8 Mitigating Factors Proffered by Def Team

[Wolfpack Fan]

The only mitigation factor I would consider at all is lack of criminal history, and I believe that's either because she hasn't been caught or turned in. If being a talented artist is reason enough for Jodi not to get the death penalty, I guess people like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Mariah Carey, etc. could kill 10 to 20 people and not get the death penalty.

 

[DebinGA]

If PW really wanted to testify, I'm sure JSS could provide a safe way for her to do so via a closed hearing. She just doesn't want her face attached to her heroin rap sheet revelation imo or JA's unrepentant FOX interview.

 

[al66pine]

After this morning's hearing, can we polish up the mitigation factors list?

Below is part of my May 17 post about good friend.
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3. A GOOD FRIEND
Def. can/will show JA was good friend, to …
--- pre-offense, an ex-boyfriend.
--- pre-offense, to high school-era female (now not to testify?)
--- post-offense, to other inmates in jail?
State can show, re above witnesses--
--- pre-offense, ex-boyfriend ____ (face concealed re TV) while on stand. How many jail visits did he make?
---pre-offense, to high school-era friend seems to have vanished and/or st can bring out criminal record?
---post -offense to other inmates in jail?

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Maybe Def. team will still argue that Jodi is a good friend to these 2 other people.
It's that the other people are not good friends to Jodi

Once again, it's not her fault; it's the other people who are to blame.

Oh, never mind the good friend mit/factor.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

Ok Jodi is a theoretical good friend, but we can't prove it in a court of law because none of them will testify to such EVEN OFF CAMERA FOR THE JUDGE & JURY so the simple deduction is that Jodi knew people before she murdered Travis, once the complete reality of that event hit those friends, they no longer believed her to be a good friend and removed themselves from proceedings, because she just ain't worth it.

ETA: that knocks out 4 and 5 too, because the good friends were her corroborating witnesses to that. We're down to 5 and Jodi is the only person able to testify to that except for her age, which is independently verifiable. Toast.

 

[ktgirl]

I will say this for JA- she did get her GED in jail and she did work (albeit it she never seemed to stay long at one job). Casey Anthony is also a high school dropout couldn't be bothered to get her GED during the years she was in jail with nothing else to do and didn't work at all Caylee was born.

Now, I don't think that doing what one should do to be a contributing citizen (complete high school if given the chance and work) should be mitigating factors. They're just what people should do.

 

[al66pine]

Jury says it cannot reach verdict,so seems likely, imo, that it is one of 2 things.

1.
Maybe one /a few/ some members think one of the mit/factors ---her lack of criminal history (?) -- is sufficient to override /outweigh the premed/felony murder and the aggravating factor --extreme cruelty.

2.
Maybe this line of thinking:
In Dec. in answering jury questionnaire, this juror said, yes, could impose DP, was thinking about criminals like ---
---the BTK, Bind, Torture, Kill murderer, (Dennis Rader*, killed 10 people in Wichita, KS area) and
--- the GreenRiver Killer (Gary Ridgeway* killed 40+ in Seattle, WA area).

So despite JA's cruel, premeditated murder of Travis, it just doesn't reach this juror's personal threshhold for the imposing DP which would be used only on a criminal convicted of 10 or 25+ murders, not just one.

Imo, since juror said he/she could impose DP, there's no other explanation for a juror not to do so, in the case.

* FYI, neither of these two recvd DP. BTKserving 10 consec. life sentences. GrnRiver serving LWOP. See wiki.


================================================
The mit/factors, other than lack of CrimHist, are all light and fluffy.
And from seeing JA lie on the stand (gas cans, hacking Travis's email, facebook, etc), I'd say its not lack of CrimHist, it's lack of convictions.

1. Age = 27 ………………………………...........
2. Lack of Criminal History……………………??like DT argued, never did it before?????
3. A Good Friend …………………………………
4. Lacked Support from Family……………..….
5a. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Child ……….
5b. Suffered Abuse & Neglect as Adult ………..
6. Tried to Make the Best of her Life …………
7. Consistently Tried to Improve Herself………
8. Talented Artist ………………………………..

 

[nursebeeme]

bumping this up.. some good reading here on the mitigation

 

[Tiger09]

Okay, I'll give it a shot.

1. Age- She was 27 at the time of the murder. Legally, that is beyond the age of consent for many things. She was old enough to make very grown up decisions such as living with a male partner, renting a car, and moving to another state. Were she 18 or if they used mental illness as a defense and said she's mentally 15, then yes. However, they went self defense, so no.

