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

[MeeBee]

Whoa! So the public (including the media) have every right to be in that courtroom, regardless of who is testifying?

I don't know if they're saying that...but there probably just wasn't a good enough reason to bar the public in this trial, and especially because it is the defendant testifying.

 

[Nali87]

@ericksonvision: Just saw the Court of Appeals order vacating Judge Stephens' order to hold "secret" testimony. Score one for the First Amendment! #JodiArias

@ericksonvision: The Court of Appeals ruling also heavily implies that, yes, #JodiArias was the "secret" witness we weren't allowed to see.

@ericksonvision: I love the smell of the Constitution in the morning, it smells like victory.

WOOHOO! I hope this sends a message to Judge Stephens and she stops having all these secret meetings and sidebars as well. And I hope that the secret witness wasn't Jodi Arias because that would result in me losing all respect for JSS. What reason could have there possibly been to allow Jodi Arias to testify behind closed doors?

 

[Prime Mover]

@ericksonvision: Just saw the Court of Appeals order vacating Judge Stephens' order to hold "secret" testimony. Score one for the First Amendment! #JodiArias

@ericksonvision: The Court of Appeals ruling also heavily implies that, yes, #JodiArias was the "secret" witness we weren't allowed to see.

@ericksonvision: I love the smell of the Constitution in the morning, it smells like victory.

A couple of quick questions:

How many days was the secret witness on the stand? I assume we do NOT know if Juan started/finished his cross of this witness? If not and it is JA, I assume we will eventually see Juan cross JA again, correct?

 

[janx]

I really want to read this ruling...!

 

[Nali87]

A couple of quick questions:

How many days was the secret witness on the stand? I assume we do NOT know if Juan started/finished his cross of this witness? If not and it is JA, I assume we will see Juan cross JA again, correct?

I think that he won't repeat questions he's already asked - that's what transcripts are for. But we know whoever was testifying didn't finish. If it was still on direct/cross - then the witness will continue where she or he left of. But of course, I'm just guessing here!

 

[Prime Mover]

I think that he won't repeat questions he's already asked - that's what transcripts are for. But we know whoever was testifying didn't finish. If it was still on direct/cross - then the witness will continue where she or he left of. But of course, I'm just guessing here!

I understand that he would not be repeating questions already asked. I just hope he either just started cross or has not even started cross yet so we can read about and eventually watch him cross JA again.

 

[Nali87]

I understand that he would not be repeating questions already asked. I just hope he either just started cross or has not even started cross yet so we can read about and eventually watch him cross JA again.

Oh I misunderstood. If it truly is Jodi, then I think she's still on direct. Blah blah blah'ing with no end in sight.

 

[MeeBee]

@ericksonvision: I must clarify the WRITTEN order from COA hasn't been released. What I saw was correspondence from COA to my sources outlining their ruling

@ericksonvision: Check that. I now DO possess a copy of the order.

 

[MeeBee]

A couple of quick questions:

How many days was the secret witness on the stand? I assume we do NOT know if Juan started/finished his cross of this witness? If not and it is JA, I assume we will eventually see Juan cross JA again, correct?

She was only up for a couple days, so she's probably still on direct and Troy Hayden reported she stopped short of meeting Travis in her story. The blazer was probably a hint. The jury is probably confused as hell.

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@ericksonvision: It is ordered "the court grants relief by vacating the superior court’s order of 10/30/14 closing the courtroom to the public and press...

@ericksonvision: "...during any testimony by Jodi Arias"

 

[wenwe4]

So I am truly confused!

How is it that Jodi was allowed to testify in secret? The "only" thing I can think of is that she testified to child sexual abuse (for herself) - but even then it would not meet the requirement of closing the courtroom and JSS knows this.

She may have gotten away with twisting JSS arm for a bit - but she will not get a way with murder!

 

[wenwe4]

We can watch for the COA decision here
http://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/aacc/1ca/1capartyindex.htm
The case is 1 CA-SA 14-0213, or you can just go down the list and look for the name Arias.

Here's the current PDF, no news yet
http://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/aacc/appella/1CA\SA\SA140213.pdf

Reposting this for the links!

 

[MeeBee]

So I am truly confused!

How is it that Jodi was allowed to testify in secret? The "only" thing I can think of is that she testified to child sexual abuse (for herself) - but even then it would not meet the requirement of closing the courtroom and JSS knows this.

She may have gotten away with twisting JSS arm for a bit - but she will not get a way with murder!

There's no good reason. She's in prison so what does she have to be afraid of? It does seem she also said her family needed protection (classic Jodi, playing the family card when it suits her), which doesn't really compute.

 

[Hatfield]

Woohooo.

It sounds to me that an order was given to stop having secret testimony. So my guess is this may be rather simple now.
It may be similar to what JSS tried to do the other week with trying to get Nurmi to continue with his witnesses and he claimed he didnt want to go out of order but eventually he did go out of order until this ruling came down.

Now with the COA ruling in hand, JSS should just tell Nurmi to continue with whatever witnesses he wants including JA if he wants to. If either Nurmi or JA elects not to testify in front of the public, then that is their choice. They can complain all they want but ruling is given and all parties need to abide with ruling.

Nurmi can appeal all he wants after sentencing phase is over.

 

[CarolinaMoon]

@ericksonvision: Just saw the Court of Appeals order vacating Judge Stephens' order to hold "secret" testimony. Score one for the First Amendment! #JodiArias

@ericksonvision: The Court of Appeals ruling also heavily implies that, yes, #JodiArias was the "secret" witness we weren't allowed to see.

@ericksonvision: I love the smell of the Constitution in the morning, it smells like victory.

:fireworks::fireworks::fireworks::fireworks:

Yippee! Sorry (not) for the loss, Nurmi.

