I agree Tuba. Patti W? refused to testify the first time around because of what JM was armed with to impeach her with. I'm trying to imagine what goes on in the minds of JA's Mother and other family members though. If they aren't willing to go out on a limb to save Jodi's life, that would mark me as a juror.
This is one example of how the defense strategy wasn't the best strategy, IMO.
Because they're claiming Arias "suffered both physical and emotional abuse as a child", her mother
can't testify. She'd have to lie, a lot - not something she's necessary able to do, and a red rag to a bull so far as Martinez is concerned. She'd be tossed out of the realms of credibility quicker than Nurmi can say "sidebar!" (One word he
can say fast.)
This is a big loss, because a mother's words ordinarily carry a lot of weight, and elicit a great deal of sympathy.
If they'd gone with the "crazy out of control" defense, Sandy Arias could have been truthful, and said "... yes, she's always been odd, and difficult and a handful, and even her friends would call and say she needs help, and maybe we should have done something, and I'll always regret that, because look at where we are today. But even so, she's still my daughter, and as a mother I can't help it that I still love her..."
IMO something like that would have a powerful impact.
What we have instead is a family that's either willfully lying by supporting this abuse defense, or desperately trying to make themselves believe it, as the only way to make sense of what their own daughter has done. Either way, it rules them out as useful or credible witnesses.
