The coming JA cross exam will be very challenging. To do this effectively and convincingly will require careful planning and tact. The sheer volume of irrelevant unimportant minutiae JA has spewed out so far can all be deconstructed but this sort of analysis takes time. Martinez needs to bundle large swaths of testimony and cleverly point out that its content is misleading or frankly false. Martinez must be selective when debunking JA early testimony.
I think Martinez needs to dwell on June 3-5 2008. To explode JA lies and explanations will not be easy. Regarding the appearance of premeditation JA will invoke the claim that TA really wanted her to come to Mesa. TA beckoned her as part of his booty call habits.
JA description of the crime scene will lack specifics because she was engulfed in terror. The struggle and murder will be described as a blur. High detail memory evidenced by all tiny details offered that are over 8 years old will appreciably degrade as JA moves from June 3 to June 5, 2008. Prepare to hear I dont remember hundreds of times on JAs cross exam. On June 5 JA was in a state of shock and denial. Oddly as JA transitions from the shock of her heinous self-defense homicide a dreamy surreal psychic state will settle in. Her post homicide clean up and crime scene preparation will be carried out in a trance like state. JA will testify that a kind of automatic pilot function kicks in after TA has been killed. She will come to the realization that she actually survived TAs murderous assault on her. She will describe a phenomenon of coming to the realization - she survived and her lover did not. The bloody clothes and weapon disposal occurred because of the dreadful realization that a dead but otherwise beloved Travis was still with her. She needed to rid herself of the dead Travis and live as if beloved Travis were still alive. From June 5 onward JA was in a profound state of denial and was essentially functioning in an autopilot mode.
In other words JAs account of the TA shower, attack, self defense, and post crime fugue state will be elaborate and well rehearsed. The account will be corroborated by her paid experts. JA will tenaciously cling to the excuse outline and refuse to admit to contradictions or any dissembling at all. Her account of the 29 slashes to front and back, the gunshot wound, and the parked corpse in the shower will literally be a work of art and as audacious as the suicide notice.