2. Lack of criminal history- she was proven during the trial to have committed perjury so no. Not to mention Travis' s own words which pretty much say she slashed his tires, possibly slashed his ex girlfriend's tires, stalked them both, and psychologically terrorized him. Sounds criminal to me.

3. A good friend- Yeah. She cheated on Darryl Brewer with Travis, made Abe whomever sound like a jerk so she could seem like a victim, went to Ryan Burns' s house after murdering Travis in his home. Great pal. Not.

4. Lacked support from family- um her student body president campaign at the last trial proved such a lack of support when she showed them at Christmas holding a photo of her because oh sad she couldn't be there. And not to mention her dying father came to see her testify all about her sexcapades and murder. So no.

5a. Abuse and neglect as a child- Yeah, those trips to Disney were so abusive. Also, the jobs in mommy and daddy's resturants. Most of us had to get our own after school jobs. Neglect? Yeah because not letting your daughter grow pot plants at home and stay out all night is being a bad parent and so neglectful. Try again.
5b. Abuse and neglect as an adult- If being abused is getting a great deal and lax payments on a BMW, then oh mylanta. Are we in opposite land? Also, she got free trips all over and got to come and go in a nice house in AZ. Not to mention Darryl Brewer had her in a nice house. She just couldn't get what she wanted. So omg I guess shenanigans. Not.

6. Tried to make the best of her life- I'd almost give her credit because being a server/bartender is hard, but she sounds like she sucked at it. Crying and walking out during shifts? No. Bouncing from man to man is not making the best of anything. It's simply doing nothing. She expected everyone to save her when she created her own problems, but blamed everyone else for them. No.

7. Consistently tried to improve herself- If anything, Darryl Brewer was the only healthy relationship she had. She should have told Travis Alexander that she was in a relationship and to have a nice life and walked away. Or better yet, never joined PPL. She should have gotten her GED sooner. That would have said self improvement. So no.

8. Talented artist- That's dumb. That's like stroking her ego. So um okay. If let's say Justin Timberlake murders someone, he gets off because he is a talented artist? No. She just wanted to show her paintings. Glad you can paint. Too bad you murdered someone. So no, Jodi, not a factor.

I'd say mitigating factors would be mental illness, if they can get Darryl Brewer or Matt whomever to testify she wasn't violent with them, fear of losing her family's love/embarassing her family, remorse (now is the time to apologize), and admission of her own lack of self esteem

 

[LinTX]

Here's the 2014 list of mitigators. I put an O in front of those that were argued during original phase, and an N in front of those that are new for this retrial:

2014 Mitigators

O Arias has no prior criminal history.
O Arias was 27 years old when she killed Travis Alexander.
O Arias suffered physical and emotional abuse as a child.
O/N Arias suffered physical and emotional abuse during her relationship with Travis Alexander. (in 2013 said abused as adult, without specifying TA)
N The abusive nature of the relationship caused Arias to suffer extreme emotional stress at the time she killed Alexander.
N Arias has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
N Arias has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
N Arias’s psychological makeup impaired her ability to cope with the tumultuous relationship she had with Travis Alexander.
N Arias is remorseful for killing Alexander.

 

[LambChop]

Wasn't her PTSD based on a lie? Wasn't the testing done when she still was sticking to the Ninja story?

 

[Tiger09]

The abuse is not a mitigating factor for many reasons, but number one is the sheer nature of the crime. If it were truly a self defense case, Arias would have shot/stabbed him and left. The wounds, blood evidence, and photos completely annihilate that as a mitigating factor.

I'll give them PTSD because I'm sure being in jail for 5 years and then finding out you may possibly die from lethal injection can cause severe anxiety. Also, I'm sure killing someone and knowing you killed someone can cause some form of PTSD. I can see her especially being afraid to face the court.

I'll give them her psychological makeup being inable to cope with the relationship with Travis Alexander. But, it's how they present it. He gave her many outs. I'm sure Juan is ready to show them. Also, tarnishing the victim doesn't do any good now at all. It's a guaranteed death sentence. (Assuming we are playing defense attorney? ) So this is where they insert mental illness.

Remorse for killing Travis Alexander. This can be shredded by Juan. She lied, sent flowers to Travis' s grandmother, said no jury would convict her, tried to paint the victim as a child molester and abuser, she was very sarcastic and blasé in her last mitigation in response to the victim's brother crying.

Arias being diagnosed with BPD. Tread lightly. Jurors can see this as a copout. Lately, so many crimes in the media are about people getting off due to mental illness.

 

[Renee110]

The abuse is not a mitigating factor for many reasons, but number one is the sheer nature of the crime. If it were truly a self defense case, Arias would have shot/stabbed him and left. The wounds, blood evidence, and photos completely annihilate that as a mitigating factor.

