The Jodi Arias Trial--Fatal Attraction – The Murder of Travis Alexander

[username]

The only question in my mind is if she'll get the death penalty.

[DMP]

I also want to know where she is getting the 'whole fight took about one minute' idea from. Nothing like that was ever discussed by an expert in testimony, correct?

She's a master of deductive reasoning, DMP.

Hard to follow such advanced logic as Joyce's, but if I had to guess, I think the genius is using the approximate difference between the time stamp from the last picture of Travis apparently unharmed (where Jodi got him vulnerably sitting cross-legged on the shower floor) and the accidental picture of Jodi dragging his body. However, I don't believe the one minute hypothesis has been posed by any experts. And, even if the whole fight (I say ambush) lasted one minute before Travis could no longer attempt to defend himself, it says nothing about the severity of pain inflicted upon him.

Of course, nobody knows if he was alive or dead when she was dragging him or how long Travis Alexander suffered before dying. But, there's no doubt that he suffered excruciatingly before bleeding out or being put out by the post-knifing shot to the head.

Great point, HotD. I had temporarily forgotten about those last few photos. This case is so convoluted at times, it's easy to lose track of some of it.

[thekid65]

One can't help but wonder if Arias, right after Florez brought her in for questioning the first time, would have said 3 simple words, how different this case would be:

"I want a lawyer"

[HairOfTheDog]

One can't help but wonder if Arias, right after Florez brought her in for questioning the first time, would have said 3 simple words, how different this case would be:

"I want a lawyer"

She runs the show with her lawyers; I'm not sure how different the case would be if she'd asked for a lawyer before her arrest. Jodi needs to be in control and talk and spin, imo. She thought she was smarter than police and too smart for attorneys; still does.

She called Mesa PD offering to assist in the investigation before police ever contacted her. The first lawyer assigned to her case asked to be removed when Jodi changed her story for the third time and started with all of the abuse and pedo stuff (but, I don't know if Washington quit because of those allegations specifically).

Here's Jodi's letter to the prosecution offering to plea down to 2^nd Degree back in July 2011. This was written almost a year after she sent her first letter for the same purpose, without getting a response. When this follow-up plea request was first published, it read a lot like blackmail to me (still does) - threatening to reflect poorly on the Mormon church, Travis's friend, and Travis's reputation if the state and Alexander's family didn't agree to downgrade her charges. This letter was clearly written by Jodi (not her counsel; it's got Jodi written all over it). In it, there's a reference to how her new strategy to present Travis as an abuser would add a layer of authenticity to "the letters".

The plea letter:
http://grahamwinch.files.wordpress.com/2...ngfile.pdf

Jodi represented herself for a couple of weeks in August 2011, after her 2^nd Degree plea request was denied. At that time, she tried to introduce "the letters" into evidence. The letters were supposedly from Travis and abusive towards Jodi. In them, he admits to being a pedophile. Well, they were electronic copies, Jodi wouldn't say who/how she got them in jail, and the prosecution claimed its experts deemed them to be forgeries. She thought she was smarter than the judge and experts, but that didn't pan out. The letters were tossed out as potential evidence by the judge and have never been mentioned in court (yet?).

Notice in the plea letter that lovely Jodi ends by stating that she is making such a generous offer because she has grave regrets about all the "falsehoods" she'd already made to the media and how they must have caused the Alexander family more pain.

She's a vicious bitch and Nurmi's been stuck with her for years. I bet he can't wait to be done with her. He drew the short straw on this one, no doubt.

[koko]

... would have said 3 simple words, how different this case would be:

"I want a lawyer"

4 words.



Yeah i've thought about that too. I think at one point during testimony she said she "didn't realize" she could just stay quiet.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think that Jodi Arias just can't be quiet.

She was read her Miranda Rights in the taped interview with Flores; she said that she wanted to talk and didn't want a lawyer. She knew she could just not talk.

Then she did the interview with Inside Edition where she said no jury would ever convict her and to mark her words on that. By that time, she had a lawyer who'd told her not to do any interviews. On direct, she claimed that she did the Inside Edition interview anyway because some female guard (unidentified) encouraged her to do it.

