Thanks for this thread.
I am a gun firster and I thought I was pretty much alone, but I see at least a third agree.
I spent a lot of time thinking of various scenarios. I hope the Jury doesn't feel they have to do this, but they probably will. If I understand correctly, Travis had two fatal wounds, the stab to the vena cava and the cut to the jugular vein. Was the carotid cut too in that throat slash? Anyway, none of the other wounds would have killed him, at least not quickly.
The head wound was 'superficial' to the brain. The ME felt it had entered the right frontal lobe because there was a hole in the skull and he said in young people the brain abuts the skull. He felt the brain had to be hit, even though the bullet then lodges in the left cheek. There was not enough brain material left due to decomposition to follow any track the bullet might have taken causing damage to the brain. I think decomposition interfered with him adequately examining this wound.
At first, I thought the head wound would incapacitate him. After all, a gunshot wound to the brain cannot be a good thing to quickly recover from. But, later I realized the small caliber of the bullet and the superficiality of the wound, maybe running along the inside of the skull into the nasal passages may have rendered it more like a blow to the head which would stun him but not incapacitate. I remember Jodi saying in her ninja story that Travis was on his knees on the ground saying, my head hurts.
Usually two weapons means two killers. Or, it means that one weapon fails so the killer goes for the second weapon. I don't believe Jodi brought a knife with her to Travis house. I think she used one of the knives from the house when the gun jammed.
A knife is not an ideal weapon for a small woman to use against a big man. Jodi had no medical or combat training. If she were confronting him with a knife, she would have one chance to get it right. If she didn't, he would disarm her, and the game would be over. Really the only blow that would count would be the two fatal knife wounds. So did she slash the jugular first? That would give him about two minutes to live. But how easy is that. He can move and she misses it. Or if she doesn't slash deep enough, she misses it. Then the game is over. What about the vena cava? It is not so easy to hit the heart. The heart is well protected by the rib cage. There is also cartilege between the ribs which is not that easy to penetrate. So it would have to be a forceful and accurate blow to work on the first try. One miss and the game is up. In the case of this wound, I think it came from the front and under the ribs and up. But, even so, the vena cava is almost at the back near the spine. This was a deep wound. Again, not deep enough and the game is over. None of the other knife wounds would have stopped him. But even with the vena cava wound, the ME said, since it is a vein he would have been able to continue and be mobile for some period of time. That means he still might have been able to overcome her, even with that serious wound.
We know Jodi brought grandpa's gun with her; That's been proven with circumstantial evidence. Therefore, this would have been her weapon of choice and the first one she would have used. Why use a knife against a big man if you have a gun? Especially if you brought the gun. It would make no sense.
I think her intent was to get him into the shower and shoot him there--no mess. I think she was holding the gun on him while he was in the shower and ordering him to pose while she took pictures. I think the last head picture of him --he is looking down the barrel of a gun and she is the one saying one of her pet phrases, 'F-ing kill you b###'
That look on his face has haunted me since I first saw it. It is the look of a man staring into death and recognizing the monster behind the gun for the first time.
I think she shot him while he was sitting in the shower, from above and from the right side. I think he is shot in the last shower picture before she drops the camera. I think he is still alive when the gun jams. And, then she goes for the knife.
He did a minimal amount of defending himself. It was all passive, thus the defensive wounds. He managed to get up to the sink. He is bleeding heavily there, and the ME says the misted blood at the sink is him coughing. But, once he is shot in the head, he is no longer able to think his way out of the situation to defend himself against her.
