Retrial for Sentencing of Jodi Arias - Day 19 - Shortest Court Day, EVER

[hindsight2020]

Me neither. My biggest issue with Stephens, apart from obvious lack of expediency, is her willingness to throw out the constitution in favor of the defendant's rights and conduct a trial with such secrecy.

IMO, America's courtrooms are something the rest of the world should aspire to. Obviously, I'm biased being American. No justice system is perfect but the transparency of the US justice system is something nearly sacred to me. Over here, not only do you have a secret court - literally - see link below, but you have little in way of reporting before and during trial in normal court, due to draconian broadcasting laws supposedly designed to ensure a defendant's rights. Considering victims are often named, illegally, on social media; sentences are routinely investigated for leniency; and several judges have been heavily scrutinized for comments made during trial and/or sentencing (like one judge stating a 13 year old seduced a sexual predator that groomed and assaulted her) - I think this side of the pond has a long way to go. It's arguable that an open courtroom, and true transparency, would go a long way in alleviating many blights to our justice system.

That Stephens is conducting a trial essentially in a constant sidebar with sealed documents, unnamed witnesses, and a closed courtroom, is extremely worrisome from the 'outside' looking in.

JMO and FWIW

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/jun/14/what-are-secret-courts

I understand the legal system as well as the theory of relativity, but I will say this, even with transparency, our justice system is *not on equal footing across the board. I wholeheartedly believe if JA was a man, a death sentence would have been imposed by the first jury, but instead we heard of a male foreman pleading for the killer’s life and another handful of tearful jurors. If anything, they should have been crying for Travis and his family, it doesn’t make sense how they got it wrong.

*A classic example of the disparity, go figure:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/u...le-defendants-receive-death-penalty.html?_r=0

Secrecy tends to make this trial all the more frustrating. In the end, who knows, maybe there will be an explanation to this madness and we will feel and think differently then. On a positive note, I am thankful and glad she was found guilty of murder and it is my hope, she will never see the outside of a prison for the rest of her miserable existence.

 

[Kensie]

I just hope that the jury is not seeing the killer as a 'real' person (I know she is ) and kind of developing some type of attachment to her.
As time goes on, 'the attachment' may mess with their 'Yes, I can give a DP sentence'.

 

[Wolfpack Fan]

Jodi has told so many lies. I have always doubted the sex right after her baptism. Travis's religion seemed to be so important to him, and Jodi has turned it into a joke. She gets away with some of the lies because she slaughtered the only person who could call her out on it. Plus she had five years to come up with all of these incidents. If Jodi wore a French maid's outfit while she cleaned Travis's house, we would have seen plenty of pictures of her in a French maid's outfit. She's such a liar that I don't trust anything she has said unless it has been verified by someone else who is credible.

 

[Kensie]

If she really did wear a French Maid costume, she definitely would have taken selfies. We all know how 'hot' she thought she looked. Really, so what if she wore a costume. Who gives a flip?

 

[TexMex]

There are support websites for capital defense attorneys. With a member login, you can download form motions, get advice from other members, etc.

Ha! They have them for vets too 🐶

 

[rose222]

Jodi has told so many lies. I have always doubted the sex right after her baptism. Travis's religion seemed to be so important to him, and Jodi has turned it into a joke. She gets away with some of the lies because she slaughtered the only person who could call her out on it. Plus she had five years to come up with all of these incidents. If Jodi wore a French maid's outfit while she cleaned Travis's house, we would have seen plenty of pictures of her in a French maid's outfit. She's such a liar that I don't trust anything she has said unless it has been verified by someone else who is credible.

I agree. I don't believe anything she says, not a single thing!

Her stories about her miserable childhood--I'd say she had an average one. No abuse unless you consider Arias as the perpetrator.

Her relationship with Travis--there wasn't one. They went on a few dates. Much ado about nothing. I'll never believe that Travis proposed to her. Did not happen! And, of course, there was no abuse.

Their hot and steamy intimate life--a few weeks' worth and NOT right after her baptism. Typical, over the top lie by Arias. She blames Travis for defiling her baptism. Of course it's not her fault!

Finances -- I don't believe that she ever lent Travis money. It was quite the opposite as Travis gave her money, food etc. She was broke most of the time.

Her ramblings about friends--She had none unless you count some of her ex-boyfriends.

And, of course, everything she has said post-murder. Lies, lies, all lies!


I don't believe anything she says. If I were a juror in this case then I would completely ignore her testimony. I only want the truth by way of solid facts/hardcore evidence.

