Trapped with Ms. Arias (continued)
Chapter 47
What Did I Believe Happened on June 4, 2008
this is what L thought happened before trial began
"The theory I had then and the theory I have now are vastly different...there are only a few aspects of my thinking about what happened that day that has remained consistent from the first day that I received the file until the present day.....most prominent being what happened tp" TA " ...was horrific....a fate he did not deserve....was a true tragedy. The other being that his killing was fueled by a strong passionate rage" (pg. 263)
L states that theory of events before trial- tho' he doesn't "currently believe this theory to be correct at the same time it might very well be spot on as I did not simply pull it out of thin air"
L "contemplated" what happened "a great deal for a number of years.. preeminent question in my head from August of 2009, to the day the trial began..one of the first questions that came to mind from the first day I was assigned the case"
L states that to answer question...began with "what was the clear reality" - TA was shot in the face, stabbed 27X, had his throat slit...struggle took place....the murderer killed TA- evidence and she admitted it
not clear- Why? no motivation at crime scene- even tho' she said she "acted in self-defense"- she had "history of lying"- l didn't accept what the murderer said
L re-examined motivation when new evidence was discovered- he had to "combat any theory the State might offer and/or look for the best way to present the case to the jury"
L states that no evidence would provide motivation- again, only murderer knows and we are "left to theorize"
by late 2012 he states he had "some pretty well developed thoughts"
some of murderer's supporters believe the "ninja story" was true- L talked the murderer out of that story- some supporters believe she acted in "self- defense" and he couldn't prove that because "I am too inept of a lawyer to do so"
L states that some TA supporters "believe that I am an idiot on several levels because "they think I believe Ms. Arias' self- defense story even though I never publicly said I did- supported either her story and/or what she did that day simply because I was her lawyer" (pg. 285)
L states "I can't win with either argument. Regardless of what I say, someone thinks I am an idiot. So be it. I am not too concerned with what people think of me. Instead of trying to win with one side or the other, what I can do is continue to question why there are sides to begin with"
L states again- events of 6/4/2008 were "tragic...This is not a sporting event with teams or sides, it is a tragedy...even saying this..might only add to the reason why people that chose sides see me as an idiot. The good news for me in this regard is that I have nothing to lose because I am an idiot either way....so ..makes me unafraid to offer you an unrestrained look into the theory I had back in 2012, about what happened..." (pg. 266)
"So what does this idiot think happened?"
L states can't look at what happened by "simply looking at that day in a vacuum....I believe that the days preceding...contained many events and/or facts that provided insights..."
-back in Apr., 2008, the murderer moved from Mesa back to Yreka..have to assume the murderer didn't want to kill TA then "because she didn't do it " ...they had fight day she left and she was alone with him at his house- motivation to kill him "after she moved away from Mesa and sometime before she actually killed him"
L thought that there were "three 'suspects' " for motivation:
-"Suspect #1"- convo that they had on/about May 10, 2008- recorded by murderer- later played in court as "phone sex tapes"- not valid as motivation according to L- "not sort of interaction that would motivate" the murderer to kill TA- " this 'suspect' was dismissed" by L
-"suspect #2"- "could not be easily dismissed"- online convo May 26, 2008- "bulk" of convo was fight--TA very angry- called the murderer " '*advertiser censored*, a ''*advertiser censored*' a '3-hole wonder' " also "soulless, evil, and generally berates her character"
- the murderer "responded to these attacks in a passive and/or apologetic manner" but L thinks that this "did not absolve the 'suspect' as being the motivating force"
-evidence pointed to this- gun was stolen on May 28, 2008 where the murderer was living- grandparent's home- first step in plan would be getting gun
-police report - the murderer was on drive with her sister, Angela, when break-in happened- called them back to home- the murderer spoke to police- reported few items missing- her laptop was hidden and/or "sitting in her clothes hamper"- many to her things not taken "relatively speaking [the house] was not in too much disarray"
- few days after gun stolen- the murderer started driving south from Yreka- eventually arrives near Pasadena, Ca on 6/3/2008- here she " 'goes off the grid' " ( cell phone off and makes no credit card purchases- she is not traceable) before she drives to Mesa - happens between 9pm and 10pm night of 6/3/2008 - the murderer's "presence cannot be accounted for by objective evidence until nude photographs of her lying on Mr. Alexander's bed are taken on the afternoon of" 6/4/2008
-"Suspect #3"- something happened after the murderer arrived at TA's house- some interaction, some fight caused the murderer to go into rage "around 5:20 pm"- "suspect" because the murderer was in TA's house for "several hours " before killing him "and when she did, the killing itself was clearly fueled by anger"
L states that "based on the facts above, I am sure you can tell that neither of these 'suspects' could conclusively be eliminated as suspects nor could either be proven 'guilty' without physical evidence"
l had to consider "which 'suspect' was it" before 1st trial 2013
at time, L states that "suspect #3" was correct- that her motivation "did not arise until she arrived at his house"
-why? if the murderer left Yreka to kill TA- the motivator would be "suspect #2"- the online chat, "fueling her homicidal wrath for approximately 10 days"- was somehow " tapped for several hours while" they had sex
"...this theory did not make sense to me because this theory gave rise to many questions for which clear answers were not apparent"
-L talks about some questions - like "Why kill him over these words...this was certainly not the first time" TA called her names/attack her verbally- "Why wouldn't she simply think 'screw him' and go on with her life?"
