Trapped with Ms. Arias:
Chapter 2: The Ultimate Job of a Capital Defense Attorney
Chapter 3: The Defense Team
Chapter 4: Here is to Wishing That I Never Got the File
End of Section 1
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Here is a "chunk" from chapter 2 (because Lawrence said it better than I could)
Chapter 2
The Ultimate Job of a Capital Defense lawyer
"Killing a human being is a horrible act. Murder is a horrible crime. Most of us who work as defense Councel for captital defendants do so because we believe that the killing of a human being is just as wrong when it is done by a citizen than when it is done by the government who job it is to serve and protect all the citizens...
it's not a fun place to be...
We put up with clients who are oftentimes ungrateful or down right angry about the work we do on their behalf. Based on some of the hate mail..received over the course of the Arias trial, the public seems to be under the impression that someone who serves as a lawyer for a capital defendants supports what the client did....
we appear to be advocating for our clients when we are really advocating for the constitutional rights of our clients.... 'we don't defend the crime, only the constitution and what the client may have done is relatively insignificant to the battle at hand' ...
A capital defense lawyer wins when their client receives a life sentence." (pgs. 16-17)
they also lay down the "foundation" for appeals
not apologizing for his defense of the murderer
does have sympathy for Alexander family, but could not do his job if he let that get in way of defending client
"..if anyone.. thinks that I somehow support what Ms Arias did on June 4, 2008, they are wrong. I did my job...I saved my client"s life. You might not be happy about it because you wanted her to be executed and Ms. Arias may not be happy about receiving a life sentence, but I did my job and if I do say so myself, I did it quite well." (pg 19)
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Chapter 3
The Defense Team
lead defense never works alone and could not do so- Az law requires 2 defense lawyers
lead counsel must have 5 years of experience- tried numerous felony cases- must have served as a second chair to a lead counsel in capital case that actually went to trial
must have taken legal education courses related to DP each year
must make sure client is informed- "a monumental task when Ms Arias is your client"
talks about relationship of lead and 2nd chair- "bigger deal when you have a client who is looking to manipulate his or her defense team"
Mitigation Specialist- presents mental health issue- has Masters degree in one of the social science -interviews family members, puts school/medical records together
also has an Investigator
had a great team before murderers case- "at a certain point I lost that team and things happened"
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Chapter 4
Here is to Wishing I Never Got the File
L wishes that the murderer "never killed Travis Alexander "
talks about "lessons learned theme"
-the Tweets/social media posts that celebrate that murderer is spending rest of life in prison and is miserable there - upsetting to him, but not because he believes she doesn't deserve to be there- she made choices - is self-imposed- "I offer her no sympathies in that regard"
- doesn't like the celebration her sentence - why celebrate the "entire situation...tragedy and that the world would be a better place if the tragic events of June 4, 2008, never took place"
- talks about mental health and signs of mental heath- urges people to take note of the signs and take actions
- talks about the murderer "many signs of mental illness that went ignored.. she abused animals at a young age (reports that came from her family members)...other family members..said that she would often act strangely and keeps to herself around this same time period"..."something is not right"- nothing done to see if something was wrong with the murderer when she was child
- condemns her parents for ignoring warning signs
- talks about murderer growing weed at 14 yrs old and someone holding knife to her throat at 12 yrs old- drops out of school, leaving home at 17 to live with Bobby- "If Ms. Arias is being truthful, her then boyfriend Bobby abused her physically. There is some evidence...brother confronted Bobby and Bobby responded by waving a sword at him."
- never seeks counseling "If Ms Arias' claims of being an abuse victim were true, one might consider the possibility that some counseling would be in order" even if they were not true, would need counseling
- talks about Matt seeking out her mother when she was 27 that he was concerned for the murderer- thought she was bi-polar- ignored- "went in one ear and out the other"
"Perhaps, I am right and she was a victim of child abuse." (as to why the Arias family ignored the signs and didn't take the murderer to get professional help) "Perhaps she had a personality disorder. whatever the problem....it could have been addressed years ago through medication or counseling. Perhaps if it had, Mr Alexander would still be alive and Ms. Aria would be off somewhere taking pictures." (pg 28)
-doesn't really blame her parents- many people ignore signs of mental illness
- lessons learned: you don't ignore signs of mental illness in children "Do something"
-talks about the murderer having job, pays bills, "functioning in society but when her former boyfriend Darryl talked to her about getting some psychological help, she chose not to do anyhting. When another boyfriend expressed simialr concerns, she also chose to do nothing ... based on her journel wrirings, she knew she was depressed and did nothing. Ms. Arias knew there was something wrong with her mentally, yet she did nothing." (pg 29)
- talks about why functionally mental ill and families ignore issues- stigma of mental illness
- talks about women in general- "If a man cannot give you what you want out of a relationship, get out of the relationship... you cannot change him."
- talks about Travis and his "participation" - "should have taken steps...to rid himself of MS. Arias" but not blaming him
- Travis' friends told him to get away from the murderer- he didn't listen- did not take warnings seriously and "invited Ms. Arias into his home to have sex in June of 2008 leads one to believe that he did not take those warnings seriously."
- "To be clear, I am not saying that Mr. Alexander is to blame for his own murder or that he deserved to die in such a brutal fashion or at all for that matter"
-talks about "if someone is driving you so crazy that your response to them is to act out of character in a negative way (as Travis did) or engage in self-destructive ways (as the murderer did), end the relationship."
-evidence stated that the murderer was "driving Mr. Alexander crazy...yet he was still having a sexual relationship with her...should have ended the relationship with her."
-again- not blaming Travis but thinks Travis, because he was "type of person who wanted to help others", would want others who "are reading this.. in unhealthy ralationships to simply walk away...before the unhealthy becomes the tragic...he would want people to learn from this tragedy." (pg 32)
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Next:
SECTION 2
My New Case
Chapter 5
The day My Life Changed Forever
Chapter 6
Preparing to Meet Ms. Arias
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on the task bar and my Firefox and Favorites stayed. Personally, I am glad to be rid of all those fancy picture icons on my opening screen and having to switch every day to the desktop view. No more! (It may have been easier for me than for some since my computer isn't too old and started with Windows 8, then upgrade to 8.1.)
