Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - 11/26 -12/02/14 In recess

[Love Never Fails]

In regards to Aikens, here's three articles about 3 different cases he has testified in, on a quick search. The second article linked below give you an idea of his "style".


Moussaoui: 'No remorse' for 9/11

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/13/moussaoui.trial/index.html?_s=PM:LAW

Prison expert testifies that killer Ricardo Serrano wouldn't be a threat to inmates

http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2010/03/prison_expert_testifies_that_k.html

Jury hears testimony in sentencing phase of Gibson trial

William Clyde Gibson convicted of killing Christine Whitis

http://www.wlky.com/news/local-news...serial-killer-found-guilty-of-murder/22665984

Wow. William Clyde Gibson case was right here in my back yard so to speak and I didn't know Aiken testified for him. Gibson was a serial killer, killed three women here and got three DP sentences. I didn't keep up with trial. I can't read about any serial killer cases as they disturb me so much I can't sleep. I just knew the trials were held separately and he received death in all three. Guess Aiken couldn't have helped him much anyway.

 

[Luvrosco]

Yes. It's so interesting that people can appear so together on the outside. I just re watched a show about Ted Bundy and they were interviewing, Ann Rule who worked beside him at the suicide prevention center. She also wrote the book, The Stranger Beside Me. She mentions how caring and " normal" he was.

 

[gcharlie]

-----------------------

LaLaw, I think you mean Marfans disease. I only know of this because Pres. Lincoln had this. People having it are unusually tall, well over six feet. Dr. G. had a case on her program a while back. This can be serious..

One of the dangerous parts of Marfans is scoliosis, or curvature of the spine. This may lead to the ribs closing in on the heart, forcing the heart muscle to work harder because it is in a constricted space.

When I was 16, Marfans was cited as a possibility for me. I was 5' 9" tall at the time and still growing. An orthopedic surgeon picked up on my scoliosis and skeered the bejesus out of my mother with this possibility.

 

[Susza]

Hi Val, I always appreciate your posts very much !
Unfortunately, this one I don't understand. Could you help me?

Sorry for quoting myself.
Forget my question, Val. I finally discovered the context and understood :happydance:

 

[geevee]

IMO you aren't missing anything. I've always believed she stopped at the AZ -Utah border and flipped the plate. Not to conceal, but to get pulled over, more Utah alibi. But who knows. She's too twisted to figure out.

I don't think she needed a cop to give her an alibi for being in Utah, she had Ryan, Leslie Udy and those she was meeting for whatever the deal was that night, I tend to doubt she thought she'd need more. I can't decide if she only flipped them for the street/red light cameras and forgot or if she swapped hers for others while she was in Arizona and then just put it on upside down in the dark desert. That seems unlikely to me as if she had enough light to be able to screw the plate back on, she'd be able to tell right side up from upside down. I also don't think she used plates from her car or the one she destroyed of Travis' as both could be tied back to her, only on the wrong car and more sense of premeditation. I don't know, the flipped plate still confuses me.

 

[Truth Detector]

I have a very good male friend who I will say, is pretty much a lothario/player whatever you want to call it but he's still a very good platonic friend of mine (and I might add very much like
Travis--charismatic, spiritual, a friend to everyone, giving, a great dad with really a way with women and ..anyway, he's like that and quite open about it). He was involved w/ a former friend of mine who I met through him a few years ago and they engaged in a "friends with benefits" situation for about two years. As I got to know her privately, I realized this was NOT the case for her and she was putting upwith it hoping he would finally "land" on her. He went along thinking this was a perfectly balanced and friendly situation for them both and continued dating other women some of whom she knew.
SHe finally had a meltdown of sorts and I was with her that weekend--she confessed to me she'd cyberstalked all the women he had dated, had access to all of his passwords, pin numbers, house security codes etc. He was still thinking she was copacetic with the entire arrangement but in reality she was basically psycho while smiling and acting normal in public. I was shocked when she said "there is not one drawer of pocket in an article of clothing in his house that I"ve not gone through. He has having her housesit for him when he went away on business!

