Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - Day 31

[Night-owl]

Just jumping off your post. Don't believe this for a minute. It was a lie to cover for the comment on the 48hrs Interview. When, in her words, she was completely innocent. I wonder why JM chose to use her excuse in this testimony?

MOO

Meh...I sort of do believe it. Suicide is right up her alley, in theory. The drama! The imagined remorse from everyone who let her down! The ultimate FU, w it no worries someone else gets the last word!!!!!

Problem is, it hurts. And by that, I mean it hurts her. And so that's just not happening.

 

[rose222]

But they are charged with weighing whether her having BPD outweighs the cruelness of how she slaughtered Travis. JMO but I would have no problem voting for death.

Me too Rose. This jury is DP qualified. Many of us who are expressing doubt, would have expressed our doubts during jury selection and we'd have been weeded out anyway. IMO

I still have hopes of this jury coming back with a death sentence in record time. I 'blame' LinasK and NashBridges for my optimism.

Arias said that she used a razor but stopped because it stung so bad. She chose to stop when it hurt her. Travis must have screamed and begged for his life but she chose not to stop. She chose to butcher the life out of him. The lack of personal responsibility is this case is very troubling to me (Travis made me to do it. My BPD made me do it. My troubled childhood made me do it). I don't buy it. And I don't see how these DP qualified jurors can come back with anything but death.

 

[Niner]

Jen's Trial Diaries @TrialDiariesJ · 3s 4 seconds ago
Liz Taylor is here in the gallery today...I swear this lady pulls it off well! #jodiarias #3tvarias

I thought she died years ago... :waitasec:

 

[grammieto5]

Why would nurmi need time to prepare, did he not know Dr. DeMarte was going to be a witness? What’s he preparing for?

 

[Kamille]

Wild About Trial ‏@WildAboutTrial · 1m1 minute ago
Juan ends calmly. Numri wants the rest of the afternoon to prepare for his cross so we are done for the day. #jodiarias

AGAIN?!? That's every time now. I remember this game back in the original trial where they'd drag it out all day and then make JM get up in the last hour. And he always did. Now they are never required to do the same. They always get extra time to prepare for cross. Always.

MOO

 

[bsk]

A 'Personality Disorder' is not the same thing as schizophrenia or psychosis. A disorder is less debilitating.

IMO, it is like any other kind of illness. One needs to care for oneself when one has a disorder. If one has 'anger management; disorder, then one NEEDS to learn to control outbursts. It is not an excuse for assault. It is an 'explanation' but not a justification. If one has diabetes, then one has to control one's diet and take insulin after measuring blood sugar levels. You cannot ignore it.

The same with BPD. You cannot act out on all antisocial impulses then expect to be given a pass for any crimes committed. One must take persona responsibility and get treatment, and try and combat the negative impulses. JA did NOTHING like that. She doubled down and continues to do so.

But I'm sure JA thinks she is perfectly normal. It's kind of like how things are where you grew up seems normal and everywhere else seems weird. She probably thought she was the normal one and everybody else was against her. To a point anyway.

 

[5bigfish5]

Why would nurmi need time to prepare, did he not know Dr. DeMarte was going to be a witness? What’s he preparing for?

I'm actually kinda glad he wanted time. Let the jurors have tonight to really absorb all that was presented to them today.

Then, once it has all sunk in good, let Nurmi try to muddy the water.

 

[Night-owl]

Would you want him to suffer - from petmed

Rabies is a severe, and often fatal, viral polioencephalitis ....

Rabies is probably a bad example. But what if you had a dog that you know can never be trusted around other people? You can take steps to keep it away from others. And hope that it doesn't go after you when you are distracted. I'm cool with that.

Now, what if that dog does kill someone. Whatever precautions you took were not enough. To me, the only option is to put that dog down. I'm not a "life at any price" person. Given the choice if living in a cage for the rest of its life or humanely euthanizing it, the kinder way is to let it go.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Climbing over that fence (hi Nali!)

It would be negligent of the jurors not to weigh her BPD as mitigating. They are obligated to consider each and every onevof the mitigators on the list, and they're allowed to create their own for her, based on what they've been presented.

The job is to weigh the especially cruel against mitigators. Not to ignore or dismiss either.

No one is asking this jury to dismiss a darn thing. BPD is not a mitigator or cause for murder.

 

[Mindmatters]

Tammy Rose ‏@News20Chopper · 37s37 seconds ago
Dr. DeMarte says #JodiArias is now devaluing #TravisAlexander to come to turns with justifying what she did. #JodiArias

This is where Dr. D should knock it out the park for the jurors--she will make the case that a BPD will idealize (put on a pedestal) their intimate partners when they get their way and have successfully duped them but when they finally realize they cannot manipulate them or get want they want any longer they begin a different victimization of their target in which the BPD will devalue(demonize) them with a whole host of horrible lies and manipulation. This happens all the time with BPD males who stalk their intimate partners.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

While I know AZl says that the only thing that is relevant as far as an aggravating factor is the murder itself, I respectfully disagree. If that was all that was relevant in the sentencing phase then JSS wouldn't allow all of JA past behaviors/actions to come in plus the aftermath after she murdered Travis. Everything entered in this phase can be weighed by the jury including the stalking, the slashed tires, and how she has continued to totally lie about him after she killed him, and disparaged his name. Or anything else that has been entered.

Of course I do agree that the murder itself was the element needed to get to the cruelty aspect of the case in the first trial.

In every death penalty case I have seen the actions of the convicted defendant before and after the murder or murders were very relevant in the jury making their determination of LWOP or Death. I have seen them introduce evidence about the defendant killing pets and going all the way back to school days entering the bad things they have done even though those things really didn't have anything to do with the heinous murder(s) themselves.

