Verdict is in! GUILTY of MURDER ONE - Hung Jury On Penalty Phase

[K_Z]

I don't want this to come across as an insult or anything. It is not meant that way.

This is MOO. When I saw the jury getting on the bus after the verdict I was stunned to see the age demographics. To me they looked like they were getting on a seniors casino weekend bus. Honestly, that was my first thought and my second was that may have been part of the problem there. That generation may not "get" how relationships are these days or how people text each other. They may have looked at Jodi as somebody who could be their daughter.

Your comment about demographics is correct as it pertains to high profile/ long trials. The pool of "available" jurors to sit on a jury in excess of months means that the pool often contains a disproportionate percentage of retired people, and unemployed people, or people employed in non-traditional settings (self employed in the home, seasonal workers, etc). Almost no employer will pay wages for a traditional employee to sit on a jury for more than a week or 2, and we all know jurors are seldom paid more than $20/ day in any state.

So the demographics of the pool of jurors become ever more skewed as jury selection proceeds, and younger people with younger children are excused, and people with jobs who cannot forego their income for months on end. Or professionals (such as medical professionals) who simply cannot be away from their jobs and patients for weeks on end. This skews the demographics of the age range. If a trial is projected to be 2 weeks or less, the demographics of the jury more closely mirror the general population in the county.

This is one area, IMO, that jury reforms could make changes. BUT-- it would cost $$ to do that. IMO, a juror should be able to be paid at least 80% of the average of their last 3 months' income during their service. That would be an incentive for more to serve, and not try to "get out of" jury duty. But who would pay for this? Employers? We can't force them to do that. The state? Maybe, if there was enough will of the people to be taxed. We will pay millions to try the accused, but pay almost nothing to the jurors whose lives are interrupted for weeks to months on end.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents!

 

[mollyf]

Exactly. Put her hands on her shoulders and asked the jurors not to kill her
That was her job and she succeeded.

Yes, that's true, as much as I hate it.

I think IF the phase is retried she will get death. But I'm not sure it will be
If they offer her a plea to LWOP with no appeals
If the family for some reason decides they cannot go through another month or two of Jodiland and give their ok for LWOP
If the County Atty decides its not worth spending any more resources on securing a death verdict considering the 8-4 split.

I will have no trouble accepting any of those, especially the reason I bolded. I'm not really as bloodthirsty as I sound in my anger and frustration. I want the Alexander family to feel like their voices are being heard and that our justice system is working for them.

 

[Litigatrix]

The jury foreperson is usually a strong-minded individual...but some of the statements that he made seem to show that he was rigid in his opinions and may have leaned on some of the less sure jurors...."We couldn't allow ourselves" "My jurors""It had to"...I have mixed emotions about it I guess, because that's the purpose of deliberations, but him speaking in absolutes just rubs me the wrong way. What do you think? BBM...

"But we couldn't allow ourselves to be emotional and for that I am very proud of my jurors, they did a fantastic job of holding it together - though it was a different story when we got into the jury room. Speaking about Travis Alexander, he said: 'I am very sure in my own mind that Jodi was mentally and verbally abusedby him (not by Mr. Alexander..by "him") . Is that an excuse? Of course not. Did it factor into the decision we made? It has to."

 

[oyeyemi808]

And you know what? I think I have another love but I don't know his name? Not Joey Jackson, not Vinnie, but he's an African American man on that stupid After Dark crap.

Ryan Smith.

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[Linda7NJ]

I don't know why this juror was chosen as the foreperson -- it would be nice to know more about the process of choosing one. Does one volunteer? Do they take a vote?

They decide the way one is chosen. In my experience they volunteer


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[rose222]

I don't think the Judge will allow Nurmi and Willmott to quit at this point.

The State wants another trial.

The Defense can try to delay but I doubt they'll succeed. Expect to see the Judge be stern and firm. I'm sure she has had enough. It's in the interest of a 'fair and impartial trial' to get this thing done and over with ASAP.

 

[nawd68]

Ryan Smith.

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I love Ryan Smith too! He's a hottie.

 

[moonshyne]

I'm also surprised that this juror who spoke on gma thought Jodi was verbally and mentally abused. I wish he would have provided specific examples of WHY he thought that because nowhere can I see that Jodi was ever a victim of abuse in any way, shape or form. Yet this juror had "no question" that she was. Disturbing to say the least.

The fact there were several holdouts is also alarming. I honestly thought there would be just one. One who somehow fell for the con that is Jodi and her DT. I thought the other 11 would see straight through it but I guess I was wrong in assuming that. I would love to hear the 4 holdouts explain how they thought her non-existent mitigators were enough to cancel out the huge aggravators in this case.

