My thoughts about this case are all over the map.
Without doubt, Jodi Arias is guilty. I do NOT believe that the crime could have been self defense or at least not entirely so and even if it were--there would have been an attempt to run out of the apartment crying for help--the sadistic gruesome tortuous killing of Travis shows overkill --which would NOT have been necessary if one was only involved in only saving themselves....she could have hurt/wounded him to disable him enough that she could have run away. I don't see any way around that. She legally KILLED him 3 times, she did NOT retreat, she did NOT call 911 after the first death blow, she did NOT seek medical attention for him, SHE WANTED HIM DEAD.
However, my impressions of the prosecutions theory of premeditation is that they weren't really solid.......the oil GAS cans could have been purchased and borrowed simply for use to protect her on a long journey. she didn't attempt to make her using said oilGAS cans a secret--she borrowed from a close friend/former boyfriend who she told she needed the cans to go to MESA and purchased a third at Walmart and kept the receipt. And said she returned to the SAME Walmart that SAME day and the only Walmart in that area in 2008 has NO RECORD OF THE RETURN. I have done transports on that same stretch of highway many, many times in the past, it is NOT desolate, there were far more gas stations there in 2008 as was in 1991-95. We ALWAYS had our cellphone chargers hooked into the dash, even with the big bulky "portfolio" type cell phones we carried. Don't you think it strange, that JA, who had her cell phone "connected at her hip" 24/7, didn't have the cell phone on charge EVERY TIME she was NOT on it? And putting 3-5 gallon containers of gas IN YOUR TRUNK, in JUNE, driving from California to Arizona is driving with an EXPLOSIVE in your vehicle. NO ONE with common sense EVER does that.
Coloring her hair wasn't something that she kept secret either or to appear as a disguise--as would have wearing a wig. She could have easily been identified by its length and her other physical attributes. She had pics of herself in the new hair color and of course pics at the victims home with her new brunette "do". That piece of conjecture fell flat with me. She showed up at Budget in Redding as a BLOND, not a Brunette. She showed up in Utah as a BRUNETTE, not a blond. No one in Mesa had EVER seen her as nothing BUT blond and driving her OWN vehicle. WHO KNEW she dyed her hair? Not anyone who might of seen her at Travis' or in Arizona.
The two biggest pieces of evidence that point towards premeditation and criminal intent are the LICENSE PLATES SHE was the one who got that story started because she was stopped in UTAH with her front plate INSIDE the vehicle and the REAR plate UPSIDE DOWN and the MISSING GUN gun from her grandparents home.A .25 cal handgun is UNUSUAL, it is a "boot, vest, or pocket" gun, preferred by females because of it's small size. I don't know of ANY man who owns one (unless it is a collector's item), and/or uses one We don't know that the gun that was used at the crime scene is the one that was stolen from her grandparents home, but it is very suspicious. There is ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF, that Travis ever owned or had in his possession a .25 caliber handgun, NONE, but JA's word which changed from "no gun, gun in August 2007, gun in 2008, unloaded, loaded, holster, no holsterI couldn't go with murder one on that suspicion alone though.
The license plates definitely are deviant and looking to avoid detection though.....and my BS detector went on over-drive with the story that she told Ryan about some kids playing with it and that she had "found" it on the ground and thought it was her own. Don't you find it incredibly considerate, that the "skaters" left the screws needed to replace the license plate back on the front? She didn't mention that. And they had time to flip the rear one upside down and re-screw it back on. In the parking lot of a Starbuck's. If she was "fearful" of the area where she parked, why didn't she park in a more lit and public parking spot?
While I think it is generally in poor taste to have anything to unkind to say about the departed, I do think that Travis was "abusive" and hypocritical though And that makes JA "hypocritical" too, she was ALSO a Mormon and there is not one SINGLE bit of proof he was ABUSIVE, she had a MULTITUDE of stories about that "finger"...however in no way did he deserve what happened to him. He was a player --a major flirt and a two timer, etc and if you make a timeline of JA's boyfriends, you will find that her relationships "Overlapped", she 2 timed just as well....they were involved in a sexual relationship that was a bit kinky and had shades of BDSM And who has the HISTORY of so called "Kinky" sex? The only woman anyone could find who had had sex with TA was Deanna, and that was a 7 year relationship and where's the "Kink"?....most women Jodi's age have had a rotten boyfriend though--many women have engaged in sexual activity with a guy hoping that it would win them love and/or just because they like it. Jodi was a willing participant and even acknowledged that the act of tying her to a tree and putting it up her rear was "so debasing....and SHE **LIKED** IT" That sounds like a dominant submissive relationship to a degree.... I don't like Jodi Arias...she is not a sympathetic person, but I also don't like for women to be shamed about their sexuality while the man is just sewing his wild oats. He procured the relationship with her--gave her lots of mixed messages and was ambivalent about giving her up...after all, he said himself on the phone that he was making her his number one priority on his upcoming trip. She wasn't his stalker....(even if she was a jealous girlfriend and did idiotic stupid crap that jealous females do- he made her doubt and she was right--he was cheating) and he wasn't afraid of her.......if he did he would have reported it to the police. The most I can make out of their relationship is that is was immature and toxic. Neither one was getting what they wanted entirely out of it and neither one was willing to let it go either. They had a 5 month "committed/exclusive/whatever" relationship that was LONG DISTANT. She moved to Mesa AFTER they broke up. She only moved back to Yreka because she was broke, couldn't hold a job and had NO PLACE TO LIVE. And who DROVE hundreds of miles for these "booty calls"? Not Travis.
Was there only ONE gun shot? There never was any discussion of a possible struggle with the gun and other shots going off--I have only read of the one gun shot--which struck me as odd--and if it was first and she proceeded to torture him with the knife then she is beyond evil.. The ME said 1 shot, no hemorrhagic bleeding, he had bleed out and was already DEAD. There was one spent cartridge and no other slugs found at the crime scene except the one in Travis' jaw
I also agree with one of the the above posts as well that said that the defense point that she didn't take him out immediately makes her mission to kill (First Degree) seem not as plausible. She "took him out" 3 times, the gun shot to the head WAS a mortal wound, the sliced throat WAS a "mortal wound", the stab to the heart WAS a "mortal wound"
My guess is that she is going to be found guilty of Murder 2/ manslaughter.