I'll give them PTSD because I'm sure being in jail for 5 years and then finding out you may possibly die from lethal injection can cause severe anxiety. Also, I'm sure killing someone and knowing you killed someone can cause some form of PTSD. I can see her especially being afraid to face the court.

I'll give them her psychological makeup being inable to cope with the relationship with Travis Alexander. But, it's how they present it. He gave her many outs. I'm sure Juan is ready to show them. Also, tarnishing the victim doesn't do any good now at all. It's a guaranteed death sentence. (Assuming we are playing defense attorney? ) So this is where they insert mental illness.

Remorse for killing Travis Alexander. This can be shredded by Juan. She lied, sent flowers to Travis' s grandmother, said no jury would convict her, tried to paint the victim as a child molester and abuser, she was very sarcastic and blasé in her last mitigation in response to the victim's brother crying.

Arias being diagnosed with BPD. Tread lightly. Jurors can see this as a copout. Lately, so many crimes in the media are about people getting off due to mental illness.

BBM

PTSD is not a mitigating factor for her, she didn't have it when she murdered Travis. I believe her defense is saying she had PTSD as a result of being abused and terrorized by Travis and her parents.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

BBM

PTSD is not a mitigating factor for her, she didn't have it when she murdered Travis. I believe her defense is saying she had PTSD as a result of being abused and terrorized by Travis and her parents.

I totally 100% agree.

And even that diagnosis was based on a lie. Samuels diagnosed her with PTSD because he stupidly believed her Ninja story.

I don't believe for one second she has PTSD because of being jail and even if she did that is not a mitigating factor. What happened to her afterwards are not mitigating factors. Now if she had been in the military and had gone overseas in a battle zone she may have suffered from PTSD. But then we know JA has never done one honorable thing in her life. Everything she has done is self serving but by her own action she does not have PTSD. She has always inflated her worth imo. She was a waitress but she had to up it and say she is a photographer when I bet she was never paid one dime for her photo work. That is the narcissism in her.

I don't see one mitigating factor that outweighs the aggravators. I don't even see it if they grouped them all together collectively.

And them using her age is ridiculous. She was almost shy of 28 when she murdered Travis so she wasn't some teen who did this.

No evidence she was abused by Travis or as a child. In fact her own parents said she was the abusive one.

And BPD is not a mental illness that would make her incompetent to know right from wrong. It is as it says: Disorder.
And plenty of people are sitting on DR who had never committed a crime. With Arias she did commit crimes but just wasn't caught and prosecuted for them. She flat out stole from her grandpa and she flat out lied to the police.

And the remorseful part is the biggest crock of all. She has no remorse and has shown that throughout even with her lousy performance on the stand when she pretended to cry but made sure her hair mop covered her face. When she raised up she didn't have one tear in her eyes. She would rub her nose to make it red thinking that would snow the jurors.

 

[Renee110]

I totally 100% agree.

And even that diagnosis was based on a lie. Samuels diagnosed her with PTSD because he stupidly believed her Ninja story.

I don't believe for one second she has PTSD because of being jail and even if she did that is not a mitigating factor. What happened to her afterwards are not mitigating factors. Now if she had been in the military and had gone overseas in a battle zone she may have suffered from PTSD. But then we know JA has never done one honorable thing in her life. Everything she has done is self serving but by her own action she does not have PTSD. She has always inflated her worth imo. She was a waitress but she had to up it and say she is a photographer when I bet she was never paid one dime for her photo work. That is the narcissism in her.

I don't see one mitigating factor that outweighs the aggravators. I don't even see it if they grouped them all together collectively.

And them using her age is ridiculous. She was almost shy of 28 when she murdered Travis so she wasn't some teen who did this.

No evidence she was abused by Travis or as a child. In fact her own parents said she was the abusive one.

And BPD is not a mental illness that would make her incompetent to know right from wrong. It is as it says: Disorder.
And plenty of people are sitting on DR who had never committed a crime. With Arias she did commit crimes but just wasn't caught and prosecuted for them. She flat out stole from her grandpa and she flat out lied to the police.

And the remorseful part is the biggest crock of all. She has no remorse and has shown that throughout even with her lousy performance on the stand when she pretended to cry but made sure her hair mop covered her face. When she raised up she didn't have one tear in her eyes. She would rub her nose to make it red thinking that would snow the jurors.

BBM

No, she doesn't have PTSD from the murder, or jail or anything. She is so smug and confident and definitely doesn't appear traumatized or mentally wounded in any way, although reports from tweeters lead me to believe she is trying to show more humility and less smirks. I've seen Jeff Gold and others say she looks scared now, but I don't believe it; She's not scared, she is acting.