-L states "at the time" in 2012- stealing gun from grandparent's home didn't make sense to him- could have just taken the gun without break-in (L says that what he knew about grandfather- he wouldn't have noticed)- after break-in, police would be involved- the report would have type of gun stolen- in "subsequent reports" her father had illegal firearms in his home- likely untraceable- the murderer could have gotten gun from father- he couldn't report gun stolen- illegal
-L considers the car rented at Redding Airport- to avoid detection? - he doesn't believe that- didn't make sense to him (whether premeditation happened then)
-have to give driver's license/credit card to rental agency- not covert- brother's neighbor drove the murderer to airport- created witnesses and "paper trial"
"I believe Ms. Arias when she said that Redding was simply a bigger town with better prices"
-but, L considers- why rent car at all?- why not drive own car?- his theory: she didn't want anyone to recognize her in Mesa- but "not many people in Mesa knew what type of car she drove"
-L states he thought real reason rent car- so she could "go safely"- he didn't think her car would make it to Ca and Utah- no routine maintenance on her car
- doesn't make sense to L that the murderer was "planning to kill Mr. Alexander at this time"
L speaks of next step on road trip: Monterey, CA- several things happened, but can only speak of
-the murderer visits former boyfriends- Matt and Darryl- "why create witnesses?" - why borrow gas can "that she doesn't need?"
-the murderer conducted banking transactions- created electronic trail- means she has "plenty of cash available to her if she wanted to go into Arizona covertly"- she could have bought things with cash- then no record of transactions, but she deposited cash into her accounts- leaves a trial
- the gas can bought at Walmart- Salinas, CA- L did not think this too significant in 2011- if she had plenty of cash to buy gas
"...it actually negated premeditation in my mind because (thought it made no real sense to buy it at all), as my thinking went; why would you buy a gas can if you already have two gas cans and were going on a covert mission? Not only that, she kept the receipt.....why wouldn't she throw a way the receipt?" (pg. 272)
L speaks of next step- Pasadena, CA- the murderer purchased several gallons of gas at convenience store- some with cash- some credit card- why use credit card- if she paid cash, no trace of her buying gas or how much gas- doesn't speak to L of premed
-somewhere "very close to city" [Pasadena].. she goes.. "off the grid"- cell phone off- makes no purchases- between 9pm- 10pm night of 6/3/2008
L speaks of next stop- TA's home- what happened there we "..,at least in part, rely on what" the murderer said happened
"..much of my thinking, as it relates to those events, is based on facts that stand alone. In formulating my theory, I chose to rely on facts that do not depend exclusively on Ms. Arias' word but may ultimately be consistent with the portions of her story that make sense."
