VERDICT WATCH - Sentencing of Jodi Arias - Retrial Day 43, Part 2

[turaj]

I don't understand the significance of these chairs and I thought it was weird that they were taking up post there every day around the time the jury finishes for the day. Is the family waiting outside the jury room waiting for them to come out? Someone said they sit there so the jury would notice them. I remember yesterday or Friday posters saying that they hoped the Alexanders sitting in those chairs didn't backfire on them, so I don't get why now it is such a horrible thing for the other family to sit there. Maybe it'll backfire on them. To be quite honest if I was a juror I wouldn't appreciate having the victim's family (or the killer's for that matter) sitting there waiting for me to come out at the end of the day. I would feel like they would be putting a significant amount of pressure and somewhat of a guilt trip on me. If they were sitting there all day long I wouldn't think it was weird but to move there at closing time is just odd to




me. Maybe the Arias' didn't realize that was where the family sat. As I understand it, they aren't in the courthouse unless something is happening.

Honestly this sounds juvenile and the jury should be escorted out in private.

 

[Sulamith]

However they still have to all decide it fits the crime. IT is not just since she is eligible it is obvious kind of thing. Otherwise there would be no need for jurors to deliberate it. It is a decision made by the jurors and they have to believe that it is what she deserves for her crime.
I think there are a lot of people like me who think they could give the DP and believe in it but when it comes time, may not vote for it because it does not fit for them.

I have no problems with the death penalty but it does not mean that I would absolutely vote for a death sentence for a murderer. I do not think JA is the worst of the worst, not by a long shot. And when people say that if she was in Texas we would surely give her the DP and execute her, I would say Texas has had a lot of problems with putting people on death row, only to exonerate them later.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I believe in being totally honest with the court and the questions asked.

When I was asked if I could vote for death if the evidence/aggravators supported it... I had already done my own soul searching beforehand before the question was asked. We all knew already if selected to be on the case it was going to be a death penalty case. If I had had reservations of any kind I would have told the court. I would never ever want to be the reason for a hung jury because I had backtracked from my answer before the case even started.

As we know the majority of the time if it is a hung jury it is one lone wolf holdout when it comes to getting death. One vote shy of being unanimous. Now of course I know the first sentencing phase in this particular case was 8-4 with 8 wanting death. I wasn't shocked by that due to the defendant being a white female. I would have been absolutely shocked if it had been unanimous. But one cant say they will uphold their oath and then in deliberation room....all of a sudden decide they cant put someone to death after all. That mentality has cost millions of taxpayer dollars .........not only in this case but other deadlocked death penalty cases.

Its just not fair to the court system, the victim or the taxpayers.

Even though I didn't know I would be a selected juror on the death penalty case..... I knew there was a possibility when I received my summons for jury duty. It was then I began to think about it and had already reached my decision before jury selection. And all of these jurors also knew beforehand they would be sitting on a death penalty case. They had time to reflect and think about it from the moment they too received the jury summons.

I just believe in being totally honest and above board with the court even if it had meant I was not qualified to serve on a death penalty case. I would never want to sit on any case where I felt I could not fulfill my ethical civic duty that was asked of me.

You can be completely honest and then in the end not be able to vote it because you don't think that it is the right decision. I think that it is really a hard take on people who give the time and effort to do the right thing and then for them to be criticized or called liars or frauds. IMO

 

[JSR]

BBM. Hey, I did that!

I did too. Bora Bora was a wonderful honeymoon destination. My husband and I also went to Italy saw the Amalfi coast and the Sistine chapel. We've also been to France and India. I actually will go to bed at night thinking about all that Jodi will never get to do even if she doesn't get the death penalty. Yup that instantly put me in a better mood.

 

[ElleElle]

For me it is the very heinous manner in which she murdered TA. She didn't just shoot him and he died, didn't just stab him and he died. She followed him around the bathroom and down that hallway stabbing and stabbing and stabbing. Shot him then resorted to stabbing him over and over again. Watched him struggle to stand and struggle to get away and stabbed him over and over again not stopping when he fell to the floor and tried to crawl away. Just relentless stabbing. Torture. Then the 'Coup de grais" pulling his head back and slicing his neck down to the spinal cord. This was a very calculated, most painful way she could imagine, heinous crime. She intended to inflict the most pain she could possibly inflict. She really, really wanted him to suffer. That is why she deserves the death penalty.