When she confessed all of this to me I was in a serious situation--to repeat it to him, it was confidential, to tell anyone else...I just directed her to a freaking therapist which she did...the relationship ended. She gained access to his house while he was gone and chopped down all of his parsely of all things in his huge garden as he had once nicknamed her that. Psycho yes, dangerous no. But I realy couldn't blame him as she gained those passwords over his shoulder and in all kinds of sneaky subversive ways...when he'd had too much to drink, offering to get cash for him from an ATM, things like that. She just always seemed so "ok" on the outside. SOrry to ramble on but I couldn't help but think of her and how easy it all was to her and how he never knew any of ths was going on.
After the final breakup I just said to him "trust me on this--change all your passwords on everything" and he did. She got mad at me for staying friends with him (duh he was my friend first) and dumped me, thankfully. It was all so freaking awkward.
I'm sure Jodi employed similar sneaky maneuvers. I recently watched the early interview tapes w/ her parents and so much about her paranoia about THEM snooping onher...100% projection. I'm sure her stalking cyber and otherwise is far past what any of us know.

(sorry so long)

Yikes!

Glad you're out of there!

 

[wenwe4]

I know Monday is a dark day for court but is the CoA open or the law library, clerk's office, etc. to obtain copies of the further instructions they are going to issue with regard to their decsion?

I expect it will be just a declaration and citation of the laws they used to come to their decision, but it might contain the name of the super-secret witness and there could be further orders to JSS to immediately provide transcripts since the Media has requested them.

I'm thinking about the previous videotape of the court hearing, when Mr. Bodney was arguing for his clients (Media) where JSS and Nurmi wanted him to name the specific topics, dates and testimony previously sealed identified for each request. Bodney stated he only knew of the one time but if there were more he would like access and couldn't name them as all had been secret. I am wondering if the CoA didn't make a concerted effort to outline where the boundaries are so we don't have any more confusion or waffeling back and forth.

Honestly, I think Nurmi knew this would not fly but took advantage of JSS's lack of experience in DP cases and pushed the limits. He got away with getting Jodi (at least we suspect it was her) to testify in secret for a few hours. I believe this was done to distance themselves as far as possible from the VIS and delay trial in hopes they will lose the jury (due to trial length) and result in a mistrial. I think Juan can call more VIS at the end of the trial - so I'm not sure if this tactic will help in the end.

Seriously, this 2 day a week trial has got to end in a quick hurry! I am sure the court system would bog down to a snail's pace if JSS were to continue to allow trials to only happen 2 days a week for any extended period of time.

 

[Tuba]

Some material we may expect from the affidavits: letters of support, personal references and statements from those who want to speak on behalf of Arias & her causes. I would think her parents, & possibly other relatives, solicited the good words. They are in a better position to do this than her web supporters. How much weight will jurors give the testimonials?

 

[salberg7]

Regarding Brian Neumeister, how can anyone take him seriously after his presentation in the guilt phase, where he said he was so sure that you could see the killer reflected in Travis' eye, and Juan said he saw a dog, too! Unfortunately, this jury didn't see that. That presentation was totally ridiculous, a prime example of Nurmi grasping at straws. I can't quite remember what BN's point was with that pic, I will have to go on YouTube & review it.

 

[Ricki]

Apparently JAs innocent site thinks BN has the goods on Juan. Silly minions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve44]

Aren't the jurors bound by some law when deliberating what the sentence should be? IOW, are they not required to vote DP if they cannot find mitigators that outweigh the aggravators? They do not get to choose which one they prefer, right? I mean, they have to go with what the evidence dicatates, do they not?

That may be their instructions, but when you're asking people to authorize someone's death there's no way to prevent them bringing their personal and subjective judgement into it. That's why the defense will always try to 'humanize' a defendant to the jury so that in the end they 'just can't do it'. The prosecution, on the other hand, tries to show that the crime and the circumstances around it (premeditation, cruelty, etc.) are such that there simply is no other just remedy.

Look at the jury instructions in the guilt phase. They were required to honesty deliberate, yet one member, the foreman no less, just flatly refused.

 

[bsk]

It must be a truly horrible letter for the Alexanders to not want it released. They're willing to sit through a sentencing retrial, they've endured endless months of victimization by their brother's murderer, and they've had the courage to do all that despite knowing how ugly it was going to get.

A horrible letter, and maybe they are protecting the only tiny sliver of privacy the murderer can't force open and smear.

