What did you think of the State's cross examination of Arias?

[Mrs G Norris]

I can't wait to see JM go at the DV witness ... She'll end up agreeing with him once he gets started.

 

[katydid23]

I am so curious to see what Nurmi chooses to discuss tomorrow.

There has been a lot of damage done to the defense case. But I don't think he wants to keep her up there too long because that gives Juan equal time on recross.

So what will Nurmi focus on? I think he has to focus on her version of events surrounding the murder. He needs to try and make it sound more believable. If that is even possible. JMO

 

[norest4thewicked]

I think that he did a wonderful job. I just wish that there was a lot more the actual day of the murder. I think that not mentioning the stab wounds in detail and the slit throat might have been a weak point. Don't get me wrong. I think that JM is the best I've ever seen, just was expecting a bit more.

 

[Clue Finder 55]

I think Juan did a good job but he should have asked more about the gun such as below

TIME FRAME ABOUT GUN IMPOSSIBLE

Jodi Arias testified that Travis yelled at her that he was going to kill her and she ran into a walk in closet retrieved the hand gun from a fairly high up shelf.
She grabbed the gun came back out to the bathroom hallway and shot Travis in the head as he was in a tackle position.
All this just after he body slammed her onto a tile floor.
She said she could hear Travis’s footsteps behind her as she was running toward the walk in closet.
Now when it comes to the gun it would have had to have been retrieved from the high up shelf and it would have had to have had a live round in the chamber and the safety in the off position in order to fire.
Most handgun owners do not store their guns with a live shell in the chamber and if they do they sure as hell wouldn’t leave it with the safety in the off position where it could easily fire if they picked it up wrong.
In order to load a semi automatic handgun the slider on the top of the barrel must be pulled all the way back so a shell can be chambered (this means a shell loads into the barrel part).
These guns are so small that it would be difficult to load in a hurry even if you know what you are doing.


This is a picture of the actual size of a 25 cal semi automatic hand gun (much smaller than most people think. Easily hidden in a pocket.
Now how could Jodi have ran into the closet grabbed this handgun possibly loaded it put the safety in the firing position and do all this faster than it would have taken Travis to catch up to her.
Remember she testified that she knew absolutely nothing about guns of any kind.
How would she know if it was loaded and ready to fire or where the safety is on the gun all in within a second or two?
The hallway including the walk-in closet was only 20 feet away from the shower so how long do you think it would take Travis to run that far and by her saying she could hear his footsteps behind her so that means he was already out of the shower.
I believe the time frame for all this to happen is impossible.
If you don’t know anything about these types of guns how would you even know where the safety is on it.
The prosecution should bring a gun expert into court and show the jurors one of these guns and how it’s loaded and about the safety on the gun etc. and that it would have been impossible for her to have shot Travis the way she said she did.
I believe this would blow her whole story right out of the water.

Foot note—if you look at the crime scene photos the one where he has the surprised look on his face—the next one he is sitting on the shower floor, He is not posing as people think but he has already been stabbed in the stomach or deep stab to the heart are
I have taken thousands of showers and never once sat on a shower floor.
When a person is stabbed it takes a few seconds before blood comes out of the wound it’s self. The pain would be instant and could cause a person to collapse. Like I said he is not sitting in the shower posing for a picture.
By the autopsy pictures he was stabbed by a knife with quite a wide blade so if that was thrust into his chest deeply it would likely cause you to collapse (either a stomach stab or stab near the heart) He couldn’t have been shot first because the bullet entered the right eyebrow and traveled on a downward angle and lodged in his right cheek.
If Travis was standing she couldn’t have shot him first because of this bullet angle.
Travis was stabbed first and shot later.
I think when the camera was dropped is when Travis was coming out of the shower and she dropped the camera so she could continue stabbing him.
In yesterdays testimony by Jodi she said she could use either hand to do things so that explains how she could have taken pictures using her right hand.
I believe the gun is the whole key to premeditated murder and it doesn’t matter how many lies she has told as the gun will be the proof.