 

[daisydomino]

She wasn't buying it. She was paying him restitution for trashing his car. Neither his or her insurance would cover it, due to her negligence.

franquerolane, this makes sense, and now that you mention it I don't know how I never thought about it before. I don't mean to be pedantic, I just want to read more. Do you have a link or other citation?

Here's what she told Det. Flores about the car/payments during her phone call with him:

DF: Yeah.
JA: and even when things were bad between us, he was always…he would give his last…He would give his last dollar…his last whatever. He um…He was selling me his BMW, and I was actually supposed to e-mail

DF: Yeah, you mentioned that. You kind of burned it out or something.
JA: Yeah. Well, you said you found my check…in his house?

1:06:52
DF: A check…Oh yeah…the check that you gave him for a payment.
JA: Yeah. I made…Um…I guess like I…it’s just so dumb, like it seems so unimportant but I guess I need to know if that check (giggles) is going to be deposited any time soon?

1:07:07
DF: No. No. After his death it can’t be deposited. So…
JA: Really…?

DF: Yeah.
1:07:12
JA: Okay. Well, then I’ll just consider that…whatever and I’ll still owe him the full balance until they figure out what they‘re going to do. Honestly, I trashed his car and he took it so well. Um…we were trying to figure out between my lawyers and his lawyers and Prepaid Legal and the insurance and U-Haul who was going to be held liable and, you know, it didn’t matter who was held liable, the fact was, that was a debt that I promised to pay and it’s just money and it isn’t worth, you know anything so um…I mean as far as him getting any (?) tensions over so um…He would never…He never had any doubt that I would pay him back but he was trying to do what was difficult because he was trying to um…work with the insurance um…to hold U-Haul accountable over how it had all gone down. He said the engine just blew up

1:07:57
DF: Now the vehicle was still in his name, correct?
JA: Yeah. He still has the… He was going to hold the title until I paid it, the balance in full.

DF: Okay. Did you guys have a written contract or anything?
JA: I had yeah … what I did is I typed out an e-mail to him and I sent it and um…I just wrote back, “Just reply, I agree if you agree with this,” and he wrote back um…something about you didn’t say anything about you’re on your own insurance and so I said, Okay and amended that, I think, and then wrote back to him, and so that was our agreement. Our agreement was I pay him what I can each month until the balance is paid off, and I…I take care of general maintenance like oil changes and tires and things like that.

1:08:30
DF: I don’t know what’s going on with that, with his car or anything or if it’s still at the shop, but his family
JA: I think it’s sitting there collecting dust um…
DF: Yeah, his family is dealing with that because it’s still considered one of his assets and it goes in…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmXxck9IiFQ

Thank you TxJan1971! Your transcripts are such a great reference! Naturally, since it's JA speaking, I have to doubt this account of what happened with the car.

 

[zqtpie]

I've been wondering all along how Jodi managed to overpower a bigger, stronger Travis so completely that she barely suffered a scratch. I am thinking that she asked him to allow the water to run over his face (for a more Calvin Kleiny look), like he had just surfaced from a pool. (There is that haunting photo of Travis just before the slaughter). Anyway, I think he had water in his eyes at that point and of course, wasn't expecting a sudden, deep knife stab...he must have become disoriented immediately since he was caught so off-guard.

 

[Steely Dan]

I cannot excuse away the fact that she just point-blank ignored the COA's ruling.

We're teetering on the brink of a mistrial anyway. This Judge couldn't care less about the jurors. It is extremely stressful to be a juror on a death-penalty case. Jurors from the first trial talked about having nightmares, insomnia etc.

She didn't ignore the COA ruling. Nurmi appealed it and she has to wait for the answer on appeal, IIRC.

Hi Steely ~ ILTBP was joking :giggle:
Yeah, it was all lies. It's when she was still in Yreka, and claiming the ninjas did it.
JM should show this clip to the court. Proves she's lying about the threats she receives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxU8qKolYJA

I'm surprised she said it was handed to her and not that it was dropped into her cell and fell down in that chaotic way that threatening notes do.

Looking at the glass half full....It may not seem like it at the moment, but the DT's case is very nearly over. There are no 14 new witnesses. Geffner may or may not testify about *advertiser censored*; if and when he does, that'll be it for his direct. Pseudonym may testify, but there's no way IMO the DT would keep him on the stand for very long, and its doubtful they will make the mistake of parading clueless BN in front of the jury at all.

And that's it, save for a handful of affidavits. And OK, the possibility of JA returning to the stand. I imagine she wants her star turn there, but if she does testify, I can't believe the DT would allow her too many days- too much risk of alienating the jury and of opening herself up to a devastating cross by JM.