 

[Nali87]

The only reason I can think of is Jodi Arias getting to claim her dad and mom abused her without that information coming out to hinder the mom and dad fundraising activities.

 

[TorisMom003]

Whatever witness was on the stand "in secret" now has to get back on the stand for cross publicly. There is no way that the witness can say no to returning to the stand now. If it was JA, Juan will be allowed to do the cross of what she had already testified to. Is all of that correct AZLawyer?

 

[wenwe4]

I can't copy & paste tweets but here is Dave Erickson's recent tweets:

"It is ordered "the court grants relief by vacating the superior court's order of 10/30/14 and closing the courtroom to the public and press...
".....during any testimony by Jodi Arias".

"OK gang, there's my gift to you on this Thanksgiving eve. Have a great Turkey Day"

 

[rose222]

@ericksonvision: Just saw the Court of Appeals order vacating Judge Stephens' order to hold "secret" testimony. Score one for the First Amendment! #JodiArias

@ericksonvision: The Court of Appeals ruling also heavily implies that, yes, #JodiArias was the "secret" witness we weren't allowed to see.

@ericksonvision: I love the smell of the Constitution in the morning, it smells like victory.

This is great news! Thanks to David Bodney who so eloquently said "Darkness looms in this case unless the court steps in and enforces the first amendment rights of the press and public."


So, 'open the courtroom doors' and let us hear what this most secret (not anymore, ha!) witness has to say!

 

[Nali87]

I can't copy & paste tweets but here is Dave Erickson's recent tweets:

"It is ordered "the court grants relief by vacating the superior court's order of 10/30/14 and closing the courtroom to the public and press...
".....during any testimony by Jodi Arias".

"OK gang, there's my gift to you on this Thanksgiving eve. Have a great Turkey Day"

Did JSS lose her mind!? What's this catering to Jodi's demands? Seriously, until I read it in the order, part of me still won't believe it.. Because what reason could have there been that justifies such secrecy!?

 

[Bernina]

Thank you so much for answering Bernina!

I agree with you that JA probably thought Travis was a big fish in a little pond. I think Jodi thought she could blackmail Travis with proof of their sexual escapades (audio/video/pics) by trying to force further sanctions on him by the church. If he was already working toward obtaining his temple recommend for having sex or fornication with Deanna, and Jodi outed him with further evidence that he hadn't given up that behavior but was purported to be "repentant" - this might have some further sanctions on him with the church.

You stated no one would know if he were excommunciated but also stated usually excommincation is "announced" in Priesthood meetings - then all of the male members of his singles ward would know. Travis' friends already knew he had lost temple recommend - I imagine that if that wasn't announced in Priesthood meeting - Travis had to tell his friends because he could not go do temple work with them. He couldn't attend temple weddings of his friends, so people would know (although not masses). To Jodi this wouldn't matter, she would be the one who would accept him unconditionally (giving her an edge over good Mormon wife prospects?)

I'm not sure that the Church would seek to excommunicate him, but I do believe he was fearful of being outed by Jodi for continuing sexual behaviors with her while already in trouble for same with Deanna. JMO but I think this could be the very thing that he felt was most evil of Jodi - to out him. To force him to lose his faith and make sure that no other good upstanding LDS girl would want to marry him knowing they would have to wait for him (years?) to be able to earn the priviledge of temple recommend. If excommunicated - he would have to start over, be rebaptised, and go through steps to achieve Priesthood holder (not sure if he could skip Aaronic and go to Melchizedek due to age and morality issues) and then obtain his temple recommend.

To be fair, Jodi was a regular LDS member but Travis was a member and still had retained his Priesthood status (which is a step up IIRC).

This entire retrial has been all about what Jodi wants put out to the pubic. She wanted the allegations of pedophile, allegations of porn, and I think she got Dr MF to say that Travis should have known better about the Law of Chastity as she was just a "convert" and he was a (nearly) lifetime church member/Priesthood holder/former temple recommend holder. Jodi held "Proof" that Travis again broke his "covenent with God". She has always had this underlying theme of sex and religion while trying to point out the hypocracy of Travis' ways but takes no responsiblity for her own behaviors!

Again, thank you so very much. I really do appreciate your voice here!

Just going to add this to the "Not Public" as far as excommunication. It may become public to members of the Ward NOT in the Priesthood meeting, but to the "Public at Large", who would really care?

TA didn't do anything to be even vaguely skirting the grounds for excommunication. Sex before marriage, sexual activity, masturbation.......if those were ex-communicable offenses, the LDS church's numbers would plummet.

With the male dominated attitude in the church, had this relationship NOT ended in murder and CMJA brought her "blackmail" or whatever she wanted to call it, forward and out in the open, SHE would have been on the hot seat. That's how it works. Eve tempted Adam. Women are sinful.

I demanded excommunication from the LDS church when I was 21, not for sins, but for non-belief. I'd be a hypocrite saying I was Mormon when I didn't believe any of it. The process took 6 months because of my family's name and prominence in the Church, both locally and in the Salt Lake area. When my youngest brother did the same 8 years later, he lived in a different area, unknown to members of the Church and it took just a few weeks.

It's all about numbers. And like you wrote, there IS repentance after excommunication if you want to get back into the good graces of the Church.

Honestly, all of this LDS stuff doesn't amount to a hill of beans in this trial. CMJA didn't murder TA because he was LDS, because he had sinned, wasn't virtuous, hung out with LDS women, because he baptized her, etc., etc., etc.

CMJA murdered TA because he rejected her, and had moved on. In her twisted mind, it justified his demise by her hands. She's all about control. Her twisted World, her twisted Rules. Everything else is just mud slinging to see what "sticks".