Prosecutor Juan Martinez releases new book, February 2016 - #1

[GigiG]

For me, it was the humility and the bedrock decency of the man that shone through what he wrote of his past and of how the trial had affected him.

He wrote, briefly, of where and how he was raised, of a father whose word was the law never to be challenged, and how much he had come to appreciate the gift of all that, perhaps the most significant lesson being knowing to the core the difference between right and wrong.

And, his honoring of Esteban Flores, a man with the same deeply held values, who attended trial even after the unbearable loss of his beloved son.

Thank you, Hope. The fact that he wanted to end on that note makes me respect him even more.

I remember on the main thread (back in the day), many people thought he and Flores were friends and had worked together often. I didn't think that was so, and I think that has come out here (?)

But, I love the fact that once coupled together in this investigation and trial, they were bonded and worked as one.

Again, was this providence? They worked so well together, never getting in the way of one another in the pursuit of justice. So many things which might normally fall to chance worked to their advantage...

 

[GigiG]

You're correct about the postcards---and there were 50 of them. And peeling off the top layer of paper to reuse the post cards violated jail policy to boot.

ETA. And you're correct about the index card. Her postcards were for practice, I guess.

That's pretty huge! Didn't Nurmi reference just one postcard? (Sorry if I'm wrong, didn't read his book either.)

 

[geevee]

To me, that looks like a socked foot down by the vanity.

You can see light between his big toe and second so I don't think there's a sock on it. At least with this pic it's clear it is a foot, there's even a shadow under it, it's one of the reason's JM said during trial he thought T was dead by then, the position of his foot. But I don't think she could get his head up that high just by pulling on his arm, still requires more study.

 

[geevee]

Kettle: You are incorrigibly obsessive, salmon flower, about those pics. love, Pot.

Hahaha

 

[RickshawFan]

When I saw this pic while watching Nancy Grace, it was extremely clear on my big screen that it is indeed her socked foot at an angle.

Additionally, it was also extremely clear that what appears to be a socked foot by the vanity is Travis' foot, it appears much smaller by the angle and the large presence he has of the forefront of the pic. The white spot that you see on the foot is actually a significant amount of light shining in between his large and 2nd toe.

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I'm totally with you on this analysis. That's what I thought it was: his foot. I didn't think of a space between his big toe and the next one, but maybe. I'm thinking it might be a bleeb in the light cast or even a speck on the lens?

 

[MsJosie]

I still think her original plan was to take TA to the particular list of places she mentioned because they all have remote spots along cliffs. Easy "slip".... She kept redesigning the trip to make it happen, but always these....

JA also used the jibber jabber about the trip because she could say she was expecting him to be visiting her anytime, and was therefore not in Mesa, because she had no need to be. Maybe this is why the visit to Yreka stuff is so confusing: it all had an ulterior motive, whatever that motive was. It never had to make sense.

I did not think about 'slipping over a cliff' but she could have gotten away with that if it was real remote. Good catch!

 

[RickshawFan]

Thank you, Hope. The fact that he wanted to end on that note makes me respect him even more.

I remember on the main thread (back in the day), many people thought he and Flores were friends and had worked together often. I didn't think that was so, and I think that has come out here (?)

But, I love the fact that once coupled together in this investigation and trial, they were bonded and worked as one.

Again, was this providence? They worked so well together, never getting in the way of one another in the pursuit of justice. So many things which might normally fall to chance worked to their advantage...

Didn't Flores say in his interrogation of Jodi that he'd worked with JM before?

 

[CarolinaMoon]

Hope this isn't going to spoil someone's read.

I'm only starting chapter 12, but I now realize that Juan is unique. When he hits a stone wall, he doesn't do as many do, he changes direction in a number of ways.

When the defense announced it was claiming self-defense, Juan felt, "if only for just a minute" that "it felt as though I was standing on a lunar landscape, pock-marked with gaping craters having been shipwrecked there with no was of returning back to Earth..." (page 122) There had been no police investigation of abuse.