A thought just struck me. Can you imagine the wailing and screaming from KN if Juan said he wanted it released only to the jury with minimal, secret testimony?

 

[Steve44]

First jury had at least one person who was anti-DP. I hope the current jury is at least death-qualified. If a jury finds mitigators, fine. But if that is not important and it is actually left up to human emotion--it seems a waste of time and money to require a jury to make a sentencing decision. After all, for a judge to impose sentence they must go by what laws say they can impose; sometimes a judge might want to give a greater sentence than the maximum the law allows--sometimes lesser than what the law says is the minimum allowed. But their hands are tied and they have to sentence per guidelines.

Are we to believe that a jury has no guidelines to follow and that a sentence is wholly their choice?

But the court gives the jury options: guilty/not guilty, DP/Life, etc. The court considers the jury an integral part of the process, and in giving them options it in effect states that any decision they make will be considered just, and be justice served. It's the trial lawyers who present the facts, or just the argument, to sway them one way or the other. The court provides the environment, the facts, the argument, to render their decision, but the law is obliged to stand behind that decision.

 

[bsk]

I know Monday is a dark day for court but is the CoA open or the law library, clerk's office, etc. to obtain copies of the further instructions they are going to issue with regard to their decsion?

I expect it will be just a declaration and citation of the laws they used to come to their decision, but it might contain the name of the super-secret witness and there could be further orders to JSS to immediately provide transcripts since the Media has requested them.

I'm thinking about the previous videotape of the court hearing, when Mr. Bodney was arguing for his clients (Media) where JSS and Nurmi wanted him to name the specific topics, dates and testimony previously sealed identified for each request. Bodney stated he only knew of the one time but if there were more he would like access and couldn't name them as all had been secret. I am wondering if the CoA didn't make a concerted effort to outline where the boundaries are so we don't have any more confusion or waffeling back and forth.

Honestly, I think Nurmi knew this would not fly but took advantage of JSS's lack of experience in DP cases and pushed the limits. He got away with getting Jodi (at least we suspect it was her) to testify in secret for a few hours. I believe this was done to distance themselves as far as possible from the VIS and delay trial in hopes they will lose the jury (due to trial length) and result in a mistrial. I think Juan can call more VIS at the end of the trial - so I'm not sure if this tactic will help in the end.

Seriously, this 2 day a week trial has got to end in a quick hurry! I am sure the court system would bog down to a snail's pace if JSS were to continue to allow trials to only happen 2 days a week for any extended period of time.

I wonder if it will backfire on KN. Now that JSS has been given a smackdown by the COA will she stop putting up with some of his delaying BS?

 

[krkrjx]

That has been my theory from day one. I've read other opinions about it, but nothing else makes any sense to me.

It does make sense when considered it was done to call attention to herself in order to have an alibi for being far away from the crime scene. The only reservation I have is that it was not an alibi for the time of the crime. It was in fact enough time after the crime for her to travel from the crime scene to wherever it was in Utah that the cop stopped her. Alibi...maybe. Certainly not an airtight one. But it's hard to know what goes on in a brain like hers. Skewed thinking at times, no doubt.

 

[krkrjx]

I wonder if it will backfire on KN. Now that JSS has been given a smackdown by the COA will she stop putting up with some of his delaying BS?

I agree. If JSS has been doing some of the things she has been doing to ensure appeal will not be successful, she can ease up a bit now that this issue has been decided by the appeals court.

I would like to see her move this thing along now. It's time to have it over and done with and the killer tucked away in Perryville.

 

[Steely Dan]

In giving this more thought I want to say this. The MAIN thing sociopaths like Arias are good at is the fine art of manipulation. I dont mean to excuse anyone here really but to understand maybe a little better.
The men who murdered my sister walked in to her bank branch, having no money, her accounts frozen by the police already, no jobs, no green cards, no citizenship, the only "collateral" being the life insurance they hoped to get from killing her and that bank MANAGER gave them a $3000 loan. It was also my bank branch so I went in to confront him and he broke out in a cold sweat across from me in his own office and just said "I don't know why I did it". Oh that was after they came after HER estate for the loan. (dropped that which was really, as their customer, why I went in to confront the *@^#% out of him).
Those killers also conned Rolex watch sellers, Jaguar, BMW dealers, a custom home builder and realtor and several other women that they were rich bankers/prof tennis players/pilots etc etc. Usually savvy people conned in to their web.
They are masterful at getting normally smart people to do completely uncharacteristic things then scratch their heads later. Sadly neither Travis nor my sister had a later.