We're betting on when this will end, right? My bet is that JSS will rule on the many motions within one week, that the DT will take another 2 weeks to wrap up, that JM's case will last no longer than a week, and that the jury will be deliberating by the end of February.

I picked April Fools day.

http://jodiariastrialtruth.blogspot...d-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

Don't know if this has been posted, but it really explained the computer mess so I could understand how devious the DT is.

Awesome read. All is now clear. Thank you!!!

Great article.

Some good stuff there (if you can get past the typos). One aspect is really a simple question. Did Travis have all these "blockers" because he was trying to hide his *advertiser censored* habit or because he was trying to fight something that had been planted maliciously (by bad code or by JA) that he couldn't figure out how to get rid of? I'm going to guess at least a few of the jurors have been through infections where you start downloading all sort of things to try to get rid of something that has invaded your computer. Having lots of "blockers" is a sign of trying to avoid all this stuff, not to participate in it and hide from it.

According to the article some pop ups will appear that say you have a virus and then trick you into buying and downloading a program that contains more virus'. I believe I fell for that once a long time ago.

BTW, I love your avatar. :giggle:

Is anyone willing to catch me up on what is happening in the courtroom?

Last I knew court closed Monday for Juan to have time to interview Sue Doe Nimh. There was a 4 pm discussion (closed courtroom) on Monday (I think) and something yesterday.

Do we have more info on what might be going down next?

Are the jurors showing up each morning only to be sent home?

Any info is helpful - TIA!

BBM

What's happening in the courtroom is nothing, seriously, nothing.

Thanks for the poll daisydomino.

I chose Feb 29 because the media motion will be dealt with tomorrow and it looks like porngate will be addressed in the courtroom tomorrow. The judge has said she won't wait for the court of appeals decision so most of the holdups should be dealt with soon.

We all know once Juan gets up things move along fast.

At this point, I haven't entered panic mode about losing jurors. If they start dropping I will, but I think they're in for the long haul.

At the risk of getting hammered with rotten tomatoes, I kinda hope the jury takes a week to deliberate. I feel like the DT deserves to wait for an answer after the games they've played. Once the jury gets the case, they hold all the power for a change. Waiting for the decision will be excruciating for them. (Well us too, LOL.)

I'll be here until the end, but sometimes I have to take a step back to avoid WS jail myself.

Love reading everyone's thoughts.

I'll stick around because I'm dying to see the final outcome of computergate.

 

[franquerolane]

As to further reading, which I've been doing all morning, there are several articles on this site to read, all of them well thought out.
http://jodiariastrialtruth.blogspot.com/2014/12/dismissal-of-charges-removal-of-dp.html

On another subject, I read somewhere that the word on the $699 check was air fare..

 

[LinasK]

I supported JSS through the first trial and even through the beginning of this one. However, this trial and her courtroom are out of hand. The jurors were told this portion of the trial would go until December 18. Now, we haven't even had how many days of court? It's January 6th and still there is no testimony, let alone are we on to rebuttal. JSS needs better court management, period. While I personally feel this way, I am not bashing her. It's just a fact. Her time management is seriously lacking in the mitigation phase. This entire delay of the "secret witness" is on her and her alone. She should have never had JA testify in secret. The jurors deserve better than this and when you go into jury service, you can expect a week or two delay, but months? That is ridiculous. JMO

In regards to it being all on the defense team, that is not true. She does have the ability to rule from the bench and deny most of this stuff on the spot. The defense is only doing what she is allowing them to do. It's her courtroom, not the defense teams courtroom. JMO, again.

Still not "bashing" her. Promise.

Yet all these worries about the jurors not hanging in there have not happened. They went on with their holidays and we haven't lost any more despite all the defense team delays. I think she's giving them so much latitude because Death is different, and she doesn't want the verdict overturned on appeal.

 

[AZlawyer]

She didn't ignore the COA ruling. Nurmi appealed it and she has to wait for the answer on appeal, IIRC.

<respectfully snipped>

She actually does not have to wait for the answer on appeal unless the appellate court says so.

 

[LinasK]

How is criticising the judge's decisions bashing her? There are well reasoned arguments and examples that show she is majorly failing at her job as a JUDGE and making things worse. The DT's stalling tactics would not work if they were not acceded to by the judge; she has given them mind-boggling leeway (and BTW, is dragging her feet on making any rulings on the plethora of motions before her). I think that even Juan can't save this if he doesn't get to speak before the jury till 2016.


IMO, the DT is waging a war of attrition. With the judge's help, a mistrial might happen.

It's not gonna go 'till 2016. There's only so much the DT can pull. We haven't lost any more jurors to attrition yet despite everyone's fears. Juan has gotten the DP for a woman in AZ before and he'll do it again. I remain confident.

