trial day 40: the defense continues its case in chief #119

[Applejack]

:seeya: JMO, but I am not surprised ... her mother wanted to sell those "ped letters" to the NE ...

Hmmm ... Cindy Anthony ?

:moo:

Her mom seemed honest and in true shock in the police interview. She could not fathom how her daughter, or any human being, could do what Jodi did. She kept asking Flores "Why?". She freely confessed Jodi had major problems. I think she, like Cindy, like most parents, cannot cope with the reality of what their child did and are willing to accept even the most absurd stories to rationalize and lessen the brutality of the whole thing. I do believe THAT is a coping mechanism. Both families are victims of Jodi. I see a lot of bashing of her mother just as I did Cidy Anthony. It is very easy to judge. But these situations are extroardinary and as much as we woul like to say "I would never react that way" the fact is no one knows how they'd react. Discovering your daughter brutally killed a man or your grandchild is something i cant even begin to imagine.

 

[TigerBalm]

OK so the DT would have had to give JM copies of the pages they planned on using. Does JM have those other 600 pages?? :great:

Both sides had all the journals way way before the media obtained them.

 

[Pugnolia]

Dearest Journal,

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times .......

With Much Love to me.

 

[mobius99]

I'm watching HLN after dark and Jean C was just talking about Jodi's mom and said that Jodi's mom visits Jodi at the jail on a very regular basis. I DID NOT KNOW THAT! Since Jodi never looks at her mom during the trial - I just figured they were estranged. Guess not?

I read TA family may be struggling financially due to their extended stay in AZ. I wonder how the Arias' are doing financially?

Hmmm...would it surprise anyone if it turned out they had a benefactor going by the initials ABC, NBC, or CBS. I can imagine one of these networks might be more than happy to "help" the family for a chance to get an interview.

I hate being so jaded.

 

[JustJudy]

Hi JustJudy,

I could very well be wrong, but I think Jodi is looking at her journal entry on the large display screen.

Looked again.......Ohhhhh myyyyy.....thinking you're very well right. ooooops sooooo sorry. Thank you MMcduck. (hangs head) :blushing:

 

[TigerBalm]

Oh ok, I thought this was new. Sorry about that! :blushing:

You're fine, it's new to the media/public because we have only seen what has been shown during the trial, which hasn't been that many pages.

 

[kwmred]

Can you imagine how much this would be costing the State if the jury was sequestered. They would be paying for 18 hotel rooms per night and meals for all them every day. Considering they only have actual court a few hours a week, the state would owe a fortune. Plus, imagine being a juror and not being able to go home for months.

It will cost them a heck of a lot more if they have to try this case all over again.

 

[livelife]

Excerpts from the diaries have been used over and over again as evidence in the trial. IIRC, the DT has always been the one to introduce the pages as evidence with JA testifying about her writing.

Both DT expert witnesses say they have read the entire diaries (3) as part of their review. Samuels claims to have read earlier diaries dating back to when JA was in middle school.

I'm not sure if there have been any evidentiary hearings on the diaries and how passages can or cannot be admitted to court.

Is it possible that this gun business would not be admissible as hearsay; JA is writing what TA said?

Her mom seemed honest and in true shock in the police interview. She could not fathom how her daughter, or any human being, could do what Jodi did. She kept asking Flores "Why?". She freely confessed Jodi had major problems. I think she, like Cindy, like most parents, cannot cope with the reality of what their child did and are willing to accept even the most absurd stories to rationalize and lessen the brutality of the whole thing. I do believe THAT is a coping mechanism. Both families are victims of Jodi. I see a lot of bashing of her mother just as I did Cidy Anthony. It is very easy to judge. But these situations are extroardinary and as much as we woul like to say "I would never react that way" the fact is no one knows how they'd react. Discovering your daughter brutally killed a man or your grandchild is something i cant even begin to imagine.

I would like to say that abused or not, she needs to be convicted of one of the charges. I don't care if there are hospital records (which there aren't) that show her beaten 1/2 to death by her parents. No excuse for the horrific scene she created in that house.

 

[CourtsInSession]

We know that the gun and the DVD player were stolen at the same time from JA's grandparents house. Pay close attention to this you tube video. It stands to reason JA was responsible for the robbery after watching this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n9-qVSYgD68#t=63s

 

[deedee21]

I'm not a lawyer, but I'm going to throw this out there, for what it's worth.

I read Shanna Hogan's book about the murder trial of Marjorie Orbin (KatieCL knows the victim's brother; he sometimes attends this trial). In many ways that trial was very similar to this one. It took place in Phoenix in 2009.

That trial lasted a year. At one point, they took the entire month of August off -- I guess many people had plans and no one thought the trial would go on that long.

So if the Phoenix courts don't have an issue with long, long delays, I would think that unless ALV has some illness that is going to last an incredibly long time, they could just go into recess until whenever. If she has appendicitis, for examples (and the symptoms fit somewhat), I would think she might be back on the stand in a month.

Maybe AZ Lawyer could tell us.

nomenapause last a long time. I mean menopause

 

[MeeBee]

Holy! Are you 100% sure you have the dates right here? Because that's the smoking GUN if true!

I am absolutely positive Jodi said she found the gun while cleaning in fall of 2007.

 

[cubbeegirl]

She can't refuse to be cross examined and if she suffers a serious illness that renders her unable to continue, there would likely be a mistrial.

