Probably unresolvable: Arias told the public post-verdict that she would prefer to be sentenced to death rather than live the rest of her long life "in one place". (And it ain't Shangri-La.) Rather swiftly, she was transformed by visits from relatives who urged her to go on living; she would now go on living "for them". So my question is, "How much does it take to satisfy 'them'?" If this fight for life, this battle she has engaged with the prosecution, is waged on behalf of relatives' pleas, when is it time to say I've done what I could? To me, it smacks of powerful, driven self-preservation instead. Like what she felt the time she accidently nicked herself & changed her mind about slitting her wrists. I think she will stop at nothing to avoid the death penalty, even if she has to run through 12 attorney's and 45 appeals, and even if her relatives, pacified, say don't knock yourself out. No, it is exacting death upon someone else where she means business & demonstrates follow through.
Tuba, I had to read your post several times because this is not your typical post. It almost sounds as if you are giving CMJA an inch in terms of believing her? I can't tell, even after reading it several times.
One thing is for certain, so far CMJA has not been able to tell the truth even though her life depended on it.
I am skeptical that her family "convinced" her to make a plea for mercy. IIRC, she said that this was with a conversation with her cousin. Just thinking about the circumstances between her conviction of guilty on May 8 and her allocution, it does not make sense that such a conversation would or could have taken place. She was in psychiatric custody for almost five days, then she was transferred back to Estrella and placed in closed custody status. The jury delivered their decision that aggravation had been proven on May 15.
CMJA gives the appearance of believing that she would walk away from this one without repercussion. I say appearance, because who knows what thoughts run through that woman's head? IMO, she did not even contemplate having to prepare for the mitigation phase until the aggravation phase was complete. You know, think positive thoughts like that whack a doodle stuff ALV said was in her journal.
To say that there were numerous disruptions to the court schedule during both the penalty and aggravation phases is an understatement.
Does it make sense that CMJA just happened to make an outgoing call to just the right cousin who presented a compelling case to her to plead for mercy? Nope, not to me, especially when she was in closed custody and thus had extremely limited access to the phone. I think that it was Nurmi who gave her the "call to Jesus" talk when he visited her in jail on Friday, May 17th after Travis's family had presented their victim impact statements.
I do agree that CMJA will stop at nothing to avoid the death penalty and so I don't expect her to make any kind of plea that would limit appeals. It is my hope that JSS has managed this trial in such a way as to squash any appellate issues.
Tuba, do you think that she tried to commit suicide in jail and "nicked' herself?