-the murderer told Det. Flores she got to TA's house about 4am morning of 6/4/2008- made sense to L , given time takes to drive from Pasadena to Mesa "some computer forensics introduced at trial further supports this claim"
L states the murderer tells Det F that she and TA slept 'til "early afternoon .....after they woke up they had sex"- pics on TA's camera "objectively demonstrate that this encounter took place in the early afternoon as" the murderer "claimed"- more pics tell that "around 5:20 that evening" the murderer "the only other person in the home was taking pictures of Mr. Alexander in the shower and that within a matter of minutes his severly wounded or dead body was being drug across the bathroom floor...these are the facts" (pg. 273)
"..in my thinking, the idea that Ms. Arias wouls drive from Yreka...to Mesa..with designs on killing Mr. Alexander, finally arrive at his home and not kill him right away, made no sense to me....if she had the gun with her, she simply could have shot him...she could have killed him then and there. She could have then gotten back in her car and drove away and it would have been highly likely that no human being would have ever known she was there." (pg. 273)
L states it this "makes sense...Ryan Burns was waiting for her in Utah" - few hours after she arrived at TA's house
L states that it doesn't make sense that she had sex with TA, let him take nude pics of her- that's why he thinks that the motivation to kill TA "arose after arrived at his home aka 'Suspect #3' ... "this is my objective analysis at the time"
L states that you may "think.. I am ignoring all the signs of premeditation related to...trip...let me concede to you as I have to myself, that I could be wrong. The truth of the matter could be that Ms. Arias pulled into the driveway .....with the idea that she was going to walk in and kill him. At the same time then,those who believe that killing Mr. Alexander was Ms. Arias' plan when she pulled up to his house, would have to concede that if that was her plan she did not carry it out when she had the chance. That Ms. Arias did not initiate her plan at that point in time in which she was most likely to get away with it. To me this means that even if 'Suspect #2' is what motivated her trip to Mesa , when she got to his home, she changed her mind. If she arrived at Mr. Alexander's hone with the intention of killing him, her premeditation to do so ended when she did not do it when they were alone together in his office. This, in my mind supports my theory of the fact that something happened...that day...something set [her] off, which would ultimately turn us back to 'Suspect #3"(pg. 274)
L states that just because he thinks "Suspect #3" is correct "does not completely explain what I think happened"
What he believed "at the time":
- believed the murderer arrived at TA's house at 4pm- because of timeline "consistent with when she went 'off the grid' "
-based on computer records, TA was waiting up for the murderer
- that TA did want to have sex with the murderer when she arrived- "Why?"- because TA "always seemed interested in having sex with" the murderer- it had been "several weeks since the two had sex...he would be anxiously awaiting her arrival"
-they didn't have sex if they woke early afternoon- nude photos taken- he believed "without any physical evidence to support it" they had "second sex session"- L thought this because:
"given the sexual appetite Mr. Alexander showed towards Ms. Arias it made sense to me that he would want to have sex again before she left"
- "ultimate question" what happened after TA was in shower?
- L "believes" that when the murderer went to leave, TA made it "obvious to her that he wanted her out of the house before anyone saw her...were done having sex, so they were done hanging around....Ms. Arias felt used.....she blew her chances with Ryan Burns over this tryst and she simply had enough....she felt like this toxic relationship would haunt her for life if she didn't put a stop to it...she decided then and there, during a fir of rage. to put an end to the relationship" (pg. 275)
"How did she kill" TA?
-"once she decided to kill him she grabbed a gun... grandpa's gun? Yes...could this gun have been in Mr. Alexander's home? Yes....gun obtained elsewhere? Yes. Did it matter to me which gun it truly was? No..regardless of where the gun came from or who it belonged to, she did not grab this gun with ill intent until this point in time"
- (from forensic data)-after she grabbed gun she pointed it at TA....in response to having gun pointed at him, TA "leaps towards" the murderer to try to knock gun out of her hands ..when he did this, the murderer fired gun- shot TA in face- L considers this the "first injury"
- the murderer surprised that TA was still alive- gun jammed- the murderer went to grab knife- at same time, TA got to feet- leaned against bathroom counter- looked in mirror--then the murderer began stabbing him in his back "which gave rise to the struggle that ensued in the bathroom"- explains defensive wounds, blood splatter in bathroom
L believed "at some point in time during this struggle in the bathroom that Ms. Arias stabbed Mr. Alexander in the chest....due to the amount of blood in the hallway, after suffering this deep stab wound to the chest Mr. Alexander tried to make it down the hallway....he ultimately fell at the end of the hall where Ms. Arias slit Mr. Alexander's throat...After which time Mr. Alexander was dead and she drug his body down the hall"
"Is my thinking foolproof? No, in fact, I have another theory I will share in my final book that I believe is close to fool proof as it gets"
"....if you put aside whatever emotion you may have about the case and consider what I have said this theory makes a lot of sense" (pg. 278)
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(continue)