Who else is feeling nervous over the verdict? I'm not confident in a first degree verdict. Someone reassure me!
If the juror's follow the instructions given to them, they should arrive at first degree murder.
IIRC, they were told to first consider first degree murder. They can only consider lesser charges if they cannot reach a unanimous vote of the higher charge. Martinez laid out for them how the crime fits both premeditated and felony murder under the first degree charges. He did this not once, but twice.
If the jury understands with the legal definition of premeditation, which basically means time to reflect, intent to kill can be formed in seconds. Travis's injuries alone meet the criteria of premeditated murder, regardless of the sequence of events prior to the attack.
1) Gunshot wound to the head- whether this came first or last, a gunshot to the head can kill. While JA said that she did not intend to shoot him because she thought the gun was not loaded, she did not stop. Her versions of this prior to trial indicated that this happened in the closet; on the witness stand, she changed this to the bathroom.
2) A change of weapons to a knife which she uses to stab him 27 times, including a fatal wound to the heart, defensive wounds to the hands and excessive wounds to the back, meaning that he was not a threat to her when she inflicted these wounds. The change of weapons is significant in that it shows reflection.
3). The chasing down of Travis in the hallway and the slashing of his throat furthers the premeditative aspect of the crime. Chasing him requires reflection, as does the switch from stabbing to slashing. To slash one's throat is a completely different action than stabbing, again requiring reflection, not reflex.
There is an excellent previous post here where the OP puts forth a terrific argument for first degree murder under the unlikely assumption that JA's version of events of that day is true and still arrives at the conclusion of first degree murder. I agree 100%; regardless of what happened, the three distinct set of wounds and how/where they were inflicted fully meets the legal definition of first degree murder.
In order for this not to have been first degree murder, JA would have had to be gravely injured by Travis in this event, in which case excessive force would then be considered justified. In reality, I find it doubtful that someone gravely injured would be able to deeply slash another person's throat from ear to ear.
The only thing that concerned me is Nurmi introducing "she snapped" without Martinez clarifying this. Nurmi's use of snapped is not the same as the legal definition of crime of passion.
lease:
