In my attempts over the course of this past week to thoroughly digest and accept this non-verdict I believe that I have at least come to an understanding of what *could possibly* be why it happened..whereas before I could not at all even begin to fathom the how or why.. I am at least to a place of just accepting it for what it is and there for attempt to have some understanding of it in my moving on from it..
I think for me the first time that it really began to come into focus was in reading one of our fellow members, Rob's post regarding the dynamics between his parents as it played out over the course of this trial..It really was a lightbulb moment for me in understanding the mindset of some people of this particular generation that Rob's parents are in.. I believe his father's adamant beliefs wrt Jodi and the scenario he has firm in his mind are *possibly* similar to some of the jurors in what they may believe were the dynamics that led to the heinous murder.. Just as rob said his father was adamant that no young woman would ever favor or be the one to intiate the particular type of sex that Jodi and Travis regularly engaged in(ie. Anal)..in this mindset it immediately places Jodi in the role of at the very least being persuaded into sexual activities that she did not want or enjoy..and at most being somewhat forced, if even by manipulation on Travis' part to have engaged in such sexual intercourse..
IMO just having this particular mindset truly makes all the difference in the world when applying it to this case..it immediately places Jodi in the role of the victim of manipulation and places Travis in the role of the aggressive manipulator..this dynamic of just the aspect of their sexual relationship truly alters the entire dynamic of the roles of the two in every other aspect of this case.. This belief immediately places Jodi in a sympathetic position even regardless of the heinous brutal slaughter, if the belief is that she was a manipulated victim in the time leading up to the heinous murder it does indeed IMO give great weight to that as a mitigating factor in the penalty phase in deciding her life or death..
What I mean is that in speaking of having this mindset one could still clearly see this heinous murder as a first degree premeditated murder...they could also still be able to clearly see and there for decide that yes, that premeditated murder was proven to have met the aggravating factor of having been extremely or especially cruel..and yet in their firmly believing those two issues were proven they could find that the belief in their mind that Jodi was a passive victim in Travis at the very least having aggressively manipulated her into anal sex in the time leading up to the murder..IMO that belief could in fact be a strong enough factor in their opinion to spare her life in the penalty phase..
IMO just having that particular mindset about that one particular aspect is of huge importance in it not only just reversing the roles of each of them and thus placing Jodi in a sympathetic light..but IMO most importantly it ALSO gives an answer to that very question that so very many desperately want and need the answer to...why?..
In having this particular mindset is also POSSIBLY in their mind gives them an answer to WHAT COULD BE THE WHY this young woman committed this premeditated heinous murder of this young man..and IMO that question answered in their minds for them could actually only seem to solidify it as being true..the thoughts relayed of the foreman again says it all as well in his saying that his belief is that there was something that happened that led to Jodi feeling she had no choice but to murder this young man.. In his mind he believes that there is an action or behavior wrt Travis that is UNKNOWN TO HIM that gives reason to this WHY.. there for in simply applying the mindset that rob describes as that of his father's in adamant belief that no young woman would ever be initiating anal sex...thus leading to Travis being the initiator and manipulator in order for her to participate in anal sex..thus reversing the roles in putting Travis as the aggressive manipulator and Jodi as the passive victim..and in their looking at that dynamic as being what were the roles between the two in leading up to the heinous murder..this thereby could possibly be seen as the logical explanation of answering the all important question in their minds of what did he do to her that made her feel forced to have to heinously murder him.
In their minds it could possibly as easy as 1, 2, 3 in its order of how this murder came to be..it coincides with what is their mindset of a young woman never wanting or proposing anal sex..it coincides with what they visually see as the young female before them that does not "LOOK" like A monster killer like Manson or Dahmer..it coincides with their putting this innocent looking girl in the role of the passive victim with her being aggressively manipulated at the VERY least, and quite possibly even being seen or intpretated as being the victim of actual verbal, emotional/mental, or even physical abuse at the hands of the true "victim", Travis...and therefor this logical 1, 2, 3 thought process could possibly lead them to the all important answer for which they so desperately seek as to why?... Why did she do it?.. This thought process could lead them to the logical conclusion in their mind that it was due to her having been the victim of this man..and that it was the abuse that eventually led to the young woman "snapping" and committing this heinous murder against her "abuser"...
IMO I truly believe that it is honestly possible in having this particular mindset that rob so perfectly described as was his father's regarding just the specific aspect of Travis and Jodi's sexual relationship..and it is that mindset alone that could very much lead to their finding her guilty of the first degree premeditated murder, even finding it to have been proven especially cruel..yet with this particular mindset find that it was not deserving of the penalty of DEATH due to their seeing the dynamic they believe was at play between the two leading up to the murder is a mitigating factor whose amount of weight was substantial enough to spare her life from being given the death penalty..
Anyhoo as usual I'm uncertain if I was able to adequately relay the thoughts from my mind to words typed in and seen on the screen sufficiently enough to understand..lol..but I do believe that this particular mindset of some jurors could have possibly lead to our seeing the first two phases agreed upon unanimously in her being guilty of the first degree premeditated, especially cruel murder..yet believe there are indeed factors that would allow for her life to be spared from being sentenced to the penalty of death...
All Jmo, tho..and thanks to fellow WS member, *rob* for sharing the dynamics of his parents regarding this case as it truly was the lightbulb moment for me personally in attempting to understand possibly how this non-verdict came to be..
fftobed:
