Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - Day 4

[Madeleine74]

Flowers and a letter, while twisted, didn't hurt Travis more. Claims of pedophilia and abuse did and hurt his family too. Much more evil in the scheme of things.

 

[Tiger09]

Has anyone seen the letter to his grandmother?

 

[Madeleine74]

I'm really curious as to how the defense is going to address the video from this afternoon. There is no one to cross-examine. They'd have to put JA on the stand to explain away any of it.

Yes there is. Flores.

 

[Frigga]

Has anyone seen the letter to his grandmother?

No. As far as I know it has never been released... nor do I think it should be.

 

[Tiger09]

Why not put Crazy back on the stand? The jury can see her lie yet again. She has the chance to tell the truth, as I'm sure JM will ask what happened. She'll spin her tales. Then boom. She'll send herself to the death chamber.

 

[Miss Chevious]

But is there any ground they can gain by crossing him, or will it only be slamming home the fact that they are representing a lying deceitful murderer?

 

[bsk]

Questions for AZlawyer: TIA

You said earlier that JSS's courtroom management could have been better. I probably asked about this during the original trial, and I don't know whether he's still doing this, but shouldn't any judge get extremely irked by the way Nurmi has a tendency to say "Sidebar, Judge" and then immediately start striding up to the bench? It makes it look like he is instructing her to hold one rather than asking her to grant one. I would think no matter how much a judge is bending over in "fairness" that they would not tolerate that sort of behavior for one second.

Maybe it's different because it's the defendant or for other reasons, but could the DT have tried to get all the interview and email and text stuff from JA read instead of played, as they did with the video?

 

[Nosey Parker]

But is there any ground they can gain by crossing him, or will it only be slamming home the fact that they are representing a lying deceitful murderer?

I think they will spin the whole thing into 'mental illness'.

 

[Madeleine74]

Why not put Crazy back on the stand? The jury can see her lie yet again. She has the chance to tell the truth, as I'm sure JM will ask what happened. She'll spin her tales. Then boom. She'll send herself to the death chamber.

The state cannot call her to testify. She can testify, if her own defense attorney puts her on the stand.

 

[Madeleine74]

I think mental illness is a slippery slope. You can be mentally ill and still know right from wrong. JA was diagnosed with one or more personality disorders. I don't know if that qualifies her as "mentally ill" but she clearly knew right from wrong and took great pains to try and prove she wasn't in AZ and didn't commit the murder, then lied and lied some more.

She was already found guilty and it was already determined to be especially cruel/heinous. None of this gives the jury a reason to want to save her life.

 

[Tiger09]

I wonder if Nurmi really hates her enough to do that.

 

[bsk]

I think there's something important people may be overlooking. During the original trial, Juan had to plod through all sorts of things in a certain sequence. And when jurors were hearing/seeing those things, they (presumably) were open-minded as whether or not any crime had been committed.

But now it's different - they already know she's guilty, so that sort of foundation is not needed. That means they are seeing everything from a different POV than the original jury. With that in mind, think about how it's going, especially today:
- Juan laid out for them earlier the absolute brutality of the crime.
- Today he went through the gas can cover-up, which they can only view as being a cover-up.
- And he went through the post-murder actions, which had to send chills up the jury's spine.
- And similarly the Flores interview has to be absolutely chilling when you know she has committed the crime.

I still think getting 12 out of 12 is an almost impossible hurdle, but I don't see how Juan could be laying it out any better for the jury, and in a remarkably short amount of time. When you think about their POV, you half wonder if they are able to sleep at night knowing they are in the presence of a cold-blooded butcher.

 

[Nosey Parker]

I think mental illness is a slippery slope. You can be mentally ill and still know right from wrong. JA was diagnosed with one or more personality disorders. I don't know if that qualifies her as "mentally ill" but she clearly knew right from wrong and took great pains to try and prove she wasn't in AZ and didn't commit the murder, then lied and lied some more.

She was already found guilty and it was already determined to be especially cruel/heinous. None of this gives the jury a reason to want to save her life.

I agree, but that is their newest latest attempt at getting her out of this. I won't be surprised if they don't address this interrogation tomorrow, but refer to it in the mitigation phase at the very end.

 

[Madeleine74]

I still think getting 12 out of 12 is an almost impossible hurdle, but I don't see how Juan could be laying it out any better for the jury, and in a remarkably short amount of time. When you think about their POV, you half wonder if they are able to sleep at night knowing they are in the presence of a cold-blooded butcher.

It should be a very difficult hurdle. It's important that it be difficult. We want it to be. Sentencing someone to death, even if you hate them with the heat of a thousand suns should still be difficult. They should have the best defense possible. And then no one should feel they weren't given their due process.

 

[katydid23]

I hope they don't put that monster back on the stand. I worry that one or 2 of the jurors find some misplaced compassion for her if they see/hear her in the wicked flesh.

My hope is that many of these women are mothers, and can imagine the horrors if their son was mixed up with an evil witch like JA. That was something that came to me when I first heard about this case. I made my son look at some of her interviews on tv, to see what kind of creepers can be found in the dating scene. Scared the chit out of him ,thank goodness. I only hope the jurors can find compassion for Travis instead of the killer.

 

[Night-owl]

Mirroring is a common interrogation technique.

http://policelink.monster.com/train...ts-value-during-interviews-and-interrogations

"The primary benefit of mirroring occurs during an interrogation. During early stages of an interrogation the investigator’s posture should reflect confidence. That is, he should have his feet flat on the floor, his hands should be extended and there should be a forward lean to his body. This is necessary to respond to the suspect’s early denials"

Poor Flores would have had to stand on his head to mirror her. No good can come of that. [emoji57]

 

[AZlawyer]

Questions for AZlawyer: TIA

You said earlier that JSS's courtroom management could have been better. I probably asked about this during the original trial, and I don't know whether he's still doing this, but shouldn't any judge get extremely irked by the way Nurmi has a tendency to say "Sidebar, Judge" and then immediately start striding up to the bench? It makes it look like he is instructing her to hold one rather than asking her to grant one. I would think no matter how much a judge is bending over in "fairness" that they would not tolerate that sort of behavior for one second.

Maybe it's different because it's the defendant or for other reasons, but could the DT have tried to get all the interview and email and text stuff from JA read instead of played, as they did with the video?

Most judges IMO would put a stop to that "sidebar" announcement habit--but in chambers, so we wouldn't know about it.

The JA videos were clearly official records, supported by foundation, containing admissions of the defendant, pre-viewed and pre-approved by the court following objections, motions, and resolutions of objections--in short, a totally different situation from the Darryl B video taken by media and possibly (my guess) not disclosed as a video JM planned to use at trial.

 

[Luvrosco]

Does anyone know if this is expected to last as long as the first trial? IMO it seems to be moving quicker than I though.

 

[bznbear]

I don't get it

187 is LE code for homicide.

 

[Frigga]

Poor Flores would have had to stand on his head to mirror her. No good can come of that. [emoji57]

Thank you for some levity. That was absolutely hilarious, IMOO!