explain her murdering him the way she did? This was not a shooting. It was a butchering. They can't argue it was self defense. They CAN say she was mentally ill - but again - tied in with what their defense is claiming which is that she was a normal, battered woman with low self esteem and low levels of anger, how is such a woman capable of such violence?

How do they plan to spin this? Explain it to me someone - maybe I'm just not seeing it.

I think they are going for "confusion" as the mitigating factor.

And I see many WSer's have been put to sleep with this testimony....

 

[Madeleine74]

Hi Nali. The MMPI--2 is a very, very reliable and valid instrument for measuring psychopathology and personality disorders, and it is as psychometrically sound as they come. It has internal constructs designed to "catch" exaggeration, over reporting and under-reporting--basically it is designed to identify those who lie on the test.

I remember taking the MMPI test a very long time ago and IIRC there were hundreds of questions and I remember there were times I really didn't know how to answer some of the questions. I couldn't really agree or disagree or decide on some of them. Is that intentional on this test? I wasn't trying to lie but I remember thinking, "there's no answer that indicates "yes, sometimes I do feel that way, but not usually and not always and not never." Like if the MMPI had an essay portion I would have been able to explain my rationale. LOL.

 

[Nali87]

I think they are going for "confusion" as the mitigating factor.

And I see many WSer's have been put to sleep with this testimony....

Lol! You might just be right.

 

[Truth Detector]

Good god...

Score one for the defense, I guess. Oh well, Juan doesn't essentially need it, I guess. Just the mere fact that the information from one clone to the next is different and that it's different from the 2008 image Willmott keeps insisting Juan has should be enough. Because it should not be different.

Except that the jury has not been privy to any part of the DT's computer hard drive shell game.

 

[kolokolo]

You forgot the dog....

According to her babysitter when she was a youngster she hit her brother across the head with a baseball bat. IIRC

 

[wenwe4]

Was this MMPI done before or after the Ninja's did it story?

I wonder if she deliberatly answered the "anger" questions in a way she would be looked upon in a good light? Or if that just was her "normal"- that she wasn't "normally" always angry. (except when it came to Travis wanting no more to do with her)

I think she worked her way up to a murderous rage with Travis, because he was the one that was "abandoning" her for Mimi to Cancun and other "temple worthy wife material". I think she felt rightous indignation that he would have sex with her in ways he had never previously experienced, and then call her a *advertiser censored* and evil - tossing her aside like a used kleenex to look for a more virginal life (& after-life) partner with which to raise his children.

I think Brit'sKate had it right with more cluster B's being involved but even Geffner has stated he has some questions about validity. (ie: is she lying/trying to project herself in a better light?)

 

[MeeBee]

Except that the jury has not been privy to any part of the DT's computer hard drive shell game.

Yet...

 

[bsk]

From WAT:

Wild About Trial @WildAboutTrial · 18s 18 seconds ago


Here is a rendition of the sweet circle that The Geff drew. I hope you feel like you are in the courtroom. #JodiArias

"I see an image of a cowering JA with a dropped camera on the floor and Travis lunging at her." --BN

 

[Mindmatters]

I didn't put that into words right..

They're now saying Jodi was abused and was mentally ill but that she had normal levels of anger. Nothing that would suggest she is capable of extreme violence. But if that is true - how do they explain her murdering him the way she did? This was not a shooting. It was a butchering. They can't argue it was self defense. They CAN say she was mentally ill - but again - tied in with what their defense is claiming which is that she was a normal, battered woman with low self esteem and low levels of anger, how is such a woman capable of such violence?

How do they plan to spin this? Explain it to me someone - maybe I'm just not seeing it.

Honestly Nali, I think they are going for the "snapped" defense doncha know. I mean c'mon it was Travis' UNCONFIRMED physical and emotional abuse along with his child *advertiser censored* problem (as a result of being a child of neglect and abuse himself) that caused this totally normal woman who, despite being a victim of childhood abuse herself (albeit to a lesser degree) was driven to the edge of madness and violence, and who of course ended up having Transient Global Amnesia when it came to the vicious and torturous stabbing of her victim. I mean what's a girl to do!!!

Nevermind the CONFIRMED mountain of evidence that she with great care premeditated and planned the murder of another human being, did everything in her power to cover up and destroy evidence and hide the fact that she was ever in AZ, and that she had a history of anger, sexual promiscuity, stalking her lovers, emotionally and psychologically abusing people in her life, harming or neglecting animals, a complete disregard for the privacy of significant others, violating anyone's boundaries willy nilly if it served her purposes, pathological lying, physical altercations with her parents, manipulating behaviors from a very early age, and on and on and on. After all, the jury will never hear about those things anyway!!

 

[Nosey Parker]

"I see an image of a cowering JA with a dropped camera on the floor and Travis lunging at her." --BN

"I see a Chihuahua running around the yard, peeing" - JM

 

[Truth Detector]

From WAT:

Wild About Trial @WildAboutTrial · 1m 1 minute ago

Jenn and The Geff continue to go over the MMPI-2. We are now looking at validity scales. #JodiArias


Wild About Trial @WildAboutTrial · 11s 12 seconds ago

The Geff is totally blown away that he can draw on the computer in front of him. His circle is less than impressive. #JodiArias

BBM

How long since he's actually testified?

Does he know that phones don't have cords anymore?

 

[rose222]

According to her babysitter when she was a youngster she hit her brother across the head with a baseball bat. IIRC

And apparently her brother let out a blood-curling scream. It wasn't a one time thing. The babysitter said that she couldn't leave Arias alone with her brother because she would often create trouble.

I don't think 'anger' even appropriately describes the hateful energy that bubbles inside every cell of her body and every thought in her mind. Rage? Fury? I don't know what word to use.