 

[shefner]

I started out this case hating Jodi Arias and thinking she would make a fool of herself on the stand. I have been shocked that she is fairly likable. Yes, a liar...but likable.

The victim in the case is not open for discussion. But I have found many of his behaviors offensive...extremely so. Even saying that, his murder was horrible and I feel terrible for his family and also the Arias family.

No one in my circle of friends felt the prosecutor did a very good job in this case...but everyone here seems to think he did. So maybe we have all persuaded each other! I don't know but I don't feel the pre-meditation has been proven.

 

[mawt28]

JM did good in presenting the case but feel he is missing the WHY? were hear...to decide whether it was premeditated.

I feel JM spent way too much time proving JA a liar...she has admitted she is a liar. Then more time is spent asking about the murder...she admitted she murdered Travis.

While I feel terrible about Travis reputation being smeared to kingdom come...it is irrelevant. Being a sexual deviant, loving sex, taking naked pictures, even masturbating while looking at a little boy (which I do not believe to be true!), calling your girlfriend names, cussing at your girlfriend, supposedly controlling her....is not grounds for murder.

BTW, wanting a 3 way, anal sex, oral sex, S & M and fantasy play does not a sexual deviant make.

If she is acquitted or even given manslaughter...mark my word (hee hee) the murder rate will increase nationwide using self defense against a belligerent boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse.

The jury is here to determine whether this was a premeditated murder and worthy of the death penalty, which IMO is and would like to see this addressed and settled for all to hear, see and understand.

 

[emaltizer]

Juan apparently has 30 yrs as a prosecutor. The last 17 of his prosecuting trials have been murder cases. He is highly intelligent and I think he did an EXCELLENT job. I think he was smart to leave many things out bc he got to the main points that needed to be addressed. He got JA contradicting herself left and right, brought a good light back to Travis, and ended the cross beautifully by playing the NO JURY WILL CONVICT ME video.. He could have gone on for DAYSSSSS with all the bs the defense brought in. He knows what he is doing and I'm sure the jury was WAY MORE attentive to his cross because he was not talking 3 words a minute like KN. JM was not boring demanded yes and no questions instead of her usual babbling. He is a pitbull in court and always has been. Why should he talk to her like a 6 yr old child the way her defense team has?

 

[emaltizer]

I don't like the prosecutor in this case....
Martinez doesn't come across well.
On the other hand, Jodi is a liar.
Not sure what the jury is thinking as to premeditation.

If I have to hear any more sex talk, I will puke. Enough already.
Alexander was brutally murdered.
The point the prosecution must prove is how can we know it was pre-meditated?
The gas cans argument was fantastic....but got lost in the other mess.

Stay on point...
This should be the mantra of the prosecution.

I have to respectfully but strongly disagree with you. He is brilliant. Yes he may seem like a "pitbull" but if and when you have seen the true crime scene photos and Travis death photos, just as the jury has several times, there should be no reason for him to talk nicely and softly to her. Apparently, from what i have read his go for the jugular is how he prosecutes. Its the way he has prosecuted for the past 30 yrs (his last 17 cases have all been murder cases).

He did go from one thing to another to another, but there was a strategy there....in the end he wrapped it up beautifully. IMO he got her to confess to MURDER not the JA fantasy/imaginary self defense "defense."

Ok...also respectfully asking, what do you think about the rental car, the 1000 mile unknown "detour" while at least having a gun with her IF the knife story about it being Travis is true, dying her hair, picking up gas cans etc..... If that is not proven premeditation than I do not know what is.

 

[MrLanders]

This has been a brilliantly executed prosecution. The cross examination was carefully designed to expose Arias as a liar, as aggressive when cornered and therefore capable of violence, as calculating and conniving, as someone who took a lot of time to work on her various stories, and as a defendant with nothing to lose perfectly comfortable making up lies on the fly while under oath. It's very clear to me that Juan Martinez has either faced this type of witness before, or has researched and studied how to deal with this type of witness. He skillfully let her believe she was winning the tennis match, but ultimately, which one of them was sobbing?

