I hope that the next few days allow everyone who has become emotionally invested in this trial a chance to reflect and gain perspective. Some jurors looked at Jodi's life and her relationship with Travis and couldn't sentence her to death. You and I may disagree with their assessment, but they sacrificed months of their lives to this case and earned the right to make that call.
To anyone who sees this as a victory for the defense, if that's true then it's the most hollow victory imaginable. JA was found guilty of premeditated murder and the jury determined that the killing was done in an especially cruel and depraved manner. Those findings are now facts in the eyes of the law, and if the sentencing is ultimate decided by a judge then that will be taken into account. The possibility of a sentence that allows for parole is vanishingly small. It bears remembering that JA's pathos filled appeal to the jury was true: all of the things that she talked about losing are truly gone from her life forever. This is not a small, compromise punishment. Her life will never be what you, I, or any normal person would choose to live.
The rebuttal to that is, of course, that Travis and the Alexander family lost so much more than freedom, and they lost it in an unimaginably horrific way. Sadly, nothing can change that, including seeing the killer sentenced to death. I know it's what they wanted, but sometimes what we want and what we need are two different things. I hate to think of them subjected to endless appeals that are part of the process when capital punishment is involved, and the zealots who will attach themselves to anyone who's be condemned to die would make a young woman like Jodi a celebrity. Activists don't care about fairness or the truth and they will gleefully join in a chorus of abuse claims. Imagine ALV with millions of dollars of financing and an international audience.
I've seen so much love and support come from this place and I hate seeing it perverted into sound and fury. I despise the killer as much as anyone, but for me the old adage "The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference" has come true. I haven't watched her interviews, I'm not interested in HLN's analysis of her, and I truly couldn't care less about her bizarre obsession with her appearance or her ability to copy other people's art works. I want the Alexander family to begin to heal and I simply don't think that the death penalty process will allow that to happen.
This isn't an idle wish from someone who hasn't lived through a traumatic loss. I can't compare my experience to the Alexanders losing a cherished family member, but an ex-girlfriend who was still a very close friend was murdered in an incredibly brutal fashion. Her name was Lisa Shivak. I think I was the last real friend of hers to see her alive. It was a chance meeting at a convenience store, and we made plans to have lunch and went our separate ways but later that night she was killed. I know what it's like to want someone executed, but I also know that it wouldn't have changed anything except to keep my thoughts focused on the murder instead of the LIFE.
I would never presume to tell anyone here or the Alexander family how to feel, but I can't help but feel like there's a gap developing between what is being discussed and what is really important. Our lives are fragile, and tragic events shatter them like glass. We have the choice to sit and stare at the broken shards and try to remember what they looked like before, or we can melt them down and make something new. Out of the searing pain of grief, a new life can be molded. It will never be the same as the one we had before, but it can be beautiful and it can have a purpose, and its shape can be inspired by the precious individual we've lost. This isn't about whether killer is executed, it's about whether the Alexanders get to live.