The Jodi Arias Death Penalty Retrial (Sentencing): Day 9 "A Juror's Perspective"
We returned to the Superior Court in downtown Phoenix, AZ for the resumption of the Jodi Arias Retrial (Phase 3) the day after Veteran's Day, after a week respite. I went to the Jodi Arias Public Seating room and was happy to see Kathy Brown, a Travis Alexander family supporter whom some call the 'Cane Lady'. I call her a friend. I saw many of the regulars who had been coming to this retrial along with many who had attended the original trial. Most of the talk we shared was of the legal drama that had happened in between sessions.
We were still wondering who the "mystery witness" was prior to the media and public being allowed back in after an Appellate Court ruled that Judge Stevens Sanctions had other alternatives available. Most of us believed that this witness was Jodi Arias. There was a buzz about a motion that Kirk Nurmi had filed alleging prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of Travis Alexander's computer. Files were allegedly deleted with pornography roots. None of us believed that the prosecution team would risk their case with improprieties. It seemed extremely odd that this information was coming out 5 - 6 years after the event. Ironically, there is a thought that the defense had this computer and the thought is they did not follow protocol in turning on the computer and the mystery files may have been deleted by an anti-virus program.
It remains to be seen what the results of this side investigation will be.
We were greeted by Janet, the court assistant, who would lead us up to the courtroom. She gave us the usual rules about behavior in the courtroom. There were to be no beverages or food allowed barring capped bottled water. We were to be silent during Sidebars as well as throughout the proceedings. Additionally, we were told that there was to be no talking whatsoever in the Public Seating Room. We were also told not to discuss the trial and opinions outside the courtroom and we had to be aware of Juror's walking about. If we had to discuss something, we were to walk out of earshot of anyone as our behavior could lead to a mistrial.
The latter were two new rules and we agreed that we would abide by them.
We were escorted to the fifth floor and given our seating arrangements. We were also told that the seats we had were for the day and we had to return to the exact seat we were assigned. The Jury lived by the same rules in the Jury box. It was clear that two original Jurors were missing by the empty seats that none of them were allowed to sit in.
Before the Jury was brought in,Kirk Nurmi presented some arguments to the court. The first was that witnesses were going to be presented out of order which he felt put the defense at a disadvantage.
I can say that as a Juror on the Marissa DeVault Hammer Killing Trial, we saw witnesses out of order more than once and it had no impact on us whatsoever. We took notes on every witness and used the evidence in no particular order. Evidence is referred to when needed and it is definitely not in the order that evidence is presented. One learns that Court proceedings have an aspect of drama to them but, at the same time, it is not laid out for a Jury as one might expect in a movie.
The second motion that Kirk Nurmi discussed was in regards to the sanctions of the media and what he felt was inappropriate filming of Jodi Arias and her mitigation specialist. The Judge watched the short clip from the bench.
Judge Stevens was not prepared to rule on this evidence and ordered the proceedings to continue.
Kirk Nurmi said he would again appeal decisions made by the Court.
At the conclusion of these arguments, the Jury was allowed in. They looked refreshed and ready to proceed. I noted that they were all wearing their Juror badges and seemed to be dressed with care noting dresses and pressed shirts.
The defense presented Dr. Fonseca, a clinical Psychologist specializing in sexual proclivities with 35 years of experience. Her voice sounded remarkably similar to that of Dr. LaViolette from the previous trial. She would speak to the dynamics of the relationship between Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander. She had reviewed a "Voluminous" amount of documentation on their relationship via letters, testimony, videos, phone calls, text messages and emails.
I mentioned in an earlier perspective that Juries like things that they can see, touch, feel and hear. Juries like forensics because it is concrete. They like evidence.
The difficulty with Psychological testimony is that it is inherently difficult for a Juror to interpret because it is subjective in nature. It is an opinion that can be interpreted by different experts in may different ways. It is difficult for a Juror to grasp without questioning its validity.
We spent the day seeing a line by line opinion of Dr. Fonseca on the letters of Sky and Chris Hughes to Travis Alexander and his communications back to them. It was tedious and laborious. I watched the Jury intently throughout the day. I felt that the male Jurors were losing interest in the testimony. This is not to say that the testimony did not have their attention but I felt I knew what they were thinking as the day wore on.
There was a point where Kirk Nurmi put an indecent picture of Travis on the screen at the same time that he had a picture of Travis Alexander and Jodi Arias dressed in religious garb. In the end, I think the point was that Travis was conflicted and it was in direct conflict of church teachings.
Travis Alexander was a young man. I can comfortably say that the person I present myself as in church is not always the same as I might present in 'real life'.
Travis Alexander was a human being who was subject to the pitfalls that many young men go through at that age.
I can see that the Jury will struggle with the thought that this human behavior cannot be countered with the horrific death he suffered. I find, as I found in the DeVault Trial, that the Psychological testimony has a very small bearing against the death of the victim. In my case, it was the cruel death of Dale Harrell. In this case, it is the cruel death of Travis Alexander.
The Jury will struggle with the Psychological testimony...that is until they meet Dr. DeMarte. I refer to her as the Psycho-Killer in my book. The Jury doesn't know she is coming and I believe she will greatly minimize the testimony of Dr. Fonseca.
I don't believe the Jury will be able to see past the multitude of evidence of the murder. I don't believe they can qualify his cruel death with this testimony.
I willl post Day 10 tomorrow...Thank you for reading, liking and sharing.
Justice for Travis.
Justice for Dale.
Paul A. Sanders, Jr.
The 13th Juror MD @ The13thJurorMD (Twitter)
The 13th Juror MD @ The13thJurorMD (Twitter)
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