The only thing that should reassure us is that Juan will not let justice be denied. I think he will work harder then ever to seat a new jury and one who will make the right choice. There are men on death row who's crimes were not as heinous as Jodi's. I think people-men-have a harder time condemning a women. Maybe one of the questions should be "would you have a problem giving the DP to a woman?"

At least Jodi is locked up 23 hours a day, no media tours and no jailhouse groupies to feed her ego. July 18th is my birthday and this year I want just one thing for my birthday--Justice for Travis to be completed! I'm grateful that the jury got the main verdict right but the family needs closure on this. I hope they find some solace knowing the monster is convicted and locked up. Still, my heart breaks for them because I'm sure they thought that this would be "it" like we all did and instead it drags on. I wanted them to be able to spend the summer healing, being together and putting Jodi behind them. Now they will spend it still having to look at Jodi and that really sucks. I hope the next jury deliberates for no more then 20 minutes and gives her the DP.

 

[kscornfed]

Problem is people and the media feed into JA's narcissistic and manipulative personality.

Watching her in court all frail with her ugly Betty look and minutes later given an interview with her hair down, no glasses, smiling with makeup on. It was disturbing and sickening, yet it worked for her in that courtroom.

some think this is a minor point, but to me, it's big. i really think you should appear in court the way you were when the crime you're charged with was committed. i think this practice is manipulative and dishonest and misleading.

 

[pip]

With only 3 women on death row in AZ and the last woman executed in 1930, I would have been completely surprised if all 12 had voted for the DP. I am aggravated they couldn't bring this to a close, but rationally I am not surprised at all. Chances are so slim that 12 jurors would vote for death for a woman. If it had not been on the table she would have been given LWOP in 1 hour of deliberations.
Women on death row in the US makes up about 2% of all current death row inmates.

 

[peedoffinny]

In my opinion, I think the BPD diagnosis is what stave off the DP. I wish that it was explained better or that the word 'psychopath' was used. To me, during the trial, it almost sounded like a mental illness and that Jodi wasn't fully responsible because of it. We had the opportunity to talk about BPD and research it - the jury didn't. Too bad Juan or Dr. Demarte couldn't clearly spell out the traits of BPD and explain how it pertained to KA, or give names of other infamous people w/ BPD so the jury could get a nice clear picture of that thing they watched for 5 months. (self centered, destructive, evil, not curable, etc.)

 

[TexMex]

I won't go so far as to agree Wilmott's closing was good - she "guilted" the jury, put blood on their hands because the little murderer is nothing more than a bloody slaughtering murderer. However, after watching the Rose Colored Glasses video, I suspect if LWOP is the end result, the little murderer will be cursing Wilmott every day for the rest of her life.

Yep. In her allocution she mentioned a different prison than Perryville...
Did she really not know where she'd be going?
Had she not talked to women in the jail who had served time in prison?
She admits in one interview that she didn't know what kind of opportunities to serve others/participate in programs would be available
Did she just make all of that up to manipulate the jurors? Make them think her life would be days of book clubs, Spanish classes, recycling etc.
Perryville sounds brutal.

 

[neesaki]

Thank God HLN is "remembering Travis" with clips of everything his friends said about him.

In spite of the HLN criticisms, I actually have found them quite impressive. Their people are really good for the most part, Mike Galanos, Vinnie Politan, Ryan Smith, Nancy Grace, in particular seem very passionate and sincere and to believe in what they're doing.
I especially like watching Mike, Vinnie, and Ryan, ooh la la ...:giggle:

 

[KMouse]

i'm not going to get into the age debate again, although it still rubs me the wrong way since i'm 64.

AZ is FULL of older people. when my friend moved there at 55, all the women in the neighborhood thought she was a threat to their marriages because she was so young! LOL. they would barely speak to her for a long time.

but i STILL maintain that us antiques have lived life and have learned things those in their 40's have yet to learn. we've seen the world change in miraculous ways----i remember getting our FIRST tv!! we're not stupid and we're not out of touch with what's going on in the world.

i know you didn't mean that as an insult---i get it. but i felt i had to respond to it.

I will disagree on part of what you said. I am a prime example of losing touch with technology. I am also out of touch to a point with how the generation after me views relationships etc. Just last night my oldest was texting somebody. I asked her who and she said some boy's name. Back in my day, boys called the house.

I got a new phone. Took me a week to figure out how to answer it. I had to get my teenager to figure some stuff out for me. I do get how people do not communicate by telephone anymore but text, Twitter, and Facebook inbox more.

