Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - 12/3 -12/04 In recess w/hearing

[katiecoolady]

It's pretty rich isn't it, given that it's coming from a person who knows exactly what everyone she refused to interview (or in one case couldn't interview since her client murdered him) was thinking at any given point in time?

I want to say so many things and every single one of them is against the TOS here.

 

[garthmax]

If I received a rant telling me that I was the worse thing that ever happened to them, I think I would either have asked what I did wrong or I would already know. CMJA knows....The sexpert probably told CMJA don't tell me what the rant was about, that way I can't testify to the reasons you were the worse thing for him.

 

[katiecoolady]

She's a person first and a judge second.

By all accounts she was well respected and considered fair and knowledgeable going into this trial. She seemed to have plenty of confidence all the way through the first trial.

I think AZL had it right awhile ago that she started down a path towards here when she began agreeing with Nurmi about the perils of media and witness intimidation. One step then another then swoosh , down the rabbit hole when she agreed to evict the media.

The very public smackdown from the COA must have been humiliating for her. And more. She has tried so hard to avoid giving grounds for a successful appeal, and before the retrial is even over her judgement has been called into question by the COA.

She looked so defeated and exhausted when court first reconvened afterwards. I don't think she's scared. I think she might be paralyzed because of self-doubt and the prospect of losing her seat on the bench come next election.

She needs a coach right now.

And a beauty consultant to get her to kill the stage makeup. Sorry just had to.

 

[katiecoolady]

If I received a rant telling me that I was the worse thing that ever happened to them, I think I would either have asked what I did wrong or I would already know. CMJA knows....The sexpert probably told CMJA don't tell me what the rant was about, that way I can't testify to the reasons you were the worse thing for him.

dingdingding

C H O R E O G R A P H Y

 

[Becky Sharp]

Re BBM

I was astounded too that JSS did not make any attempts to stop the witness from saying some of the unacceptable things she was saying about Juan. And then when she started to give jury instructions to them....WOW.

One of the biggest things that bothers me is JSS shows no compassion for the jury's time and service as she allows all these delays. Unless we are missing tweets about it, we have not ever heard JSS apologize to the jurors for any of the delays or even thank them daily for their time and effort.

It seems she just tosses the jury around like she owns them and it just does not seem right. There have been other cases I have watched where the judge was very cognizant of the juries service to the court and the judge thanked them almost daily and would apologize to them for things that happened that were not of the norm.
In this trial, that sort of thing seems lacking.

But, but, but . . . isn't jury duty part of being a citizen in a democracy?

I get where you are coming from, Hatfield. I really do. And I'm not trying to minimize your anger or disgust. Believe me, I feel those emotions, too--very strongly. But I'm often dismayed here on WS with all the Monday-morning quarterbacking and all the voices that say "just kill her, already."

We are rightly appalled by the crime and also rightly appalled by the murderer's obvious lack of guilt, remorse, or even basic shame for her heinous crime. But I think that we would also be appalled by a vigilante mob-mentality.

Democracy is difficult and even inefficient and time-consuming at times. But I shudder at an "efficient" justice system.

 

[janx]

Thanks here's a jury question and answer I find particularly appalling:

Q: If Jodi saw Travis looking at child would it change their relationship?

A: Yes. yes it would change. It's like finding your husband cross-dressing.

I think the better analogy would be It's like finding your husband molesting a little boy. After all that's almost what CMJA saw, right? I don't put cross dressing in the same area code as a child molestation. It's actually offensive to use that as an analogy.

It was a horrible analogy, especially given her area of expertise.

 

[bsk]

Thanks here's a jury question and answer I find particularly appalling:

Q: If Jodi saw Travis looking at child would it change their relationship?

A: Yes. yes it would change. It's like finding your husband cross-dressing.

I think the better analogy would be It's like finding your husband molesting a little boy. After all that's almost what CMJA saw, right? I don't put cross dressing in the same area code as a child molestation. It's actually offensive to use that as an analogy.

For the late-comers, we had some discussion about that and the other jury questions here. You could read almost all of them as pointing in either direction. The positive version of this one goes to something Juan hinted at in cross after questions. Dr F's argument is that Travis is a pedophile who likes young boys, so he gets off on sex with a surgically enhanced woman instead, but gets her to make herself look like a young girl. It all adds up to a whole lot of carp. He'd have to be the most well-rounded pedophile who ever lived. And while Dr F says it would change their relationship, it did not. So no matter what she's wrong about something - might as well believe she's wrong about everything she testified to.

 

[Becky Sharp]

Monica states "if the witnesses refuse to comply with a subpoena then the defense's motion to remove death has merit and will become much stronger".

http://ktar.com/305/1787926/Legally-Speaking-Dismissing-death-for-Jodi-Arias-could-be-a-reality

I guess Pros is SOL and swimming upstream according to Monica.

Oh, Monica, Monica, Monica.

 

[LinasK]

Thats probably it.

One thing that really irks me about what the DT is doing is they are bringing in all kinds of testimony that IMO has absolutely nothing to do with what is supposed to be mitigating factors for the sentencing phase. They are basically bringing up all the same testimony about Travis being a bad person that we already heard during the guilt phase.

