Great post! And all of it right on the money, IMO.
Many people want JA to get the death penalty because they think she would "thrive" in prison. I do not think she would. I think LWOP would be hell for her. She'd be locked up against her will, and she does not do well in situations that go against her will. I don't care if her fellow lifers fall in love with her. It will mean nothing because she can't come and go as she pleases, can't call the shots anymore. The murderer can control very few people from prison and even that will be limited. Maybe her family, if they come to visit her, can be ordered around or talked down to. They will probably let her do it, too. But at the end of the visit, they get to leave and she can't. They can go out to dinner, but not Jodi. They can go sit on a park bench somewhere and sip a strawberry frap, and SHE CAN'T.
So IMO, she can be sentenced to LWOP; it won't matter. Because for her that's still a death sentence.