Jose Baez was able to manage Casey Anthony, to some degree, and keep her from doing media interviews. No one's been able to stop Jodi from talking and presenting things her way.

If she'd not initiated contact with police first, asked for a lawyer and followed her lawyers' instructions once she had them, maybe this trial would be more focused on the bloody print, hair, and photos - the forensic evidence - and a lawyer could have managed a more sellable story. Or, maybe it would still be a bash the victim self-defense trial, only without so many inconsistencies in her various stories. Interesting question to consider.

[BlueTiki]

. . . Jodi's letter to the prosecution offering to plea down to 2^nd Degree back in July 2011. This was written almost a year after she sent her first letter for the same purpose, without getting a response.

Golly!

Never mentions or hints that the killing was a necessity for her survival.

Not once!

And the cases she cites to support a lesser charge have nothing to do with self-defense.

So it's: "Yup. I killed him for reasons other than self-defense."

Yeah.

This bitch is on the level while testifying.

[username]

Yeah, well the relationship was chaotic so that makes the killing okay.

[HairOfTheDog]

. . . Jodi's letter to the prosecution offering to plea down to 2^nd Degree back in July 2011. This was written almost a year after she sent her first letter for the same purpose, without getting a response.

Golly!

Never mentions or hints that the killing was a necessity for her survival.

Not once!

And the cases she cites to support a lesser charge have nothing to do with self-defense.

So it's: "Yup. I killed him for reasons other than self-defense."

Yeah.

This bitch is on the level while testifying.

How'd you like the line stating that although a felony murder conviction was a legal and factual possibility, it would require a "feat of mental gymnastics" convincing a jury to convict Jodi of capital murder?

Again with the, "no jury will ever convict me, mark my words" sentiment. I wonder if she still believes that to be true.

Course, the jury knows nothing about the plea requests and the letter forgeries, but hoping they can see by her own testimony that she will say and do anything to avoid taking responsibility for her actions. Anything.

"I lied before in order to protect Travis's reputation". Yeah, sure. She's still lying in attempt to destroy his reputation; whatever it takes to save her own ass.

[HairOfTheDog]

I really like this sequential collage format that Sphincter Cop posted.


Jodi got Travis sitting on the shower floor for the last focused pic at 5:30:30. To me it looks like his legs are crossed, but maybe they're just crunched? Either way, he's way more vulnerable than standing. On cross, Martinez wanted to make it clear that this was the last "intentional" shot, but Jodi claimed it could have been one of the accidental ones.

Hadn't thought too much about how far that alone goes towards premeditation (that she directed Travis to sit on a wet shower floor all crunched up right before we know she killed him) till I read some of the juror questions and answers that I missed today:

Juror Question: If you were kneeling when you dropped the camera, how did it roll as far as it did?
ARIAS: It didn't really roll very far. It just kind of gave a bounce or two and maybe rolled, like right here. It didn't roll very far.

Juror Question: Was Travis sitting down when you dropped the camera?
ARIAS: Yes, he was. I think so.

The "camera-drop leads to vicious attack by Travis" scenario just doesn't make any sense at all, logically or from her physical description of events. I hope this is one area that Martinez focuses on when he resumes questioning Jodi. No camera drop/bounce = no attack = no self defense.

[username]

I was disgusted today. CNN had Baez on for commentary.

[HairOfTheDog]

CASE DOCS

I didn't follow this investigation very closely till this year; got absorbed with the Casey Anthony fiasco.

Here are some documents that I've rather recently found/read related to the Travis Alexander murder and Jodi Arias trial. These are docs/evidence which have been referred to and shown in the trial, if anyone's interested. Some have previously been posted throughout the thread.