AZlawyer warned us that this would happen although I think Juan has made many good objections and they seem to get ignored by JSS. I cant remember the type of objection Juan keeps trying to use but it relates to "no basis" or "no context" or something like that.
When I see the tweets about Juan's objection, I keep saying to myself....Yes please JSS grant Juan some of these valid objections so that we can stop some of this nonsense testimony. So long as they are valid objections, they should be granted. I honestly think JSS is so afraid of her role that she is giving the DT way too much leeway in this trial and it is at least one of the causes of why we keep going down rabbit holes and this trial taking so long.

It is very noticeable when the witness + DT discussions get so bizarre and so far off track on sex, sex of other people even like Deanna, and just sheer nonsense testimony.
If some of Juans objections were granted I think it would help speed things along.

Jodi is running this defense. Much of what's being brought up is what Jodi either promised- to drag Travis through the mud(pedo allegations)- or stuff she previously complained about in writing, like Deanna supposedly lying. That bugs Jodi- any other women in his life before her or the promise of after her-like Lisa, whom she wrote a letter calling her a , or Mimi, who might have gotten to go to Cancun. She held a woman hostage in a bathroom at a convention that she thought showed an interest in Travis.

 

[katiecoolady]

Some people (like my father) if given the opportunity to ask a question of anybody about anything, they will just ask a question. I think it's good jurors are delving in to it to feel they've given each witness a good going over themselves. I can't imagine an intelligent thorough jury would refuse to deliberate like the foreperson in the last trial. I think smart jurors will carry this sentence to it's one logical conclusion.

 

[JSR]

If I received a rant telling me that I was the worse thing that ever happened to them, I think I would either have asked what I did wrong or I would already know. CMJA knows....The sexpert probably told CMJA don't tell me what the rant was about, that way I can't testify to the reasons you were the worse thing for him.

I don't think she had to bother telling that to JA. Jodi NEVER would have told the truth about what really sparked that rant. She will take that to the grave because that tidbit, I believe, indicates just how sick and twisted she really is.
Personally I think she told Travis that she recorded their phone sex conversations and planned to use it against him. But I have no proof of that.

 

[katiecoolady]

It was a horrible analogy, especially given her area of expertise.

How many people can this nitwitne$$ offend? She likely champions for the rights of cross dressers to express themselves and find their corner of the world unjudged and she just compared them to pedophiles.

&$^@!O*# I'm trying so hard to keep my language appropriate but I'm saying other words on the inside.

 

[janx]

She's a person first and a judge second.

By all accounts she was well respected and considered fair and knowledgeable going into this trial. She seemed to have plenty of confidence all the way through the first trial.

I think AZL had it right awhile ago that she started down a path towards here when she began agreeing with Nurmi about the perils of media and witness intimidation. One step then another then swoosh , down the rabbit hole when she agreed to evict the media.

The very public smackdown from the COA must have been humiliating for her. And more. She has tried so hard to avoid giving grounds for a successful appeal, and before the retrial is even over her judgement has been called into question by the COA.

She looked so defeated and exhausted when court first reconvened afterwards. I don't think she's scared. I think she might be paralyzed because of self-doubt and the prospect of losing her seat on the bench come next election.

Wow, I hadn't even considered that. That decision is going to follow her! :scared:

 

[Steely Dan]

Thank you. I wear my husband's stuff all the time!

:giggle:

It was a horrible analogy, especially given her area of expertise.

She has an area of expertise? :waitasec:

 

[cindymac]

The basis should be stated openly, in one or two words. If that's enough for the judge to rule, and 80% of the time it is, then there is no need for a sidebar. If not, a sidebar (ON THE RECORD AND WITH THE TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE) is a reasonable way for the judge and lawyers to be able to discuss the proposed (possibly inadmissible) evidence without revealing to the jury exactly what the evidence is.

Thank you SO much AZLawyer.

I did an ETA but I think you missed it - as I realized I'd greedily leapt in with my question(!) - just to say sorry you had a crisis today, but imagine you overcame all.

It's wonderful to read everything you have to say - really adds a whole extra dimension to the trial.

 

[JSR]

Jodi is running this defense. Much of what's being brought up is what Jodi either promised- to drag Travis through the mud(pedo allegations)- or stuff she previously complained about in writing, like Deanna supposedly lying. That bugs Jodi- any other women in his life before her or the promise of after her-like Lisa, whom she wrote a letter calling her a , or Mimi, who might have gotten to go to Cancun. She held a woman hostage in a bathroom at a convention that she thought showed an interest in Travis.

That's right I forgot about the bathroom lady. God Jodi really was a total nutcase about Travis.

 

[LinasK]

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.

It's Jodi's strategy, and sure enough, after reading Jose Baez's book, she's now trying Casey Anthony's strategy of throw your dad under the bus by claiming he sexually abused you! (I'm positive that's what her secret testimony was). She probably believes that's why Casey got off!!!

 

[katiecoolady]

That's right I forgot about the bathroom lady. God Jodi really was a total nutcase about Travis.

I'm pretty sure that was Clancy Talbot who I've met many times. She had to threaten Jodi as she also has long platinum hair. Blech

 

[Becky Sharp]

Come on up, I've got lots of great booze!

Heh, heh, Steely! Nash and I live in the same town, where it's already really friggin' cold (--btw: Hi Nash!! :loveyou: ). So of course we have lots of blood-warming booze!

 

[bsk]

:giggle:



She has an area of expertise? :waitasec:

Delivering jury instructions, dodging even the easiest of questions, admonishing attorneys, researching evidence in cases outside the scope of what she was given to review, forgetting notes, failing to understand how time zones work ... she has lots of skills that most of us could never achieve.