Instead of trying to build a prosecution which would prove Travis didn't abuse JA, he moved in a totally different direction. It began with the gas cans. The gas cans and the receipts, along with the WalMart gas can, moved him into the prosecution based on premeditation big-time! That led to Darryl's interview with the 1st defense team where he mentioned JA had said she was going to Mesa.

The next time I see this segue is in Chapter 12 where he looks to find a way to combat the messages between the two. "In order to counter the idea that Arias was simply a passive figure and Travis a constant sexual aggressor, I needed to move beyond the instant mssages and e-mails, which would always be open to interpretation for either side..." (p. 169)

He then decided to show that JA was aggressive herself. Again Darryl had described her as agressive, and so had Ryan Burns.

In other words, Juan didn't do what other attorneys might do. He looked beyond the problem material and looked for ways to deflate the defense in other arenas.

I'm sure there will be more.

 

[EquallyDivided]

You can see light between his big toe and second so I don't think there's a sock on it. At least with this pic it's clear it is a foot, there's even a shadow under it, it's one of the reason's JM said during trial he thought T was dead by then, the position of his foot. But I don't think she could get his head up that high just by pulling on his arm, still requires more study.

ITA.

So I was just reading about Juan's visit to the jail, he went in order to view the pack index cards found in the killers cell. While there, he see's Anne Campbell there to visit the killer, and Anne grins at Juan. He mentions to officers that they (Arias and Campbell) are up to something no good, but he doesn't know what.

After Juan leaves the jail, he receives a phone call 5 minutes later and the officers at the jail ask him to retun. Upon his return, they show him a few magazines the killer requested to be given to Anne Campbell.

I am highly confident that Juan's comment to staff made the scrutiny of those materials more stringent

GO JUAN!!

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[Hope4More]

Thank you, Hope. The fact that he wanted to end on that note makes me respect him even more.

I remember on the main thread (back in the day), many people thought he and Flores were friends and had worked together often. I didn't think that was so, and I think that has come out here (?)

But, I love the fact that once coupled together in this investigation and trial, they were bonded and worked as one.

Again, was this providence? They worked so well together, never getting in the way of one another in the pursuit of justice. So many things which might normally fall to chance worked to their advantage...

They had never worked together before this case. JM makes clear they did indeed bond, and that he considered Flores a friend and an indispensable sounding board.

It really seemed to pain him that he withheld the gas can info from Flores, but he felt he couldn't take the risk of telling Flores and having the DT soliciting it somehow from Flores while he was on the stand.

What spoke to me most clearly about the strength of their bond was how JM described Flores' response after JM had solicited the info about gas cans from Brewer. He said he as he walked back to his seat Flores flashed him a grin (he wasn't offended or angry or whatever) and that he broke a cardinal rule of his own by allowing Flores to whisper in his ear- WTH? Wow!

 

[GigiG]

Didn't Flores say in his interrogation of Jodi that he'd worked with JM before?

I think he said he knew him, or "knew of him." But there's nothing to prevent him from exaggerating. Also, from the TV interviews it's been reported that in the book, Juan had never worked with Flores before.

But I could be wrong...

 

[MsJosie]

Yes, these ones... Warning link on pic has very very graphic disturbing pics!

View attachment 89281

Yes yes yes...that is the picture....thank you!

 

[Val1]

The key to what you are saying is that the camera had to get from the bathroom near the shower and to a spot where she was dragging the body and there were many seconds in between the two events. So Jodi had to have been involved in that. The leg ones were accidental and were taken from the floor level.

She had the camera positioned somewhere and Travis knocked it off the spot?

She set it to automatic shots with a specific delay?

The sex photos were all so she could figure out how to position the camera when she was killing Travis? And how to set the delay? And how to easily use the buttons?

Because she had no experience with that particular camera?

The shots in the bedroom are from different distances? So she could gauge how clear they would be?

This is getting sicker by the moment....

And you're all saying there was a video as well? Holy creeps!

The day after being confronted with the sexual poses and shower pics and that her DNA had been found in the palmprint proving she had been there when TA was murdered, JA changed her story from not being anywhere near Mesa to the witnessing the ninjas killing him one. Part of that second story included telling Det.F. the sexual interplay(allegedly sometime after 1pm) included videotaping as well as photographs.

