Jodi Arias TAKES THE STAND #38 *may contain graphic and adult content*

[Thornz]

Personally I am less interested in how JA did this, and more interested in why JA did this. But I have no issue reading anyone's theory, expert or not. I am bothered so far by JA's claims of her reasons for ending Travis's life. Nothing she said as of yet, proves any self-defense. She sits there and claims all these horrible things, but stayed with him. She wasn't force to date, be friends, have sex, visit him, or talk on the phone with him, yet she chose to. As I keep listening and waiting for evidence of self-defense, all I hear IMO are contradictions and claims without proof. Okay I'm done venting.

 

[Zuri]

If there is a mistrial does she walk, even though she admitted killing him? If there is a hung jury, doesn't that mean she gets retried?

 

[Isabelle]

I was once told that a bullet fired from a gun travels faster than the speed of sound. Is this true? (one of my older patients, who slept with a gun under his pillow told me that if I was shot at and hit, I wouldn't hear the sound of the shot before I was hit.)

 

[Boodles]

My only issue with the knife is that I am not convinced she brought it with her. I don't think it's been brought in front of the jury that she carried a knife around all the time. I know there isn't evidence of a knife missing from TA's house, but if a knife went missing at my house, I would probably be the only one to notice. I have a block of knives on the counter that a missing knife would probably be noticed, but I also have a drawer with some assorted larger knives. If one went missing, I think I am the only one who would know. My husband would have no clue. I'm just thinking out loud here... :waitasec:

I agree. The knife could easily have been one from TA's house. No one noticed a knife missing. But who was there to ask? The two roommates who didn't notice there was a dead body in the house for 5 days? I don't think these guys were tuned into the household cutlery inventory.

 

[minor4th]

I just get a bit more of a feeling we shy away from gunshot first as it muddies up the prosecution. Which I don't agree with. I think they are good to go to the lethal injection room with any sequence they want. My gut feeling. I don't think the Defense is playing well to the Jury.

This is a rage killing, an over kill. I don't see a shred of evidence of self defense.

I think gunshot first makes the state's case even stronger -- except for the fact that it contradicts the ME's testimony.

 

[StephanieHartPI]

This may have been posted already, but has unit been discussed that Travis may have fallen asleep after the sex, Arias made like she was leaving but went and hid instead. He woke up, went to take a shower and boom......she pops out of the linen closet or wherever (maybe she hid in his clothes closet, since some of the photos look like they could have been taken from the left of the shower.....where the closet is).

Whatever the case, this whole thing has me a bit troubled. I could NOT. EVER. be a crime scene investigator. I thought maybe I could, but this case has me lying awake at night and sometimes weirded out about the bathroom, lol.

I never thought of her maybe pretending she was gone. I was wondering about everyone's thoughts on the photos. I do so much photography, I can't envision he does not see her through all the photo taking, some looking right at her, where was she hidden that he does not see her and can't hear the camera sound click after each photo. (his shower water could muffle a bit) And they did indicate she took them without flash, that was very interesting to me, no flash is why they have the burnt orange/yellow appearance. the tile would be bright white as they showed Flash photos of the bathroom and its very clear. And it does puzzle me if she wanted to take these great photos and she knows anything about photography, she can give them a sepia effect after, or any color variation, but my guess is she would want to start with the clearest photo first.. which would be maybe with flash? Because they are not good, and not really clear, and now I see they are taken with no flash. Was that to hide the fact she was there and taking them?

 

[minor4th]

:seeya:Minor4th

Given the potential for Travis Alexander's body to have been discovered as early as the day after his murder if Gus Searcy had called the Mesa PD to request a welfare check I can't help but wonder how recovering his body, preserving the crime scene and performing the autopsy could/would have impacted the ME's findings/testimony and LE with respect to this particular issue (brain decomp).

:seeya:

I think the ME could draw more certain conclusions if there weren't 5 days' decomp. However, I do not believe that Gus was called the night of the murder, and therefore, do not believe he could have done anything to shorten the discovery time.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

the one 'lone wolf' can refuse to listen though. then we get the dreaded mistrial.

we had a case here once where a juror refused to deliberate. she'd cover her ears and sing when the others tried to talk to her. she laid on the floor, turned her back to the others, and did all kinds of crap. the foreperson told the judge and the judge made them continue to deliberate----mistrial!

my faith in the jury system has taken too many shots, especially recently. i PRAY there's not someone on that jury who believes her.