It was brilliant strategy to seemingly "wander all over the place" in his line of questioning, because in doing so, it throws the defendant off her rehearsed chronological way of thinking: when she's got to suspend a lie about one topic to deal with another topic because of the prosecutor's strategy, she gets confused about what lie she told to whom and in what order. She admitted she had memorized much of the testimony she gave on direct, and clearly she had been rehearsed repeatedly by her defense counsel. That's standard operating procedure.

JM was very skillful in allowing the defendant to "say too much" in some of her answers. Letting the real Jodi Arias show on the witness stand gives the jury a nice contrast to the pre-programmed humanoid that sat there under direct.

It's good that JM did not get bogged down in a theatrical replay of each stab wound, especially since the lying defendant has already repeatedly claimed she doesn't even remember stabbing her victim.

JM is good at this. VERY good. He knows exactly what he is doing and isn't reading message boards like this to get "tips" on what he should do. I have no doubt he has his closing summation already written, and it will remind the jury what this monster did to Travis and why she, at the very least, should never again taste freedom. I also have no doubt he is ready for the rebuttal witnesses.

Let's all agree on one thing: Jodi Arias is not going to be acquitted. She may die, or she may spend the rest of her life in prison, but she is not going to be found not guilty under any circumstances. This won't be a hung jury. I predict a very short deliberation period, perhaps under one day.

 

[MrLanders]

On the question of premeditation. Those of us who have watched virtually every nanosecond of testimony in this trial, and did more than our fair share of pre-trial scavenging for details in this case can readily see all signs point to a planned killing. These two people dated for FIVE MONTHS, not years, not decades: FIVE MONTHS. Arias has an admitted history of moving from one guy to another, having an active sex life since her late teens, and an unstable work and financial situation. She thought she had struck gold when she met Travis. I have to admit, in some of those tapes, he doesn't sound like the nicest guy in the world - sounds a little full of himself. However, that being said: Jodi Arias created in her own mind an all or nothing scenario - this is the guy she wanted - this is the life she wanted to be part of, and when Travis wasn't having it, she decided to take action.

If Travis had been killed by a .38, and not an odd caliber like the .25, but a .25 caliber had been stolen from Jodi's grandparents, there might be at least a reasonable doubt. A previous poster eloquently explained why Jodi's made-up-as-she-went performance regarding her physics-defying ability to beat Travis to the gun, get it, load it, *advertiser censored* it and fire it just in the nick of time after being body slammed by a naked wet man (just because his camera had fallen 2 feet onto a bath mat...) makes for good head scratching, but not for good believing.

She had to drive a fair distance just to see Travis; she knew he was going to Cancun with Mimi and not her; she knew THIS break up was for real, even though she kept using sex to try to change his mind; her well documented stalking behavior - unannounced visits, hacking emails; the moves to cover her tracks after leaving Travis' house; her behavior immediately following the crime; the heinous toying with Travis' family; the quirky national television interviews; making sure the pen was up on the stairs so Napoleon couldn't interfere with her plans; the psychotic need to document the crime itself photographically (more trophies, Jodi?)...

These and so many other lies and misdirections, inconsistencies have all been shown the light of day by Juan Martinez's attention to detail and prosecutorial skills.

HE is Travis Alexander's voice. HE has proven premeditation beyond any reasonable doubt.

 

[katiecoolady]

On the question of premeditation. Those of us who have watched virtually every nanosecond of testimony in this trial, and did more than our fair share of pre-trial scavenging for details in this case can readily see all signs point to a planned killing. These two people dated for FIVE MONTHS, not years, not decades: FIVE MONTHS. Arias has an admitted history of moving from one guy to another, having an active sex life since her late teens, and an unstable work and financial situation. She thought she had struck gold when she met Travis. I have to admit, in some of those tapes, he doesn't sound like the nicest guy in the world - sounds a little full of himself. However, that being said: Jodi Arias created in her own mind an all or nothing scenario - this is the guy she wanted - this is the life she wanted to be part of, and when Travis wasn't having it, she decided to take action.

