BBM
Thank you for giving me a jumping-off point to say what I've been thinking!
In Nurmi's latest motion to dismiss the death penalty, he pretty much said that, without "secret" witnesses, he would be unable to present mitigation. In his not-so-humble opinion, that goes against case law that says that cases had been overturned due to the inability of the defense to present mitigation.
Juan so brilliantly gave the actual case law Nurmi mentioned. In every one of those cases, the lack of mitigation came from the COURT not allowing certain testimony. Ie., the defense wanted to prove mitigation through certain facts, certain witnesses and were not allowed to do so by the judge.
This is not the case here. Nurmi is using these cases to cloak his "witnesses" in anonymity. He refuses, as in the first penalty phase, to put witnesses on the stand. When there was a hung jury, he had to take it to a higher level. In none of the cases cited by both parties (mainly Juan), the defense was blocked from presenting mitigation. Nurmi/Arias are personally blocking their own witnesses from testifying.
Say what you will about JSS, I can't imagine she will drop the DP. If she does, I'll totally join those who have totally given up on her.
I am of two minds as to what's going on with those 3 witnesses. Part of me says that Nurmi doesn't really want them to testify at all, and never did. He knows that Juan will destruct them totally on the stand.
The other part of me says that Nurmi would present these witnesses in total secrecy so that the public has no knowledge of what they said and hear how Juan destructed their testimony.
We've only seen ONE witness for the defense as of now. Dr. F did not account for ANY of the mitigation factors listed by the defense. Let's hope that, in deliberations, the jury posts that list writ large on the wall and goes through them to see how many the defense has proven.
As for Juan, I think he is loving the Dr.'s demeanor on the stand with him. I think he is relishing this moment before the jury. Plus, when he's finished for the day, I can imagine him adding a paragraph or ten to his closing trashing her testiphoney. That's when it will really count.