I understand that we all have been bitten since the CA case but Im not going to judge this jury to be the same. I am confident they will 'get it.'

I think the minute Juan stands up to cross examine he needs to ask Arias "Ms Arias is there anything else you would like to accuse Travis Alexander of before I start my cross?" Of course it would be objected to and sustained but the message would be out there that this woman has thought of anything and everything she can think of to accuse the victim without one shred of evidence to support it.

IMO

 

[Stolat]

hi, can someone please explain the circumstances of JM's objection to the forwarded email, where he questioned JA, i'm totally lost, but i loved getting a preview of JM cross examination, how refreshing to get a change of pace, i love how JM cadence is quick and concise, requiring a simple yes or no answer, he finishes his questions with "right?" please explain what happened i dont understand this voir dire and what he was objecting to,, thanks

Boy, that was just a joyful moment wasnt it? Juan at his best. Here's what I geaned. Nurmi entered the exhibit and Jodi tried to claim it was an email that had been forwarded to Travis. However, the FWD (which most email systems typically insert by default when an email is forwarded to another person) was in the subject line of the email (which is an editable field and anyone can type the letters "FWD" without it actually being a forwarded email). Additionally, Travis's name was in the "To" field AND there was a BCC present whih typically only appears when you use the blind carbon copy feature. This means Jodi secretly sent this email to someone at the same time she sent this to Travis. Juan had issue with Jodi referring to the email as "the forwarded" email because the exhibit showed no proof that in fact it had been forwarded. Juan wanted the court to refer to the exhibit simply as the email SENT to Travis. He is doing this to debunk her story.

 

[rose222]

Im so sorry to know that your brother was murdered. I wish there had been a good man or woman closeby with a legally owned gun that could have saved him.

The .25 calber is the size of the weapon. A .25 is right above a .22 just a little bit more powerful.

We have owned weapons all of our life but we take gun safety very seriously and know it comes with a big responsibility.

It is not the gun that kills people.........it is the people that pick them up and uses them against innocent people. If the gun was never touched it would just gather dust and rust away.

Again Im so sorry for your great loss. I cant begin to imagine the pain you have endured.

IMO

Yes, yes, yes! And if all guns were banned for good (which is not possible, you can take them away from law-abiding citizens but criminals will find a way) then criminals will find another way to kill....knives and swords and all that. That's the way it used to be! Sorry OT.

 

[moonbird]

I never thought of her maybe pretending she was gone. I was wondering about everyone's thoughts on the photos. I do so much photography, I can't envision he does not see her through all the photo taking, some looking right at her, where was she hidden that he does not see her and can't hear the camera sound click after each photo. (his shower water could muffle a bit) And they did indicate she took them without flash, that was very interesting to me, no flash is why they have the burnt orange/yellow appearance. the tile would be bright white as they showed Flash photos of the bathroom and its very clear. And it does puzzle me if she wanted to take these great photos and she knows anything about photography, she can give them a sepia effect after, or any color variation, but my guess is she would want to start with the clearest photo first.. which would be maybe with flash? Because they are not good, and not really clear, and now I see they are taken with no flash. Was that to hide the fact she was there and taking them?

but if she was hiding to kill him, why take photos at all? why was his camera in the bathroom? why wouldn't she just attack him, and avoid all the time wasting with the camera?

 

[Jax49]

How does this man sleep at night knowing he could have enbabled the Mesa police to find Travis Alexander as early as the day after he was murdered instead of 5 days later when concerned friends of TA's took it upon themselves to find their missing friend? Listen to Searcy's explanation (excuses) why he never called authorities until July 15th the day Jodi Arias was arrested. Absolutely pathetic.

http://www.hlntv.com/video/2013/02/14/arias-friend-she-called-me-night

Searcy says he left on the Cancun trip the next day after JA called him. In other words, IMHO, JA called him the night Travis' body was discovered not the night after Travis was murdered.

 

[Truth Detector]

Yes, I know. My point was about how much the jury has heard. We have heard all about the tire slashing, but through objections and sidebars, how much has the jury been allowed to hear.

I know they heard the 911 call.

Here's a pertinent excerpt:

911 Operator: Has he [Travis Alexander] been threatened by anyone recently?

Caller: Yes, he has. He has, uh, he has an ex-girlfriend that's been bothering him and um, following him, and slashing tires and things like that.

911 Operator: [Keyboard sounds] And do you know the ex-girlfriend's name?

Caller: Um, um, [To someone nearby] Do you remember that... what's, what's his ex-girlfriend's name?