If Travis had been killed by a .38, and not an odd caliber like the .25, but a .25 caliber had been stolen from Jodi's grandparents, there might be at least a reasonable doubt. A previous poster eloquently explained why Jodi's made-up-as-she-went performance regarding her physics-defying ability to beat Travis to the gun, get it, load it, *advertiser censored* it and fire it just in the nick of time after being body slammed by a naked wet man (just because his camera had fallen 2 feet onto a bath mat...) makes for good head scratching, but not for good believing.

She had to drive a fair distance just to see Travis; she knew he was going to Cancun with Mimi and not her; she knew THIS break up was for real, even though she kept using sex to try to change his mind; her well documented stalking behavior - unannounced visits, hacking emails; the moves to cover her tracks after leaving Travis' house; her behavior immediately following the crime; the heinous toying with Travis' family; the quirky national television interviews; making sure the pen was up on the stairs so Napoleon couldn't interfere with her plans; the psychotic need to document the crime itself photographically (more trophies, Jodi?)...

These and so many other lies and misdirections, inconsistencies have all been shown the light of day by Juan Martinez's attention to detail and prosecutorial skills.

HE is Travis Alexander's voice. HE has proven premeditation beyond any reasonable doubt.

Bravo.

 

[LambChop]

I think that he did a wonderful job. I just wish that there was a lot more the actual day of the murder. I think that not mentioning the stab wounds in detail and the slit throat might have been a weak point. Don't get me wrong. I think that JM is the best I've ever seen, just was expecting a bit more.

JM is not done yet. He still has rebuttal. All those questions he asked her that she could not provide an answer to, or lied about, JM has testimony of witnesses yet to be heard to prove she lied. He would not have asked her the question unless he knew he could prove her wrong if she did lie. All those back and forth with her was because she knows he will prove she is lying but she's just making it difficult for him and maybe the jury will believe her and not the others. It's a risk she can afford to take because once the truth is revealed she knows she's going to die anyway. So for her, it's worth a shot and at times she looks as if she was really enjoying herself. Very sick. jmo

 

[Cate49]

I so want to see Jodi prosecuted for the brutal murder of Travis. My impression of Juan falls short of others on this site. His engaging her in verbal jousting was not a great tactic. The less this women has chance to say the better. The mixing of questions was jumbled it was confusing to follow his intent with questions. He should have just had her identify the stories she made up and everyone she has lied too. She admitted murder and all the prosecution should focus on to execute or not. Does she have any redeeming qualities to spare her life? The slaughter of Travis's personality and reputation in this trial speak to jodi's character. I have stated in an earlier post. If she had not gone to trial. Saved both families from the brutal,sexual content. The state may have seen some redeeming quality in her. It has come to light that Juan has other cases happening at the same time as this one. He should not have other cases to handle when prosecuting such a high profile case. Even superman has kryptonite to avoid while saving the world.
JMHO

 

[deedee21]

Mr Landers The jury will convict in 2 hours. Shes turning on the waterworks now, but she wont shed a tear.

 

[deedee21]

Hes geting the job done. He sounds frustrated. Hes probably sickend by the sight of her.

 

[websurfer]

JA uses the word debasing a lot in her X-rated tape.
Looked it up.
And she was exactly what the word means . She says it on the recording to laugh and be coy with Travis.
When in actuality she is debasing to begin with...:floorlaugh:

 

[BarbWire]

I think Juan did a good job but he should have asked more about the gun such as below

TIME FRAME ABOUT GUN IMPOSSIBLE

Jodi Arias testified that Travis yelled at her that he was going to kill her and she ran into a walk in closet retrieved the hand gun from a fairly high up shelf.
She grabbed the gun came back out to the bathroom hallway and shot Travis in the head as he was in a tackle position.
All this just after he body slammed her onto a tile floor.
She said she could hear Travis’s footsteps behind her as she was running toward the walk in closet.
Now when it comes to the gun it would have had to have been retrieved from the high up shelf and it would have had to have had a live round in the chamber and the safety in the off position in order to fire.
Most handgun owners do not store their guns with a live shell in the chamber and if they do they sure as hell wouldn’t leave it with the safety in the off position where it could easily fire if they picked it up wrong.
In order to load a semi automatic handgun the slider on the top of the barrel must be pulled all the way back so a shell can be chambered (this means a shell loads into the barrel part).
These guns are so small that it would be difficult to load in a hurry even if you know what you are doing.