The brutality and the premeditation outweighs her age at the time of the crime, and her lack of criminal record. Abuse and "mental illness" ? Out the window for me.

I also agree the biggest blow to JA was getting the 1st degree murder conviction.

 

[Ransom]

If I were security, I'd remove the whole lot of you

Glad you live in Canada

 

[RadarLuv]

Aaaaaaand...........She snapped pictures all the while. Boy she sure was a multi-tasker

For me it is the very heinous manner in which she murdered TA. She didn't just shoot him and he died, didn't just stab him and he died. She followed him around the bathroom and down that hallway stabbing and stabbing and stabbing. Shot him then resorted to stabbing him over and over again. Watched him struggle to stand and struggle to get away and stabbed him over and over again not stopping when he fell to the floor and tried to crawl away. Just relentless stabbing. Torture. Then the 'Coup de grais" pulling his head back and slicing his neck down to the spinal cord. This was a very calculated, most painful way she could imagine, heinous crime. She intended to inflict the most pain she could possibly inflict. She really, really wanted him to suffer. That is why she deserves the death penalty.

 

[Turnadot]

Been following along and reading. I've also been doing a lot of thinking about the DP and IMO Arias deserves it. She will probably never actually sit in the death chamber but for me it's about her quality of life and I don't believe she deserves any quality to her life whatsoever. IMO, for me, she put the needle in her arm not only in the way she murdered him but also the pedo accusations and sliming him during the trial. To me that tells me about her state of mind and the kind of human she actually is.

I'm a vegan, but I'd still put down a rabid animal. For its sake and all living things around it.

Arias is a rabid human animal that needs to be put down.

I read that back and see how awful it looks typed out, but it's how I feel.

All JMHO and I apologise if I have offended any fellow sleuther.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

One of the things that has kept me awake at night was the discussion on here that CMJA may (allegedly) have used a stun-gun on TA before stabbing him. IMHO this fits in perfectly with her character because she is a coward and her OWN safety would always come first. I agree with the posters here who thought it possible that she subdued him first with the stun-gun before stabbing him. To me, that is so horrific I cannot even imagine what type of evil mind could do something so cruel. I also believe that there are a large number of things that have been kept from the public during the trial and that after this debacle they will be given the light of day.

I absolutely agree. After this is all over with the only thing I would like to see is all the things JSS ruled too prejudicial to come into the trial.

Also the transcripts of all the sidebars will be very interesting as well.

I think even we may be shocked by some things that were kept out that even we don't know about.

 

[Ransom]

I have no problems with the death penalty but it does not mean that I would absolutely vote for a death sentence for a murderer. I do not think JA is the worst of the worst, not by a long shot. And when people say that if she was in Texas we would surely give her the DP and execute her, I would say Texas has had a lot of problems with putting people on death row, only to exonerate them later.

Who?... TIA

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The brutality and the premeditation outweighs her age at the time of the crime, and her lack of criminal record. Abuse? Out the window for me.

I also agree the biggest blow to JA was getting the 1st degree murder conviction.

Her age is a farce. She was almost 28 years old. By that age someone could have 10 honorable years in the military. And her victim was also young and only two years older than she when she ended his life.

 

[Val1]

I think he is worse. He most likely strangled her or killed her with his bare hands knowing she was carrying his son. I think that is worse even than what JA did.

Just wondering, if he thought she was carrying someone else's son, would that change your mind? Wouldn't that then fall under the guise of crime of passion .... something I've heard used to excuse murder?

 

[Hatfield]

But, The people on this jury were not in on the first trial. They did not see everything and only got a snapshot of a trial to show them things that applied to the DP. So going in they could have no idea what she deserved or what they could vote for only that they could give the DP if warranted.

They were seeing it all for the first time and not even all that we saw. I have to say I was more ready for the DP after the first trial. I may have voted for DP then. I know this all sounds so odd. I am pretty perplexed by it all tonight. But I feel like today, I could not vote DP. I just feel like in this case justice is LWOP. Her never ever ever leaving that prison.