911 Operator: And do you know if he's ever reported it to the police?

Caller: [To the operator] Um, her name's Jodi.

 

[WhoaIsMe]

How does this man sleep at night knowing he could have enbabled the Mesa police to find Travis Alexander as early as the day after he was murdered instead of 5 days later when concerned friends of TA's took it upon themselves to find their missing friend? Listen to Searcy's explanation (excuses) why he never called authorities until July 15th the day Jodi Arias was arrested. Absolutely pathetic.

http://www.hlntv.com/video/2013/02/14/arias-friend-she-called-me-night

WTH!?! If she called him that night and said TA was dead and then TA isn't found for another 5 days, he KNEW she killed him. So he calls the DA a MONTH later, the DA doesn't call him back, he then clams up until now? What a hissy-fit throwing child! Why not call the police in AZ as soon as you hang up from the attempting talking to the DA?

I really don't like this guy.

 

[KBisMe]

I think gunshot first makes the state's case even stronger -- except for the fact that it contradicts the ME's testimony.

I agree because gun shot first would make it much harder to explain why she "had" to slaughter him after. I don't believe he could have been a threat to her life if she had shot him first. Even if he did get up after. I would think if someone "lunged in anger" and then got shot in the face for it.... That person would immediately flip to wanting to survive vs continuing to attack the person with the weapons. JMO

Question about if a mistrial was granted: Would it then be possible for Nurmi to have himself removed from her case and have someone else assigned to start all over? Just curious. I first thought maybe the constant motions for mistrial were because they know their case is not strong and it would give them more time to prepare or concoct a different approach. I imagine there are a lot of mistrial motions during DP cases though and am not trying to imply that he's doing that to get out of it. Just curious.

 

[Gypseagirl]

BBM - just to clarify, from the ME report, the exact verbiage was:

" ... without gross evidence of significant intracranial hemorrhage ... "

On page 4 of 8: http://cnninsession.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/redactedtravisautopsy.pdf

​

So to me, it sounds as though there was some blood but perhaps not as much as the ME would have expected.

My ME qualifications: I have performed 2 autopsies ... er dissections ... one on a frog and one on a cow's eye.

Thank you for the link

 

[shelley921]

Personally I am less interested in how JA did this, and more interested in why JA did this. But I have no issue reading anyone's theory, expert or not. I am bothered so far by JA's claims of her reasons for ending Travis's life. Nothing she said as of yet, proves any self-defense. She sits there and claims all these horrible things, but stayed with him. She wasn't force to date, be friends, have sex, visit him, or talk on the phone with him, yet she chose to. As I keep listening and waiting for evidence of self-defense, all I hear IMO are contradictions and claims without proof. Okay I'm done venting.

I feel as you do and many others on here do as well. Jodi was not a child and she did not take responsibility for herself.

 

[Boodles]

She had a knife to slash tires. Also, if she went downstairs to get one of Travis' knives, then that throws self defense out the window, as she could've left the house instead of picking up a knife and returning to inflict more wounds.

1. It is not proven that JA slashed tires. There is innuendo and accusation by TA's friends, but that's all. She may or may not have. In fact, Lisa had an ex that was considered as a person who may have done this. We will never know, and the jury will probably not consider slashed tires if they follow jury instructions.

2. Listen to the defense opening statement. Defense attorney Willmott said there was a knife in the bedroom used to cut the "rope" used in their afternoon sexcapade. It may or may not be true. Again, we'll never know. But that's what they are stating in regard to the knife in this trial.

 

[StephanieHartPI]

BBM - just to clarify, from the ME report, the exact verbiage was:

" ... without gross evidence of significant intracranial hemorrhage ... "

On page 4 of 8: http://cnninsession.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/redactedtravisautopsy.pdf

​

So to me, it sounds as though there was some blood but perhaps not as much as the ME would have expected.

My ME qualifications: I have performed 2 autopsies ... er dissections ... one on a frog and one on a cow's eye.

LOL love the experience. I have not performed an autopsy, but I have been present for about 30 partial autopsies (some dissections) As the photographer (and video) never touched the body parts though. I have a funny story for down the line.. remind me. Jars, multiple body parts in each...one reminded me of the dill pickle jar at the deli.

 

[Isabelle]

Wonder what you two would say if indeed TA was shot first and dear Dr Horn was incorrect ?

Dr. Horn's determination is not merely based on an educated "guess".