The Jodi Arias Death Penalty Retrial (Sentencing): Day 11 - "A Juror's Perspective."
I have empathy for the Jury.
It is an emotion I was not allowed as a Juror on the Marissa DeVault Hammer Killing Trial earlier this year. I, along with eleven others, were not allowed to feel empathy or sympathy.
I sit in the Gallery as an observer for the Jodi Arias Trial on the days when the Jury is present. I am allowed to have sympathy and empathy and I do my best to stay away from bias although in this case, however, I know how I feel about the defendant and her premeditated and heinous killing of Travis Alexander.
I have empathy for the Jury after 3 days of listening to the testimony of Dr. Fonseca.
In the trial for the search for Justice in the death of Dale Harrell, we, the Jury suffered through 9 days of Psychologists on the witness stand spread over Phase one and Phase three of the trial. In the first phase, the Psychologists were presented by the defense to show that Dale Harrell abused and raped his wife.
We spent a full day with Dr. Websdale and Dr. Conti "educating" the Jury on what abuse is and where it comes from. None of the evidence had a direct correlation to the victim or the defendant. I remember when we were finally dispatched to the Jury room to discuss the case, all of us felt that the time could have been better spent. We were a note taking Jury and multiple pages of notes accounted for about an hour of discussion in our deciding if the victim, Dale Harrell, was a person who abused his wife. We determined unanimously and quickly, that Dale never laid a finger on anyone much less his wife.
We also determined, through the damaging testimony of Dr. DeMarte, that the evidence presented by the defense was damaged material due to the fact that DeVault's answers on various Psychological Examinations were tainted heavily by "malingering". Malingering is that type of answer on an exam that can be swayed as "faking good" (e.g., I'm an Angel and would not do such a thing) or "faking bad" (e.g.,I am screwed up in the head because I was abused and that's why I did it).
We determined that the defendant was a liar, could not be trusted and had faked her answers so that it would benefit her.
It sounds exactly like someone we know.
I remember our frustration at sitting through hours and hours of this type of testimony. In my book, Brain Damage: A Juror's Tale (Amazon.com), I said that going through this testimony in a Jury box felt like we plowed through it. It was tedious and long and only a few tidbits were actually used in our eventual determinations.
We also learned that these experts are paid $250 - $300 an hour.
The day started with seven Jurors in the Arias Retrial furiously taking notes. I noticed some improvement a few days ago when Judge Stevens encouraged the Jury to take notes during the playing of the Freeman testimony of the previous trial. This particular piece would not be allowed back in the Jury Room.
Today, the day ended with one Juror taking notes.
This Jury felt the torture we felt in the DeVault Trial. The only Psychological witness that we liked was Dr. DeMarte. We liked her because her testimony made forward progress. She was able to use actual documentation to prove her case. She was endearing as well as she was smart. We loved her.
In this Trial, It has taken the defense three days of repeatedly telling the Jury that Travis' sex life was against the precepts of the church. I heard Juan Martinez object 9 times on the basis of "Already asked and answered".
I can comfortably say that the Jury is irritated and not only at what happened at the conclusion of the day. Seventeen people were selected because they are reasonable. A reasonable man or woman in a Jury box is not looking for information on Travis Alexander.
They want to know why Jodi Arias killed Travis Alexander in cold blood (as predetermined by the first Jury) and what made Jodi Arias do this cruel and heinous act.
The defense is working against itself and the Jury is annoyed. I can see it by their squirming in their seats. I can see it by their getting a cup of water from the pitcher in front of them just to give them something to do. I can see it by one remaining Juror taking notes by the end of the day.
Just when the Jury thought it couldn't get worse, it was announced that Court would be recessed for an additional two days due to an "emergency situation". These things happen and it is useless to speculate why. We went through a good number of delays in the DeVault Trial and never found out why.
These delays strain the Jury financially because they are not compensated for "Dark" days. They won't complain as everyone knows the process of Justice can be slow. The unexpected delay breaks the rhythm of the trial for the Juror. The delays wear on the Jury especially in light of the Holidays around the corner. They have families and trips to prepare for but are starting to realize this Trial may go past the Holidays. This will irritate them.
These delays are dangerous not as much for the inconvenience but because of their eventual impact in the Jury room. Their lives have been put on hold. The longer the delays, the greater the possibility of Jurors "rushing to Judgement". Jurors are human and at some point, this frustration does boil over in the Jury room.
I know as I have been there.
The Jury will take their two days off and they will think: Why are we destroying the victim, Travis Alexander? Is the defense trying to say that Travis was somehow responsible for his own murder?
They don't believe Travis was responsible in any way for his murder because there has been no evidence presented that supports this idea.
They want to know why Jodi Arias did it, what made her do it and, most importantly, is she remorseful for her act.
None of those questions have been answered and this is going to bother every single member on the Jury for the next two days.
The saddest part is that we will probably never know the answer as to the why and what.
We also know she is not remorseful and that will damage her the most in the end.
Trust me on that.
Thanks for reading and feel free to share, comment and like.
Also, Scorned aired on Discovery ID this week which is a dramatization of the events of the trial I was on. I think you'll find it interesting...but the book is better...
Justice 4 Travis Alexander.
Justice for Dale Harrell.
Paul A. Sanders, Jr.
The 13th Juror MD @ The13thJurorMD (Twitter)
The 13th Juror MD @ The13thJurorMD (Twitter)
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