Arias Sentencing, Part 1, Section 2
Juan Martinez presentation to JSS during the sentencing hearing, April 13.
This is not an official transcript, nor is it connected in anyway to any of the participants.
All errors are my own.
JSS = Judge Sherry Stephens JA = Jodi Arias, Convicted of 1st Degree Murder, Defendant
KN = Kurt Nurmi, Reluctant lawyer for Defence Team JW = Jennifer Willmott, lawyer for Defence Team
MdlR = Maria De la Rosa, Mitigation Specialist for Defence Team
SA = Sandi Arias, Mother of Defendant
JM = Juan Martinez, Prosecutor
TS = Tanisha Sorenson. Travis's sister SA = Samantha Alexander, Travis's sister
HW = Hillary Wilcox, Travis's sister HS = Heather Schafer, Travis's aunt
April 13, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYFfGV_HI4
Jodi Arias Sentencing. Part 1. Alexander Family Speaks.
This follows after my previous post on page 79 which included TS, SA, HW, and HS presenting their statements to JSS.
Picking up the proceedings.
31:22
JM: The State does not have anybody else who wishes to address the court.
JSS: Mr. Martinez, do you want to make a statement at this time?
JM: I would prefer to make it after I hear what the defendant has to say, but, Your Honour, I will make it later.
31:37
JSS: Approach please.
SIDEBAR
32:23
JSS: Mr. Martinez, you may proceed.
JM: Hope is never a bad thing. Hope is always a good thing. However, in this case, the family of Travis Alexander, as you know, hoped that a death sentence would be imposed in this case. But, that is not to be. That will not happen. And, in speaking to them at certain junctures, they take some solace in the fact that the jury, the last jury, eleven to one, deadlocked, in favour of imposing the death penalty. But then, that provides a small measure of solace. But it's a very small measure of solace because generally, as you see, normally, as you heard, they always, always feel death, death is the appropriate sentence.
But even though they feel that death is the appropriate sentence, they still have hope. They have hope, now, that you will see your way to a Natural Life sentence, and they believe that a Natural Life sentence is appropriate. Not because they want to be vindictive, but because, as you have also seen, what happened in that bedroom, or bathroom of that bedroom, was a butchering.
When they, as they told me, and they've also told you, when they think of the stabbing, they can feel their brother's pain. They feel the blade going into him. And it burns them, and they cry, and they don't know what to do about it. Just like Travis Alexander didn't know what to do about it. And, when they feel him moving away, trying to get away from the defendant as she continually stabbed him, they can hear his cries.
They can hear him screaming. It rings in their ears and it's something they cannot stop. It's something that they, even though they want to sleep, even though they may want to turn away from it, it is something that rings in their minds--his cries. They know that these are the agonized cries of a wounded animal who's about to be killed. And that's how they think of it.
They also can't help feeling, as he crawled away down the hallway, and it's something that they hope that he was unconscious, when she took that knife for the last time, they hope that he was unconscious. But, based on what they see and what they saw in this court, they know that he wasn't. They know that he was still alive. They know that he was still feeling after he had crawled all the way down the hallway and came down to the carpet. They know he was still conscious when the defendant took that knife and slashed his throat wide open. And that almost makes them crazy.
They think that their brother had suffered so many stab wounds and then, as a coup de grâce, to have him feel that blade one last time. And, at that point, they are thankful that he wasn't feeling anymore. But what they can't get out of their minds is the brutality as she dragged him back down the hallway and put a bullet in his head.
And so, they live with this every day. They live with the extreme cruelty of this killing. They live with the extreme distress that their brother must have felt during that--those minutes that it took for this to happen. For them, it was an eternity. They weren't there, but to them--they know that their brother suffered enough for an eternity.
And so, because of that, they have hope. And they have hope, as I said, they have hope that you will remember that when pondering what sentence is the most appropriate in this case.
And I know that there's a sentencing memorandum that has been proposed to you setting out a request for the alternative sentence. And I know that in that sentencing memorandum they ask you to conduct a comparative analysis with other cases. But you didn't sit and listen to the evidence in all of those cases. You are the person who sat and listened to the evidence--every single bit of evidence--in this case. You know about every single stab wound. You know about all of the blood. And, you know all about the gunshot.
Those other cases are nothing more than ink on paper. Something for you to read. So, I ask you to take a look at this case and make a decision based on what you see--and what you saw and heard in this courtroom.
The other thing that they are hopeful of is that when you consider the issue of remorse--because that's the other issue that continues to haunt the victims, because they truly are victims as you have seen even though they didn't themselves personally suffer wounds. They didn't suffer the stab wounds. They didn't suffer the gunshot. They are still suffering. And one of the things that they want you to consider is the defendant's request that you find that somehow she is remorseful in this case.
They hope that you will remember that, from one side of her mouth, she was saying what an influential and great person Travis Alexander was. And, out the other side of her mouth, was calling him a pedophile. [She] was saying things that are almost too difficult to talk about. But, not only did she talk about it, she went even further. And, as you know, she even fabricated evidence to try to bring her lie home to you.
38:50
JW: Objection, Judge.
JSS: Overruled.
JM: She provided it for your consideration, and it's something that the next of kin is aware of and it's something that haunts them. They mentioned it to you previously when they addressed you. This issue of Mr. Alexander being a pedophile. And so they, something that out of one side of her mouth talks about what a great individual she was yet, and yet, she's so remorseful about it, yet she can stab him figuratively throughout this whole trial.
Stabbing him with the only thing that he has left. Stabbing him to take away the only thing he had left which was his character. Asked about how much of an individual he was who was involved in this sexual activity. How they talked to you about that he had been to these websites hundreds of times, these *advertiser censored* websites. All of this stuff was something that they want you to consider when you think about what they have proposed to you as mitigation. And, specifically, this issue of whether or not the defendant is remorseful.
They do not believe that the defendant is remorseful and they hope that you see it that way also.
There are some other issues that were presented here in the sentencing memorandum. Specifically, one of them being that the defendant is mentally ill. Well, you heard the testimony from all of the witnesses including Janeen DeMarte and you know what the explanation for that is. There's no need to go over that again, and it is not a mitigating factor. They also specifically mention things such as no previous criminal history, no propensity for violence. Well, we also heard the evidence that was presented in this case. We also know what happened back at the address with Mr. Alexander.
There's no need to go on any further other than to point out that the next of kin, Travis Alexander's family, is still hopeful. They're hopeful that you will sentence the defendant to Natural Life. And they see it that way because of everything they have felt, everything they have seen, all the photographs that have been presented in this case.
The State also has been present. The State is also hopeful. Hopeful that you follow the recommendation of the victims.
Thank you.
42:47
JSS: Thank you. Court will take a ten minute recess to review the letters that have been submitted by the defendant.
Bailiff: All rise.