Good point that we really don't know how much they really knew about this case before this phase started.

I flip-flopped a few times during the 1st phase but as I have witnessed her and her defense continue with the child *advertiser censored* lies, it has come to the point that she is practically begging for the DP herself IMO. If the 27 stab wounds wasn't enough for me during the 1st phase, her constant trashing of Travis about the child *advertiser censored* and unrelated *advertiser censored* viewing sure has done it for me. And the no remorse aspect.

Had she gone with a "normal" defense of just saying she was sorry and that she was just mad at him because he dumped her, I may be thinking differently right now.
Her whole defense and how they approached it swayed me into thinking she really deserves the DP.

But its the jury decision and I would respect it IF they would just come up with one. LOL
I have a hard time respecting a hung jury again. But one of our posters did educate me that getting a hung jury IS kind of the process we have. So I suppose I need to try not to get too upset if they hang.

But darn it is upsetting. LOL

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

Just wondering, if he thought she was carrying someone else's son, would that change your mind? Wouldn't that then fall under the guise of crime of passion .... something I've heard used to excuse murder?

UM no. He still killed two people.

 

[Val1]

Then again, the jurors make make note of it as they leave...

Wasn't one of the excused jurors already found to have been either related to, or was a friend of someone related to JA? Makes me wonder if there was more than one.

 

[little ole me]

Yes...of course...happy...

I hope you are right, but there is no way this judge will give her anything less than life with release, that is why she let the DT do what they did to make sure she got to sentence her.

 

[Turnadot]

Her age is a farce. She was almost 28 years old. By that age someone could have 10 honorable years in the military. And her victim was also young and only two years older than she when she ended his life.

Yeah I never understood why age is a mitigating factor at all for anyone over 18, IMO.

 

[ShadyLady]

Then there is APPARENTLY something very SERIOUSLY wrong with either the "vetting" system, OR the way Sherry picks a jury panel in SECRET!

Did jury get picked behind closed doors? I like how they did it in Florida, not that it helped much.

 

[raisincharlie]

But, The people on this jury were not in on the first trial. They did not see everything and only got a snapshot of a trial to show them things that applied to the DP. So going in they could have no idea what she deserved or what they could vote for only that they could give the DP if warranted.

They were seeing it all for the first time and not even all that we saw. I have to say I was more ready for the DP after the first trial. I may have voted for DP then. I know this all sounds so odd. I am pretty perplexed by it all tonight. But I feel like today, I could not vote DP. I just feel like in this case justice is LWOP. Her never ever ever leaving that prison.

That is the biggest problem with this "penalty phase retrial". JMO - this entire exercise was a complete waste of taxpayer funds and a complete waste of time. It makes zero sense to have a jury decide life or death without having access to the entirety of the case. Seems to me, it will be impossible for any jury to ever vote for death, regardless of the convicted felon being a knife wielding, overkill artist with a gun and extremely accomplished at issuing deceit. It worries me that JA's fate actually lies in the hands of the judge. It worries me because I have little belief that this judge would issue a death sentence, which IMO is what needs to happen because of her potential to manipulate those in jail as easily as those she has manipulated during her trial and throughout her entire life.

 

[khaki]

I don't understand the significance of these chairs and I thought it was weird that they were taking up post there every day around the time the jury finishes for the day. Is the family waiting outside the jury room waiting for them to come out? Someone said they sit there so the jury would notice them. I remember yesterday or Friday posters saying that they hoped the Alexanders sitting in those chairs didn't backfire on them, so I don't get why now it is such a horrible thing for the other family to sit there. Maybe it'll backfire on them. To be quite honest if I was a juror I wouldn't appreciate having the victim's family (or the killer's for that matter) sitting there waiting for me to come out at the end of the day. I would feel like they would be putting a significant amount of pressure and somewhat of a guilt trip on me. If they were sitting there all day long I wouldn't think it was weird but to move there at closing time is just odd to me. Maybe the Arias' didn't realize that was where the family sat. As I understand it, they aren't in the courthouse unless something is happening.

If I remember correctly, someone clarified that these seats were not in direct view of the exiting jurors, more around a corner or something such.