 

[Predator]

I've been wondering all along how Jodi managed to overpower a bigger, stronger Travis so completely that she barely suffered a scratch. I am thinking that she asked him to allow the water to run over his face (for a more Calvin Kleiny look), like he had just surfaced from a pool. (There is that haunting photo of Travis just before the slaughter). Anyway, I think he had water in his eyes at that point and of course, wasn't expecting a sudden, deep knife stab...he must have become disoriented immediately since he was caught so off-guard.

This is ,seriously, some weird cogitation which completely ignores the whole "flight-or-fight" instinct thingy.

 

[LinasK]

JSS's court calendar. Click on Crimal Cases, and check the calendar for a week. She handles many cases. I know of at least 3 or 4 other are murder cases by checking court records on the list. She handles so many in and out cases (gang busts, drug busts with multiple people) every morning, it's no wonder they are always starting 15 minutes late or so. Also by checking you can find out who's cases, like Jodi's, she's handling each day. Holidays & weekends seem to delay updates on cases once in a while. jmo

https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/Docket/

As far as Jodi's case. The defense created a snafu. One thing can't move until the first one is resolved thereby stalling JA's penalty. (drama) Computer *advertiser censored*, secret testimony & continuing with Geffner and so on for a finale... jmo again.

Thank-you! :clap::clap::clap:This is not all JSS's fault as some would like to believe.

 

[LinasK]

IIRC, JA said when she got to TA's that morning they were watching a video of Daft Punk and Nurmi tried to make it sound pornographic because it was the song "Harder Better Faster Stronger". Lord, that in itself made me sick the way he was using the words separately to try to suggest each was pornographic....yuk!!
IMO, maybe Travis was into watching YouTube video's. That article mentioned getting all sorts of things from video's. I get into a mood sometimes to watch a lot of video's of old 70's/80's songs....God only knows what type of stuff is on my computer...hope I don't get murdered and have a defense dope like Nurmi poking around my business and find all sorts of bizarre chit....LOL

I've had a Trojan on my computer before, they are nasty in what destruction they will do to your computer. I no longer use that Desktop to access the internet anymore because it was turned into a slave and sending out e-mail viruses to people in my contact list, even ones I hadn't contacted in over 10 years! I got it from opening an e-mail I didn't recognize that got onto my computer.

 

[slinkpod]

Thanks for the poll daisydomino.

I chose Feb 29 because the media motion will be dealt with tomorrow and it looks like porngate will be addressed in the courtroom tomorrow. The judge has said she won't wait for the court of appeals decision so most of the holdups should be dealt with soon.

We all know once Juan gets up things move along fast.

At this point, I haven't entered panic mode about losing jurors. If they start dropping I will, but I think they're in for the long haul.

At the risk of getting hammered with rotten tomatoes, I kinda hope the jury takes a week to deliberate. I feel like the DT deserves to wait for an answer after the games they've played. Once the jury gets the case, they hold all the power for a change. Waiting for the decision will be excruciating for them. (Well us too, LOL.)

I'll be here until the end, but sometimes I have to take a step back to avoid WS jail myself.

Love reading everyone's thoughts.

I don't see a Feb 29 on my calendar this year. There is one in 2016, though.

 

[Frigga]

I picked 6-4-2015 for the jurors to announce their verdict to "Ma'am" Arias. The significance of that particular date would be poetic justice. Sorta' like "what goes around comes around..." JMO

... especially if it's a verdict of death!

 

[LinasK]

If I'm having a particularly optimistic day then I think May 2015. On a 'Negative Nelly' day I say September 2015. Of course a mistrial is a possibility as well. I wonder how many members here are going to hang on till the end.

I will unless real life intercedes, no reason not to. I believe in Juan and JSS. The blame belongs fairly and squarely on the DT. There will not be a mistrial due to juror attrition as everyone fears.

 

[bsk]

She didn't ignore the COA ruling. Nurmi appealed it and she has to wait for the answer on appeal, IIRC.

(Respectfully snipped to only one of the replies that was included.)

I would argue that she DID ignore the COA. They said to release it and she could have done so within a day or two unless Laurence obtained a stay.

IIRC.... She let it linger for weeks to wait for the written ruling and then waited for weeks more after that to schedule a hearing about releasing it when there is no question about releasing it to discuss. They overturned her ruling in November, but she sat on it instead of forcing Laurence to try to get a stay. He didn't really need to do that until this month.

Maybe my recollections are off in places (anyone feel free to correct me), but it sure seemed to me like she slow-walked it when she had no good reason to.