Travis Alexander Autopsy Report:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac...TL8lMcQcBg

Probable Cause Report:
http://www.azcentral.com/kpnx/pdf/jodi_arias0911.pdf

August 2008 - Supplemental incident report by Flores: details crime scene, interviews with roommates and friends, overview of Jodi Arias's initial contacts with police...
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac...QhMKmuG8_g

Diary Entries, Emails, Texts, Receipts, etc.:
This is a public photobucket with screenshots of the communications and receipts which were shown in court. I found a lot of photobucket accounts for the trial, but this one has the communications between Travis and Jodi without thousands of shots of Jodi testifying. Fairly easy to find specific ones.
Note: the latest screenshots in a string of communications is posted first in the album; click on the last image in the string to enlarge and then navigate backwards using the "previous" arrow.
http://s1352.photobucket.com/albums/q650/tabularasa6/

Other docs, not referenced in trial:

July 2011: Arias's defense team request for 2^nd Degree Murder Plea (quotes portions of Arias's plea request letter from Oct 2010 which I haven't seen published separately anywhere).
http://grahamwinch.files.wordpress.com/2...ngfile.pdf

[BlueTiki]

Here's a quick recap for trial watchers everywhere.

Shhhhh . . . this is super secret stuff from my high powered connections.

[HairOfTheDog]

That's great!

Can't watch today or tomorrow; hope they do another recap.

[BlueTiki]

I think it's great that Jodi remembers the verbal tirades, from Travis, sparking her "fear" and varied murderous activities.

Aural recall is good.

I'm having difficulty remembering if, at anytime during her recollection of events, she claimed to have warned, yelled at or pleaded with Travis to "STOP!" before defending herself?

I'm sure she verbally communicated her intentions of not wanting to harm him while he pursued her frightened fleeing self.

Oh, how she loved him!

[Duchess]

Here's a quick recap for trial watchers everywhere.

Hahahaha! Tiki, that is hysterical! I laughed all the way through it, loved when he asked how old she is. I want to see more!

[username]

That video was awesome!!!

[username]

It will be interesting to see if the defense experts can even slightly pull Jodi out of the massive sinkhole she's in. The gun story keeps changing (I thought she originally said she shot him from the hallway but somehow that's changed to the bathroom now?). Holster, no holster, box, no box. The time discrepancies, the shelving. I can not imagine anything less than premeditated murder. No way.

[HairOfTheDog]

It will be interesting to see if the defense experts can even slightly pull Jodi out of the massive sinkhole she's in. The gun story keeps changing (I thought she originally said she shot him from the hallway but somehow that's changed to the bathroom now?). Holster, no holster, box, no box. The time discrepancies, the shelving. I can not imagine anything less than premeditated murder. No way.

I don't think that they can pull her out of the sinkhole either. The more she testified, the worse it got.

On Sunday, I tried to catch up and read all of the evidence that I'm aware the jury will have as reference in deliberations. Imo, none of it, not the forensics, not the police reports, not the communications between Jodi and Travis, not Jodi's journal, and not Jodi's own testimony (even as she lies and adds new details that she thinks will reflect better on her story) in any way supports a self defense claim.

My sister told me that Jodi intimated yesterday that Travis might have been holding the knife, to explain how she got it and used it so quickly. She also introduced something about Travis loading the gun in the months prior to the killing to explain why she would have risked her life going for what she previously testified she thought was an unloaded gun. The jury's gotta see her story changing even throughout her testimony, despite having 5 years to craft it. She's proven that she's still a liar and it has nothing to do with protecting Travis's reputation.

Really wanna see closing arguments; don't mind missing the rest of it. I think if Martinez can show via transaction records that the 3^rd gas can was never returned and reminds the jury what a huge coincidence it is that Gramps's .25 caliber was stolen right before the shooting, there can't be any reasonable doubt that it was planned and premeditated, regardless of why exactly she killed him or whether the shooting or knifing came first.

What she did to Travis Alexander was so vicious and cruel, I don't think anyone on the jury, having seen those photos, would want her walking around freely ever again. Imo, ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ whether she gets the DP or LWOP. So hoping this jury doesn't surprise me with anything less.

[BlueTiki]

Well, well, well . . .

Prepare to hear testimony of crime scenes: Expressive v. Premeditated.

In other words: The Alexander crime scene is characteristic of an EXPRESSIVE (unplanned) homicide rather than a Premeditated crime scene.

Recess to allow prosecution to interview Arias's expert.

Trial resumes at 1:15 MST.