Jodi Arias Legal Question and Answer Thread *no discussion* #2

nursebeeme

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Do you have a legal question for our verified attorneys? Post them here for an answer. This is a *no discussion/ question and answer thread*
 
reminder: the questions can only be answered by our verified attorneys.. not by posters. Our verified attorneys posting on this case are:

Gitana1
Minor4th
Mormon Attorney
Azlawyer
 
I will go first:

What to make of the testimony of Gus? What is going on with this?

Do you think the PA will move to impeach his entire testimony?
 
Please post your questions here.....:lookingitup:
 
YesorNo posted this in another thread this afternoon, AZlawyer. She asked me to repost it here. Please excuse me if the format is skewed:



Quote Originally Posted by Curious in Indiana View Post
Starting bid $500? So is that what Travis' life has been reduced to? Can't the courts in AZ stop this madness!
BBM seems that the court should be able to stop it:

"...C. An inmate shall not send mail to or receive mail from a communication service provider or remote computing service. The department shall impose appropriate sanctions, including reducing or denying earned release credits, against an inmate if either of the following applies:

1. The inmate corresponds or attempts to correspond with a communication service provider or remote computing service.

2. Any person accesses the provider's or service's internet web site at the inmate's request..."

http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument....31&DocType=ARS

But- what do I know.
 
YesorNo posted this in another thread this afternoon, AZlawyer. She asked me to repost it here. Please excuse me if the format is skewed:



Quote Originally Posted by Curious in Indiana View Post
Starting bid $500? So is that what Travis' life has been reduced to? Can't the courts in AZ stop this madness!
BBM seems that the court should be able to stop it:

"...C. An inmate shall not send mail to or receive mail from a communication service provider or remote computing service. The department shall impose appropriate sanctions, including reducing or denying earned release credits, against an inmate if either of the following applies:

1. The inmate corresponds or attempts to correspond with a communication service provider or remote computing service.

2. Any person accesses the provider's or service's internet web site at the inmate's request..."

http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument....31&DocType=ARS

But- what do I know.

First of all, JA is not in prison yet, because she hasn't been sentenced. Second, that statute was (correctly) found unconstitutional pretty quickly after it was enacted. :judge:
 

Well, I can't agree with "too bad," because I really like the Constitution, but I agree that not everyone with a First Amendment right makes the best of it. Much like not everyone with access to oxygen makes the best of it *cough cough JA*.
 
Do you think that all the sealed hearings will be unsealed at the end of this trial or will they remain sealed pending all appeals?

Asking because I really really want to know what was going on back there.
 
Do you think that all the sealed hearings will be unsealed at the end of this trial or will they remain sealed pending all appeals?

Asking because I really really want to know what was going on back there.

Good question. My guess is that they will remain sealed in case a retrial is necessary. But it's tough to know without knowing the reason(s) so many things were sealed. I think the judge got a little "seal-happy" about halfway through...
 
I don't understand why the need to keep things sealed in case of a retrial. What kinds of things could never see the light of day?
 
I don't understand why the need to keep things sealed in case of a retrial. What kinds of things could never see the light of day?

Well, I didn't say never--I said in case of a retrial. So, for example, if there was something very inflammatory about Jodi that the judge deemed irrelevant, the discussions about that evidence would probably be kept sealed through the appeal process so that any retrial jury would not hear of it.
 
Will Arias, now that she is a convicted murderer, have to wear her black and white stripes in this sentencing trial? I believe that if she is allowed to wear street clothes, it will not be an accurate representation of her.
 
Will Arias, now that she is a convicted murderer, have to wear her black and white stripes in this sentencing trial? I believe that if she is allowed to wear street clothes, it will not be an accurate representation of her.

No. Technically she hasn't been convicted yet, as no sentence has been imposed.
 
This is the first case I have ever heard about where a defendent openly asked and wants her attorney to be replaced, and the attorney (Nurmi) openly admitted he doesnt like the defendent.

My question is does the judge have a legal basis to refuse the defendent's request to want another attorney?
Especially when both of them don't want each other.


I am honestly amazed at this, and not sure about the legal part of the judge refusing to allow him to be replaced when both want him replaced.
 
This is the first case I have ever heard about where a defendent openly asked and wants her attorney to be replaced, and the attorney (Nurmi) openly admitted he doesnt like the defendent.

My question is does the judge have a legal basis to refuse the defendent's request to want another attorney?
Especially when both of them don't want each other.


I am honestly amazed at this, and not sure about the legal part of the judge refusing to allow him to be replaced when both want him replaced.

Defendants openly ask for their attorneys to be replaced all the time. And although I think Nurmi genuinely dislikes Jodi, I think his "open admission" of that to the jury was a calculated attempt to get the jury to relate to him and to realize that whether they liked Jodi or not had nothing to do with the issues. He must have realized that she hadn't succeeded in winning them over with her sparkling personality. ;)

Yes, the judge had a legal basis to refuse the request. Despite the 13th Amendment (abolishing involuntary servitude), the courts have generally found that attorneys can be forced to represent people against their will if the reason is important enough to the judicial system. And defendants can't keep switching lawyers to the extent that justice is unreasonably delayed. In this case, Nurmi is doing a good job for Jodi, it would take ages for a replacement lawyer to catch up, and Jodi from time to time has said that he is the only one who really knows the case. I can understand her decision.
 
I was wondering why the state is going first right now?

Also, Nurmi said he intends to call Juan Martinez to the stand in this trial if his request for misconduct isn't granted. What's your opinion on that?
 
I was wondering why the state is going first right now?

Also, Nurmi said he intends to call Juan Martinez to the stand in this trial if his request for misconduct isn't granted. What's your opinion on that?

The state is going first because they need to educate this new jury about the circumstances of the offense and the cruelty, so the jury can balance the mitigating factors properly. If there hadn't been a new jury, the state would not have gone first.

I think Nurmi was saying that if JM was going to imply to the jury that the State hadn't had a chance to examine the Helio phone, JM would be called as a witness because JM is personally aware that the State did, in fact, have a chance to examine the phone. Seemed like a perfectly appropriate thing for Nurmi to say IMO.
 
Hello AzLawyer. Will JM (And Nurmi) get to give a sort of closing argument after this phase of the proceedings before they move on to the mitigation factors?
 
Aloha AZ, I know that JSS ruled no video till after a verdict is given by the jury.

What about the daily transcripts, does the news media have the right to request them and publish them?
 

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