I've heard that psychopaths/sociopaths can pass lie detector tests because they have no ability for remorse.

I too think the upside down license plate could have been an accident. Maybe she switched the plates in the dark and didn't notice she was putting it on upside down? It doesn't make sense for it to be deliberate because as you say, it would be more likely to attract attention.

I do not recall how she discovered the upside down plate...did she happen to see it while sitting in a Starbucks, or was she stopped by a traffic cop at some point? I do not recall anything she claimed about the discovery other than she was in Starbucks and the teenage skateboarding gang armed with screwdrivers came along and messed with her plates. I remember her claim that after they removed it they left it lying on the ground propped up at just the right angle for her to notice it there.

So...does anyone recall if Killer discovered the plates upside down or if someone else mentioned it to her?

BBM

I think that's the most likely answer.

Can you imagine, mere hours after you committed a brutal murder seeing LE flashing lights in your rear view mirror? You or I would probably have a heart attack. I bet the killer wasn't even fazed.

Psychopaths are cool under pressure. Look at Ted Bundy.

That's interesting. I might consider it if anyone can come up with how that might conceal rather than scream "Look here!"

Did she think cameras on the road would not register her car passing by if it could not read the plate? Is that possible? And did that scenario ever show in a movie?

I just can't figure something that is likely to ATTRACT the interest of a traffic cop being used as a ploy to conceal. What am I missing?

Well she knew something about cameras and I'd have to think she'd know that would be really easy to solve. Just hold the picture upside down. JMO

 

[krkrjx]

Yep, Steely...I was just wondering about how traffic cams work and whether they read the numbers on a car's plate but if those numbers are upside down it can't read them. I am just guessing, and I admit not very well.

I just can't figure the upside down plates because one only needs an alibi for the time of an occurrence...not hours before or after. And does not really need one at all in an area with other people who can vouch for their whereabouts.

The only thing I can chalk this up to is either there is something weird about how traffic cams work that Arias knew about, or it was an accident in her haste to change the plates shortly after she was out of AZ. It might have been dark by then, enough that she didn't notice the mistake.

But if it was for an alibi maybe things didn't go as she thought they would and her "alibi" actually happened at a different time and place than she had intended. Because where it did happen does not compute, IMO.

 

[Steely Dan]

Yep, Steely...I was just wondering about how traffic cams work and whether they read the numbers on a car's plate but if those numbers are upside down it can't read them. I am just guessing, and I admit not very well.

I just can't figure the upside down plates because one only needs an alibi for the time of an occurrence...not hours before or after. And does not really need one at all in an area with other people who can vouch for their whereabouts.

The only thing I can chalk this up to is either there is something weird about how traffic cams work that Arias knew about, or it was an accident in her haste to change the plates shortly after she was out of AZ. It might have been dark by then, enough that she didn't notice the mistake.

But if it was for an alibi maybe things didn't go as she thought they would and her "alibi" actually happened at a different time and place than she had intended. Because where it did happen does not compute, IMO.

I agree with the mistake theory. JMO

 

[Shadowboy]

I know the absurdity of the # of sites found on TA's computer has been discussed here. But thought I would share this tweet from Trial Diaries:
https://twitter.com/DrCherylllP/status/538477245539434497

Cheryl Landedonmoon
‏@DrCherylllP
#Jodiarias MATH 4PORN. BN's claims 160,000 hits over a 6 month span = almost 900 a day. Average awake time is 1000 minutes per day #DTdone

I have not done the math (God forbid! Math!!!) to validate this observation/calculation.

My thought? TA left his computer on (and connected) 24/7. His laptop WAS found in "sleep" mode (basically 'on') when the Mesa PD gathered it as evidence. And, yes ... his roomies could have used it; JA could (well, did) use it (in Deanna's presence) ... and boy-howdee ... TA (gasp) might have liked viewing .

At any rate, I'm still bothered by the "lack" of sites/viruses found ... and the plethora that turned up in this latest hard drive investigation. Even JM now says TA's computer had viruses and malware. WTH?

Oh well, I guess we'll discover more on Dec 4th.