Weki...
I'm on my phone and can't cut/paste, bold, etc, so am replying here, and just on a few of your points.
First, though, thanks for your civility, and for the thoughtfulness of your opinions.
1. Agreeing to disagree works for me, especially when the subjects at hand have been thoroughly dissected, discussed and analyzed, and especially when opinions are based on subjective aspects of the trial.
I like JM's style, and think it's effective. My approval may in part be because aggressive intellectual combat is one of my hobbies. And sarcastism comes as readily to me as it seems to with JM, at least during trial.
Overall, do I believe JM's style won the day & trial, and no other approach could have? Nope. But I do think his aggressiveness with the killer, which resulted time and again in her revealing her real self, was in fact key to her conviction.
I also think there was purpose to his doing battle with Sam & LaV. They would have been recalcitrant no matter what, because yes, of course, they get paid to disagree with the State.
They did reveal their own bias etc, but not without it being beaten out of them. What JM elicited by beating it out of them was the extent of their unprofessionalism. And, most damaging, that unprofessionalism made his point they both seemed mightily more like advocates for the killer than dispassionate, objective experts.
2. Is the killer a special kind of monster, or not unlike others with her disorders we've seen at other trials? Well, yes and no, IMO. Monster isn't a word that works for me in any case, so I'll stick with "sociopathic remorseless murderer (SRM). "
No, I don't think she was extra-specially sociopathic or remorseless, and though stabbing a victim dozens of times, nearly decapitating him & shooting him to boot qualifies IMO as a very brutal murder, it isn't singular in it's viciousness. So there's that.
But, I also believe what makes her different, though not unique, is the degree of her sadism. Not most notably as reflected in the murder itself, but in the deep pleasure she took (and still takes) in causing the maximum amount of pain she can to those who dared to love TA. Monster isn't a word I use, but I can readily understand why others might.
3. As you well know, those one or 2 jurors don't always "come around," no matter the strength of the case presented. It's just a wild guess, but my bet is that the guilt phase trial jury would have hung if, say, the holdout juror of PP2 had been on it.
4. Killer on the stand. No, it's not typical for a DP defendant to take the stand. IIRC, Nurmi didn't want her to, though of course she couldn't resist being the star of her own show, who absolutely believed she could con the jury into an acquittal, or at least, out of convicting her for 1st degree murder.
The quite sympathetic to her jury foreman said afterwards that her time on the stand worked against her ("did her no favors," to paraphrase).
5. Last. Sorry to disappoint, but the theory you mention isn't mine. It might be the only theory I never entertained/argued, actually, lol.
[ First part aside.. some of my few constants are that I never believed he knew she was coming & I don't
believe he was remotely happy to see her. That he deleted the AM photos within a few hours IMO, without her knowledge, suggests to me other reasons why he agreed to the photo taking. (Hi, Geevee.
)