Prosecutor Juan Martinez releases new book, February 2016 - #1

[Hope4More]

Backtracking a little. Pg 189.

Snark. JM is discussing the necessity of keeping the focus on the "horrific" slaughter of Travis, a challenge, he says,because " the defendant was a woman,some would even think she was attractive....."

 

[TexMex]

Agree. Just sheer stupidity to steal the gun and bring attention to it. A gun show at Vegas would have done fine to pickup a cheap gun.

And returning something like a gas can is stupid because it would also bring attention since anything like that where fluid would make it "used" is likely to become more of a scene when trying to return it. Walmart maybe good at returns but when you try to return something like that I could see it becoming a scene since Walmart would likely have to throw it away since gas was poured into it and Walmart doesn't know what the person fluid would have been put in it.

Even if she would have just not returned it would have been better than trying to return it which just brings more attention.

Things like this were really stupid which is surprising she would do things like this since she carefully planned other things.

Her claim was she returned it almost immediately, before she left Salinas..never put gas in it.
But she was determined to add a receipt that was not from Arizona to her alibi...so she kept it

 

[Nosey Parker]

:seeya: Hi everyone. My book arrived at 8:30 a.m. this morning, so I think I'll turn my phone off and hunker down for the day. :juanettes:

Thanks for the snippets during the wait.

 

[Hatfield]

Ah...but there was no reason to buy it in the first place. If she said she returned it, why did she buy it? She thought she might need it to go where? No need for it at all on the interstate between LA and Las Vegas! Why would there be a danger of running out of gas?

I think it was for a couple reasons. One important reason for her was not being seen. Think dyed hair and license plate thing. She wanted to be able to not have to stop at all. Or as little as possible. Pee breaks were probably done on side of a dirt road IMO

I think she had read about the lady in NASA that drove all that way in a diaper as she went to try to kill someone in the love triangle in the NASA case. I think she had visions of being that devious in her plan and I think she did not want to have to stop to prevent being seen. As 1 of her main reasons she wanted enough gas to make it all the way.

 

[Hope4More]

This kind of insight is why his book is so worth buying.

JM explains his choice to not focus on portraying Travis as the wonderful human being he was, human to include he had shortcomings like we all do.

JM didn't because:

1. He risked diluting what had to be a single minded focus on proving premed and how she carried out the murder.

2. Who Travis was or wasn't had nothing to do with "what this case was about. It was about a scorned woman who exacted revenge for Travis' failure to choose her." . Pg 189.

 

[Hope4More]

P 190.

JM thought the allegations of physical abuse "smacked of desperation," because it seemed to have occurred to the killer she had nothing else other than her own (inserting- lying liar) word to claim self defense.

 

[Hope4More]

P. 191.

Shannon Hogan was wrong. According to JM, Travis never asked the killer to go to Cancun with him. Her name was never on a ticket or list or anywhere else.

 

[Hope4More]

:seeya: Hi everyone. My book arrived at 8:30 a.m. this morning, so I think I'll turn my phone off and hunker down for the day. :juanettes:

Thanks for the snippets during the wait.

Hi Nosey!!! Enjoy the book....

 

[RickshawFan]

I think it was for a couple reasons. One important reason for her was not being seen. Think dyed hair and license plate thing. She wanted to be able to not have to stop at all. Or as little as possible. Pee breaks were probably done on side of a dirt road IMO

I think she had read about the lady in NASA that drove all that way in a diaper as she went to try to kill someone in the love triangle in the NASA case. I think she had visions of being that devious in her plan and I think she did not want to have to stop to prevent being seen. As 1 of her main reasons she wanted enough gas to make it all the way.

I understand the complicated reason she gave for needing the gas cans. But the fact that there were any gas cans involved at all cinched the noose. And JM was deep in evidence involving the gas cans. There wasn't just one piece that he had to count on. For instance, there was the woman from Tesoro, and receipts for large quantities of gas in Utah.

I recall the thing with the astronaut—another fatal attraction—but I can't recall that involved using gas cans. I did recall she used NASA-issue diapers...

 

[Hatfield]

To further my theory that Jodi had read about and used the NASA lady who made the marathon car drive all the way in a diaper for attempted murder in a love triangle.....

Look at the dates that happened compared to when JA killed Travis.

Lisa Nowak made her marathon drive in diaper in February 2007
JA killed Travis in June , 2008 if I have the dates right.

Which surprises me no diapers were ever found as evidence. Wonder if any receipts for diapers anywhere? LOL

http://www.denverpost.com/sitemap/ci_5167528

 

[Hope4More]

The rest of chapter 14, through page 200, is an explanation by JM of the witnesses he chose for his case in chief (CIC) laying out the crime scene, and what each would offer.

He explains why Flores instead of Horn testified at the probable cause hearing (to establish DP eligibility), and hey, it was because Horn had a full schedule, points out Flores had no medical training, etc., and dismisses Nurmi's endless attacks and whines on this subject with a few sentences, essentially saying- the defensive wounds alone prove the intense suffering Travis experienced.