I have seen no mitigating factor that can even begin to compare to the aggravating factors in this case much less overcome them. The mitigating factors have been almost non-existent which has been pretty much putting Travis on trial for months rather than the murderer.

I think the jury will be intelligent enough to know that BPD doesn't render someone where they are unable to make choices where they don't know right from wrong. JA certainly knew it was wrong and that is why she lied and covered up her dastardly deeds. Its obvious that JA had lived for many years as a free woman with this disorder before she resorted to murder.

If there is a psychiatrist on the jury they will know that BPD is just like it states........a personality disorder.

I am trying to remember a case where the jury gave LWOP because they believed BPD was a mental illness and cant think of any at the moment. Most jurors don't buy into the mentally ill excuse when coming to their verdict at sentencing. IMO

 

[ShadyLady]

...let me add one more thing. She choose to murder Travis is a very personal heinous painful way....ala her favorite movies where the hero was some knife/sword wielding ninga. So she was not so far off with her ninga tale...as she was the ninga. REVENGE was the word. Revenge for daring to expose her to everyone and revenge for finally saying a definitive NO to her.

 

[ILikeToBendPages]

Why would nurmi need time to prepare, did he not know Dr. DeMarte was going to be a witness? What’s he preparing for?

I don't think attacking Dr. DeMarte will help Jodi. You put geffner, alv, mcf up against her and they look old school, out of date, - all hired to make Jodi look like a victim when she was far from it. I think now the can see how Travis couldn't get rid of her, how she stalked him, how miserable she made his life. I thank God for DeMarte and Juan that they could show us what Jodi is and how she handles people telling her to go away.


And I noticed that MM didn't say anything to Dr. D about the bruising he saw on Jodi throat in April 2008 two days before she moved back to Yreka.

 

[ShadyLady]

No one is asking this jury to dismiss a darn thing. BPD is not a mitigator or cause for murder.

Didn't I read somewhere that mercy is not either?

 

[Magdalyn]

But what if you could lock up the dog with rabies away for life (providing food and such as needed) and throw away the key? If you had this option - would you kill him even though it's not his fault he has rabies?

Yes. That's what is done, the dog is doomed and suffering. And an aside: the dog isn't aware of the laws we have on the books and is incapable of lying.

We gotta think apples to apples, IMO.

Apples to oranges comparison would be: If a human committed a violent murder in the throes of the hallucination stages of rabies, would I give the human the death penalty. No. The case wouldn't even be death penalty qualified, I don't think, they would be clinically 'out of their mind'/not sane.

Apples to apples: Scott Peterson. Personality disorder. Not his choice, just has a personality disorder. No problem giving him the death penalty.

 

[CarolinaMoon]

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I haven't "voted" by my posts as to what the ultimate penalty will be. There's a good reason.

I joined Websleuths during the years between CA's arrest and trial. WS was a great source of information. I blogged the entire case from almost beginning in 2008 until her egregious acquittal. After spending hours writing and publishing, I'd come here and see what WS members thought. Usually I got it right! It was comforting to know all of those who participated here were seeing what I saw.

As I wrote, I tried very hard to appear non-biased. I have to admit, though, that some of Baez' motions and courtroom actions were rife for my sense of irony. I never once wrote the phrase, "When Casey is convicted..." because I felt it would jinx the case. Turned out I was wrong! The jury did that for me.

Nevertheless, I refuse to take sides here only because I feel I could personally "jinx" this whole phase.

I do know that, regardless of the verdict to come (some time in the future), JA will consider herself to be a star. If she gets LWOP, she will have the opportunity to work her schemes on the women she is incarcerated with once she gets out of solitary. Of course, there is always the hope that her manipulation just may be out-manipulated by someone even more intelligent and wily than she is. Maybe some will want to stalk her because of her fame. I would love to see her be on the other end of that sort of behavior.

If she gets death, she will be an even bigger star in her own mind. Lawyers will flock to represent her pro bono. Her name will be all over the news with great frequency if she has any say in the matter. Her followers will gather momentum and collect funds to keep her in her favorite snacks. She will try to find a way to smuggle out art to sell. I'm betting it would fetch more money if she were on death row.

Either way, expect more tweets and book reviews! She'll still be working her peeps on the outside!

 

[MsJosie]

Why would nurmi need time to prepare, did he not know Dr. DeMarte was going to be a witness? What’s he preparing for?

He has to see what the felon wants him to ask or say.

 

[Magdalyn]

Why would nurmi need time to prepare, did he not know Dr. DeMarte was going to be a witness? What’s he preparing for?

I think he was hoping that JSS would preclude 95% of what came in today.

 

[Mindmatters]

What it's doing for me is putting it all into context and explaining that Jodi saw things in this relationship that weren't there and explains her behaviors better. Her experts explained it one way, that she was used and mistreated, and we are getting the true, real side. It also outlines that Travis wasn't abusive to her explains why she would now lie and say he was: devalue. You need to see him as the scum that I saw him as to murder him, even if it isn't true. It'll never be ok to me that she made up that pedophilia lie.

Definitely. And don't forget this is a very, very intelligent girl--even scored in the Superior range in some areas--who knows right from wrong.

 

[elementary]

Yeah. But could she have behaved differently or is this all because of her disorder (which can also be regarded as a mental illness according to Dr.M)?

You make it sound like she had no choice. Many people with BPD would disagree with you. She also knows right from wrong. It's not like she heard voices and followed directions, which is a true mental illness. She is not a victim of her disorder.