Posted by:
anagrammy
(
)
Date: April 27, 2013 05:07PM
Well, well.
Quite a week in the world of Mormon murder trial watcher addicts. The defense rested and the prosecution brought out the rebuttal witnesses.
First one was a psychiatrist who was the good twin to Jodi Arias' evil twin. Articulate, but fact-based. Specific rather than vague. Accurate with every claim supported by evidence. A breath of fresh air.
Dr. Janeen DeMarte said Arias has Borderline Personality Disorder --not PTSD. Cited the absence of critical symptoms, such as avoidance of the crime scene, flashbacks. Suggested that the famous "fog" impeding her memory would make PTSD impossible since she couldn't be re-experiencing the traumatic event due to memory loss. Doh!
The defense, of course, has requested surrebuttal and will be bringing in a psychiatrist to discount the psychiatrist who discounted the psychiatrist the defense originally brought in. This is turning into the Scopes trial of hard science vs. soft science with questions like this, "Isn't every conclusion you reached, sir, based on information you got from her (lying) lips?"
Then the prosecution brought out the former girlfriends to testify that Travis Alexander never roughed them up, never swore at them, was always a gentleman, never never, etc. They each looked like ads for LDS Modestware and they are all hardcore TBMs.
One of them dated Travis Alexander for six years, Deanna Reid. She was the most interesting witness because she broke up with Travis because she wanted to get married and he was not "ready."
They had a sexual relationship, which Kurt Nurmi, the lead defense attorney asked with some relish, following up with a series of questions like, "Did he *** on your face? Did he ever call you a three-hole wonder? Did he ever call you a whore?"
You have to picture Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie up there on the stand being asked if someone ever paid her with a candy bar for oral sex. That's how embarrassing it was--and our court watchers told us it was excruciating for the jury as well, many of the women looking down.
Deanna was being very careful when she said that she and Travis had gone to the bishop, confessed their year-long period of sexual transgression and never "did it again." Then she said something which made my ears perk up. She said she and Travis remained close friends after breaking up and she moved back to California from Arizona (where they had both moved but not together, of course). She became a teacher and she said Travis sincerely regretted taking so much of her time because she wanted to get married and now was "past it."
Here sits this slightly overweight woman in her thirties, a teacher of special needs children, who is ok looking, was fresh and pretty in photos when she and Travis were 21. Today you might say she leans more towards "handsome" than "bombshell." And she is not a virgin. I'm sorry, but that cupcake has been licked and what Travis was really saying is, "I took your virginity and your youth and now you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of getting married.
In the Mormon world, she is overripe fruit (not to offend, but I've been that fruit myself :) in the Mormon marriage market and he blamed himself.
The defense files its regular motion for mistrial and something new-- it begs the judge to allow a jury instruction permitting the jury to include "crime of passion," a lesser offense.
They know their domestic violence defense has tanked.
Incidentally, Ms Thang looked awful-- dirty hair, unplucked eyebrows reaching for each other, a suggestion of a mustache growing darker week by week. Glasses perched on her nose with her looking over the top of them. Her part in her hair wasn't even straight--quite a contrast to the first weeks of the trial when her hair was parted at the top in a perfect square, pulled to the side and secured with a baby barrette and carefully teased out of the quadrant were umbrella bangs, each bang tendril carefully positioned the same distance from its neighbors. At least the herpes lesion is under control.
Last Thursday, the last day of court until May 1st, the prosecution brought out the autopsy photographs, which were displayed on the huge court tron and every computer screen in the court. This is always excruciating for Travis' family, yet important to leave the jury with a reminder of what this trial was all about. The reason for the photos was that the Medical Examiner, Dr. Horn, was recalled to the stand to make it perfectly clear that Travis Alexander was not going to be able to make any executive actions once a bullet had gone through his frontal lobe.
Jody Arias claims she shot Travis first and the gunshot first or second argument has raged on youtube, on HLN, on Facebook and on websleuths. Dr. Horn made it absolutely clear that after a bullet passing through the frontal lobe (simple geometry proves it did, said Dr. Horn), a couple of steps which were already underway may have been taken, but Alexander would have dropped to the ground rapidly (2-3 seconds) but not immediately (1 second), so we got that cleared up.
The coughing spray of blood at the sink came from the stab to the heart/vena cava/lung area, which was a fatal wound but Travis had roughly four minutes before death after that wound.
Most of the gunfirst advocates capitulated after this testimony, all though there are always a few flat-earthers insisting.
On Thursday, Juror #8 was excused. He was called "The CEO" because he is middle-aged, handsome, notetaking executive-looking. He was promptly pulled over by the Arizona cops for driving while intoxicated. His explanation was that he was a juror at the Jodi Arias trial, which was difficult. No kidding.
We still have four alternates left. The judge gave the balance of the court schedule: court convenes again May 1st for closing arguments and the doors will stay closed until finished, no matter how long it takes (bet there's a pool going on among court-watchers). She intends to give Jury instructions the next day and turn the case over to the jury for deliberations on the third.
Good luck with that. Nurmi will have to tape his closing and play it on fast speed. He is the slowest talker I have ever seen in a court trial. I keep giving him the "wrap it up" signal even though I am alone in my living room (like he can see me! LOL)
Over and out,
Anagrammy
PS. Contributions to the Alexander family have been very generous, allowing his siblings to be there in court every day. Tanisha (one of his sisters) sent a warm thank you and called for Sunday as a day of fasting and prayer for justice for Travis.
The Arias family, specifically Jodi's brother, is selling her angry scribbles as art on eBay, INCLUDING sketches of Travis Alexander's suffering family. This weeks "art" is offered at $1500. Where is the Son of Sam rule? Oh wait, it's Arizona where people use guns as dashboard decor (don't beat on me, I saw it with my own eyes)