 

[Hope4More]

Chapter 15 begins with JM taking assessment as jury selection began. I haven't read it yet and am going to indulge myself and read the whole chapter before I post again, because from reading the first page alone he writes well enough to make me feel I am inside his head, and after years of waiting, it's time.......

(24 page chapter... about a 10 minute read with note-taking.

 

[RickshawFan]

I think it was for a couple reasons. One important reason for her was not being seen. Think dyed hair and license plate thing. She wanted to be able to not have to stop at all. Or as little as possible. Pee breaks were probably done on side of a dirt road IMO

I think she had read about the lady in NASA that drove all that way in a diaper as she went to try to kill someone in the love triangle in the NASA case. I think she had visions of being that devious in her plan and I think she did not want to have to stop to prevent being seen. As 1 of her main reasons she wanted enough gas to make it all the way.

I had recalled the NASA episode, but I had to look it up again to refresh my mind. I'll bet Jodi studied this case, and not just about the diaper thing.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nowak
Jodi has never been creative: she always steals other people's stuff. She ripped off this one big time, IMO.
The horror of this is the meager penalty Nowak was given. Jodi won't have known that would happen when she planned TA's murder, but I'm sure she thinks she's even more special than Nowak, and Nowak must have done something wrong to get caught.

 

[elementary]

This kind of insight is why his book is so worth buying.

JM explains his choice to not focus on portraying Travis as the wonderful human being he was, human to include he had shortcomings like we all do.

JM didn't because:

1. He risked diluting what had to be a single minded focus on proving premed and how she carried out the murder.

2. Who Travis was or wasn't had nothing to do with "what this case was about. It was about a scorned woman who exacted revenge for Travis' failure to choose her." . Pg 189.

That's brilliant- keep all focus on the heinous, sadistic murder, and don't get mired in defending Travis (which the DT would have loved!). He's right- it doesn't matter what kind of man he was ; what matters is the premeditated, brutal murder and the psycho who did it. And he stuck to the plan, too.

 

[MsJosie]

To further my theory that Jodi had read about and used the NASA lady who made the marathon car drive all the way in a diaper for attempted murder in a love triangle.....

Look at the dates that happened compared to when JA killed Travis.

Lisa Nowak made her marathon drive in diaper in February 2007
JA killed Travis in June , 2008 if I have the dates right.

Which surprises me no diapers were ever found as evidence. Wonder if any receipts for diapers anywhere? LOL

http://www.denverpost.com/sitemap/ci_5167528

Could she have 'borrowed' the adult diapers possibly from her grandparents? A lot of older folks use them. The grandparents would not notice a few gone, espicially over a month.

 

[Hope4More]

I love this chapter.

1. JM used the killer's words she'd written in the memorial book against her in opening-- Travis as blessing, a blessing rewarded by "sticking a knife in his chest."

2. He heard the DT strategy for 1st time in opening statements....and felt reassured strategically. JW admisssion that the killer did it spared him some work, but more important to him, the DT's immediate focus on the sexual meant the killer would be defined by the sexual- no other intro to her as a person.

3. From opening statement he knew "nothing would be off limits" to the DT.

 

[Hatfield]

Could she have 'borrowed' the adult diapers possibly from her grandparents? A lot of older folks use them. The grandparents would not notice a few gone, espicially over a month.

Its possible and would prevent any record of her purchasing them.
I remember that NASA case made huge national news at the time so I am pretty sure JA was well aware of it as she planned her murder of TA.

 

[Hope4More]

Maybe because I've tried to avoid imagining the murder itself, or because JM wasn't explicit at trial, dunno, but for me this is new:

JM believes the killer continued holding the camera the entire time she slaughtered him, up until the time she had to drop it to use both hands to drag him back to the bathroom.

Sickening feeling- she was trying to film the murder itself?

 

[MaLou]

Maybe because I've tried to avoid imagining the murder itself, or because JM wasn't explicit at trial, dunno, but for me this is new:

JM believes the killer continued holding the camera the entire time she slaughtered him, up until the time she had to drop it to use both hands to drag him back to the bathroom.

Sickening feeling- she was trying to film the murder itself?

First, I want to express my appreciation to you and all of the others who are taking the time to share excerpts from the book.

Secondly, am I remember correctly that somewhere upthread JA was very concerned about a video being retrieved from the camera? Could this by why?

 

[Hope4More]

Oh my is JM not the slightest bit sorry about dropping TA's camera on the floor while Melendez was on the stand.

Because of the time stamps all JW had to work with was a 45 second gap to "prove" self defense.

JM said he didn't plan it, but was responding to JW's---a lot can happen in 45 seconds suggestion.

JM- it was a way of illustrating that (M couldn't say what happened in that time) whatever had happened occurred unexpectedly, just like the camera hitting the floor.

And it showed that just as everyone in the courtroom had been caught by surprise, so had Travis when Arias attacked him with the knife."