Oh...that dreaded word again...:facepalm:

 

[dog.gone.cute]

ABC has acquired 600 pages of her journals. Lots of stuff the defense team has not dragged in to try to bolster her story. I guess we'll have to wait until they finally get posted in their entirety to the Internet before we can get any real context on her writings. The defense has a way of picking and choosing just the stuff they want to twist into " abuse". JM has already shown examples of how they actually show the abuse didn't happen. But of course that's because she never wrote anything negative...well about Travis anyway.

MOO

BBM: Wow ... 600 pages ...

:fence: I know many will not agree with this, but this is one reason I like the "Sunshine Laws" [Florida] and wish every state had it ... MOO !

Those 600 pages, along with everything else in this case, gets downloaded to the court's website and there you have it ... everyone can access the documents ...

And no doubt, the sleuths here would have had those 600 pages read and dissected in no time at all ! LOL !

:seeya:

 

[livelife]

We know that the gun and the DVD player were stolen at the same time from JA's grandparents house. Pay close attention to this you tube video. It stands to reason JA was responsible for the robbery after watching this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n9-qVSYgD68#t=63s

First time I've seen this! You ROCK!:rocker:

 

[Ammonitida]

I've been wondering that too, whether she altered it at that time. There are ripped out pages that she says were about Travis, but maybe it was stuff she wanted to hide about herself. If she had known she was going to be claiming self-defense, it would probably be loaded with claims of violence.

That's not true. The ripped out pages were not about Travis but about suicide and her fling with a certain man that upset Travis (she testified to this). All the journal entries quoted at trial came directly from her journal books. None were ripped out pages that just conveniently appeared.

Also, I believe that most of the entries are genuine and not after the fact forgeries. I think some here are going way too far with this forgery talk. If she was going to forge anything, she'd be forging examples of physical violence, just like you said. Especially a forgery relating to her account regarding the pedophilia on Jan 21st. Instead, we have "nothing noteworthy happened".

And like someone else said, Travis need not be a saint for Jodi to be guilty of 1st degree murder. I for one had Travis pegged as womanizer very early on in the trial. Didn't changer my opinion on her guilt.

 

[Kamille]

OK so the DT would have had to give JM copies of the pages they planned on using. Does JM have those other 600 pages?? :great:

Yes, he has ALL the journals. Probably more than 600 pages. Journals that go back to her teen years. Not sure what the time span is for the pages ABC acquired but the prosecution has them all as does the defense.

 

[KandyKane]

The TH's are saying that Jodi is basically crazy and that her attorneys should have used the insanity defense. However, I don't believe that a diagnosis of sociopath necessarily meets the legal definition of insanity. Holmes(the movie theater killer) didn't meet the requirement and IMO he is a psychopath.

I think Holmes is a paranoid schizophrenic. With medication it's very treatable, but with most schizophrenics after they've been on the medication for awhile they think they are fine, don't need it anymore, and stop taking it - and of course go right back to how they were, but they aren't capable then to notice it. Most mass shooters turn out to be paranoid schizophrenics.

There's no way on earth the defense could go for an insanity defense. Hodi absolutely knows right from wrong and the consequences of her actions which is why she's such a huge liar, why she tried to clean up the scene, destroy evidence and did soooo many things beforehand to attempt to disguise she was the one that killed him or was even in the state at the time.

However, I've always thought that the defense is attempting to sneak in temporary insanity tacked on to self-defense without actually saying it but trying to implant that idea in the minds of the jurors to explain all the overkill and the attempts to destroy evidence tryng to clean up the scene... that's what the whole "fognesia" nonsense is about that conveniently begins after the first wound and ends after the attempts to destroy evidence and get rid of the weopons (that she was not in control of her mind at that time, and thus temporarily insane). That was the whole reason for Samuels' testiphoney - to try to plant the idea of temporary insanity to excuse all that without having to actually say it. They can't actually come right out and say it because then no one would believe it. But by leaving their little bread crumb trail with the fognesia and Samuels' testiphoney about it, it can take the minds of jurors there anyway and without them really realizing what the defense is doing. Had Samuels been even the least bit credible they might have actually pulled it off with a couple of jurors, but he blew it so badly that not only is no one going to believe the whole fognesia/PTSD nonsense they may even realize that the point of the defense with this schtick was to try to hoodwink them.

 

[bamacurious]

Diane Downs also fabricated journals--not after the fact, but once she had made the decision to kill her kids. There was an obvious turning point in her journal, what had been all about her obsession with her lover, suddenly, about 10 days before she shot them, became all about how much she loved her kids.

Jodi does remind me of Diane Downs a lot...especially after hearing her parents tapes. IIRC Diane pretty much bullied her parents just like Jodi did/does.

But the narcissism that both display really locks it in for me. I think that is why neither one would try for insanity defenses.

 

[TXHoney]

Were there any more TV shows tonight with experts saying Jodi has a lot in common with Ted Bundy?

And can anyone please tell me how many days ALV has been on the stand?

TIA

She took the stand on March 25 at 4pm.

The following were court days and she has been on the stand all of them:
3/26
3/28
3/29
3/31
4/1
4/2
4/3 (half day)

 

[Rocco]

It will cost them a heck of a lot more if they have to try this case all over again.

Being sequestered doesn't assure there won't be a hung jury/mistrial. In that case they would have to try it over again anyway.