Sorry but I still don't think anything sexual happened between them that day, but whatever happened with retrieving those pics(like the bit of research I did that implied that Encase just used the last active date of the camera when no meta data pre-existed) did help to get her to eventually confess to having killed him, though I'd really rather just have all the facts.

 

[GigiG]

They had never worked together before this case. JM makes clear they did indeed bond, and that he considered Flores a friend and an indispensable sounding board.

It really seemed to pain him that he withheld the gas can info from Flores, but he felt he couldn't take the risk of telling Flores and having the DT soliciting it somehow from Flores while he was on the stand.

What spoke to me most clearly about the strength of their bond was how JM described Flores' response after JM had solicited the info about gas cans from Brewer. He said he as he walked back to his seat Flores flashed him a grin (he wasn't offended or angry or whatever) and that he broke a cardinal rule of his own by allowing Flores to whisper in his ear- WTH? Wow!

Awesome!

 

[Hope4More]

“One of Travis’ best friends, Taylor Searle, told detectives about a conversation Travis said he’d had with Arias just the previous week, during which Travis let Arias know that he did not want to ever see or talk to her again. Searle said that according to Travis, this had made Arias very upset.”

Excerpt From: Martinez, Juan. “Conviction.” HarperCollinsPublishers, 2016-01-09. iBooks.

I never heard this. That's huge. I can see JA going nuts after TA told her he never wanted to see her or talk to her again. I'm surprised JM didn't put TS on the stand to say that.

Taylor has said in interviews on NG and other like shows that Travis called him and read to him the entire Gchat of May 26, and that he told Travis then- that's pretty harsh. aren't you afraid she's going to hurt you?

Travis never said in the chat that he never wanted to speak to her again. No doubt Taylor would infer that, even if Travis didn't say that directly to her or to Taylor.

Part of that comes down to what one believes might have been deleted from the record. If she threatened Travis with the sex tape I'm not sure Travis would have told Taylor she had done so.

 

[Hope4More]

I think he said he knew him, or "knew of him." But there's nothing to prevent him from exaggerating. Also, from the TV interviews it's been reported that in the book, Juan had never worked with Flores before.

But I could be wrong...

JM says explicitly he had not worked with Flores before, and knew of him only by reputation.

 

[Sulamith]

I have not purchased JM's book yet, but from the excerpts that I have read here, seems that the book is filled with too much hyperbole and similes for me. MOO

 

[MsJosie]

Yes. I finished it. It exceeded my expectations, actually. He provides a huge amount of information about his trial strategy, beforehand and during, including running commentary about what he believed were strategic errors by the DT --without getting personal about his opposing counsel.

There is actually a lot of new info there, but perhaps much of that is detectable only to the truly obsessed --not naming names here.

He writes really well, and I'm even more impressed with him as a lawyer and as a person than I was before I read his book.

JM really told how he did his investigation and some of his methods (has to keep some secret for other trials)....not so much new stuff to me. Maybe what I remember is in WS discussions the different things that could have happend that actually came to be and I am not taking it as new info. The book is really worth reading several times just to absorb everything.

I wish we could get all the side bars and Judge's chambers secrets....the secret testimony of the secret witness jail....just so much info. Will it ever be released or does one have to wait until all the felons appeals are over?

 

[EquallyDivided]

I have not purchased JM's book yet, but from the excerpts that I have read here, seems that the book is filled with too much hyperbole and similes for me. MOO

I am almost halfway through the book. This book is about perception, strategy, direct interactions with the killer or witnesses prior to and during trial. It has only a few instances (as mentioned) to give a visual effect to the reader and certainly is not overwhelming or overly used.

Of course, this is JMO - but it is a great...GREAT read!!

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[MsJosie]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=89206&d=1455656674

Can you tell me what the note says? (The parts you can read). I can't read any of it. But he does say he loves her at the end. I'm sure that's why she kept it.

Could she have added the last part about loving her, on the note....she faked her writing and those few words would not stand out if she was that good.