This is a picture of the actual size of a 25 cal semi automatic hand gun (much smaller than most people think. Easily hidden in a pocket.
Now how could Jodi have ran into the closet grabbed this handgun possibly loaded it put the safety in the firing position and do all this faster than it would have taken Travis to catch up to her.
Remember she testified that she knew absolutely nothing about guns of any kind.
How would she know if it was loaded and ready to fire or where the safety is on the gun all in within a second or two?
The hallway including the walk-in closet was only 20 feet away from the shower so how long do you think it would take Travis to run that far and by her saying she could hear his footsteps behind her so that means he was already out of the shower.
I believe the time frame for all this to happen is impossible.
If you don’t know anything about these types of guns how would you even know where the safety is on it.
The prosecution should bring a gun expert into court and show the jurors one of these guns and how it’s loaded and about the safety on the gun etc. and that it would have been impossible for her to have shot Travis the way she said she did.
I believe this would blow her whole story right out of the water.

Foot note—if you look at the crime scene photos the one where he has the surprised look on his face—the next one he is sitting on the shower floor, He is not posing as people think but he has already been stabbed in the stomach or deep stab to the heart are
I have taken thousands of showers and never once sat on a shower floor.
When a person is stabbed it takes a few seconds before blood comes out of the wound it’s self. The pain would be instant and could cause a person to collapse. Like I said he is not sitting in the shower posing for a picture.
By the autopsy pictures he was stabbed by a knife with quite a wide blade so if that was thrust into his chest deeply it would likely cause you to collapse (either a stomach stab or stab near the heart) He couldn’t have been shot first because the bullet entered the right eyebrow and traveled on a downward angle and lodged in his right cheek.
If Travis was standing she couldn’t have shot him first because of this bullet angle.
Travis was stabbed first and shot later.
I think when the camera was dropped is when Travis was coming out of the shower and she dropped the camera so she could continue stabbing him.
In yesterdays testimony by Jodi she said she could use either hand to do things so that explains how she could have taken pictures using her right hand.
I believe the gun is the whole key to premeditated murder and it doesn’t matter how many lies she has told as the gun will be the proof.

I'm new Where are the crime scene photos

 

[ExigentPlan]

Yesterday's post-jury questions re-cross was masterful. One of the jury's last questions was asking we they should believe her now when everything before was a lie. Then JM used the important gas can story to convincingly impeach her statements showing that not only is she still lying, but the premeditation is obvious. But he didn't stop there, he set the rest of the trial up by already nullifying the defense's "experts" by pointing out that they their opinions could only be based upon her lies too. Plus, I think he set up the use of a couple surprise rebuttal witnesses, like maybe MM. If he doesn't use MM, he made him into a useless witness for the defense. Bravo, JM

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

I know JM is tough, and some people think that could be cause for concern.

IMOO--I feel he is pushing Jodie's buttons for that AHA!! moment from "a Few Good Men". The Jack Nicholson "YOU CAN"T HANDLE THE TRUTH"--Would that be worth seeing. Right now she looks so Annoyingly Controlled like a robot. I say Frazzle some feathers and get her to "Flip Out" so we can see the Murdering , Scorned Jodie Arius. .......Case closed --DP_PLEASE:jail:

 

[indycornstalk]

Remember though folks, just because Mr. Martinez PROVED that Arias is a profound LIAR, he also MUST prove she is a PREMEDITATED MURDERER!!! He has to go through the reasons WHY she did what she did. He MUST tell the theory of the Cancun Trip being the Catalyst for her planning to harm Travis and then the steps she took to get to AZ and to try to entice Travis with sex to get him back and when he refused to take her back and take her on that trip, that is why she killed him.