She needs some kind of visible evidence of prior DV - so she is using the injury to the left ring finger (probably a cut tendon) that occurred during the murder but she is attributing it to a kick from TA back in Jan. '08 that "broke" the finger.
IMO, that would be relatively easy to establish with an orthopedic hand specialist. It certainly appears she has a tendon injury, such as an untreated laceration, and not sequelae from any kind of fracture.
And with the finger injury coming from the murder, there wouldn't be much left to claim physical abuse.
I think the finger was an important lie. Perhaps JM is saving it for rebuttal case?
But maybe that is just a venture into the weeds, because I'm fairly certain that the Defense DV expert will focus on psychoemotional abuse, and not physical abuse in Jodi's case.
What seems really pertinent to me, as I reflect on the crossX, is that IMO Jodi did not establish that she experienced "I'm afraid of severe bodily harm or imminent death". There wasn't a single other incident she offered up as a priming experience where TA abused her such that she could reasonably be in fear of great bodily harm or death in her dropped camera story.
I expected Nurmi to elicit a lot of "I didn't want to have to kill him" comments from Jodi on direct, along with comments about comments to show remorse and conflict over killing him. And it never happened! I was stunned over that. "I had no choice, I was backed into a corner" etc. "I couldn't calm him down this time" etc. this was the worst justification for self defense I've ever heard! Complete failure of imagination on the defense part.
But for the sake of justice, I rejoice that the DT left such huge holes and doubt about self defense. And I really hope the jury noticed.