I'm not saying anybody is stupid. I am saying that times have changed and it is hard to keep up and there are big differences in the way the different generations operate. It's all that Gen X, Y, etc stuff.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I'm also surprised that this juror who spoke on gma thought Jodi was verbally and mentally abused. I wish he would have provided specific examples of WHY he thought that because nowhere can I see that Jodi was ever a victim of abuse in any way, shape or form. Yet this juror had "no question" that she was. Disturbing to say the least.

The fact there were several holdouts is also alarming. I honestly thought there would be just one. One who somehow fell for the con that is Jodi and her DT. I thought the other 11 would see straight through it but I guess I was wrong in assuming that. I would love to hear the 4 holdouts explain how they thought her non-existent mitigators were enough to cancel out the huge aggravators in this case.

The only thing that should reassure us is that Juan will not let justice be denied. I think he will work harder then ever to seat a new jury and one who will make the right choice. There are men on death row who's crimes were not as heinous as Jodi's. I think people-men-have a harder time condemning a women. Maybe one of the questions should be "would you have a problem giving the DP to a woman?"

At least Jodi is locked up 23 hours a day, no media tours and no jailhouse groupies to feed her ego. July 18th is my birthday and this year I want just one thing for my birthday--Justice for Travis to be completed! I'm grateful that the jury got the main verdict right but the family needs closure on this. I hope they find some solace knowing the monster is convicted and locked up. Still, my heart breaks for them because I'm sure they thought that this would be "it" like we all did and instead it drags on. I wanted them to be able to spend the summer healing, being together and putting Jodi behind them. Now they will spend it still having to look at Jodi and that really sucks. I hope the next jury deliberates for no more then 20 minutes and gives her the DP.

It could be simply he was raised to believe its wrong to ever speak to a woman that way, and it's abusive.

We have no way of knowing unless he talks more.


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[BetteDavisEyes]

The jury foreperson is usually a strong-minded individual...but some of the statements that he made seem to show that he was rigid in his opinions and may have leaned on some of the less sure jurors...."We couldn't allow ourselves" "My jurors""It had to"...I have mixed emotions about it I guess, because that's the purpose of deliberations, but him speaking in absolutes just rubs me the wrong way. What do you think? BBM...

"But we couldn't allow ourselves to be emotional and for that I am very proud of my jurors, they did a fantastic job of holding it together - though it was a different story when we got into the jury room. Speaking about Travis Alexander, he said: 'I am very sure in my own mind that Jodi was mentally and verbally abusedby him (not by Mr. Alexander..by "him") . Is that an excuse? Of course not. Did it factor into the decision we made? It has to."

I posted a short time ago that I would like to know how the foreman was selected. Sounds to me like this guy was jockeying for the position throughout the trial. Based on personal experience, I know that a jury foreperson can have an impact on the rest of the panel - sometimes positive, sometimes not. :moo:

 

[Ransom]

So this foreman was #18 or #4?
Sorry, I probably missed it.

I also want to say I'm grateful I had you guys to vent and laugh with thus far into this trial.

Foreman was what we called The Artist = #18

 

[MidwestMama]

i'm not going to get into the age debate again, although it still rubs me the wrong way since i'm 64.

AZ is FULL of older people. when my friend moved there at 55, all the women in the neighborhood thought she was a threat to their marriages because she was so young! LOL. they would barely speak to her for a long time.

but i STILL maintain that us antiques have lived life and have learned things those in their 40's have yet to learn. we've seen the world change in miraculous ways----i remember getting our FIRST tv!! we're not stupid and we're not out of touch with what's going on in the world.

i know you didn't mean that as an insult---i get it. but i felt i had to respond to it.

I agree.
I have children aged 27 - 31. I think they would find her guilty but would be much more likely to feel like "Oh, she is so young. She has so much life left to live. She can be rehabilitated. We should give her a chance."
Where my husband and I have seen more and lived more experiences. We have seen true evil in the world before and have seen the devastation it causes for others. We both would say there people who cannot be rehabilitated and the world needs to be protected from them. JMHO.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I posted a short time ago that I would like to know how the foreman was selected. Sounds to me like this guy was jockeying for the position throughout the trial. :moo:

I answered you somewhere up thread


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[dog.gone.cute]

OH, that is very interesting...

I think there needs to be some investigation done on this issue.
(I am REALLY biting my tongue so I don't post exactly how I feel and earn a TO)

OMG ... that is interesting !

:seeya: I have one word : hinky !

:moo: