Is Alyce LaViolette Cashing In On Murder Trial?

As the defense finishes questioning their star witness, domestic abuse expert Alyce LaViolette, many are disillusioned by her choice to take the stand to portray murder defendant Jodi Arias as a battered and abused woman.  Maybe I'm the one who's crazy, but wasn't Travis Alexander the one who had the life stabbed, slashed and shot out of him at the hands of Jodi Arias? Who battered whom here?  Are Travis Alexander's not-so-kind text messages to Jodi Arias PROOF that he was a womanizing batterer and bully who held all the power in the relationship between Arias and Alexander?

Alyce LaViolette seems to think so. Does she have any idea the feelings of outrage she is bringing out in the hearts and minds of the real victims of domestic abuse all over the country? Before LaViolette began testifying, I kept asking myself "why would a woman who is so well respected in her field choose THIS case, defend THIS woman?"  Could it be the money? I suppose $250-$300 an hour could be very tempting. If LaViolette spent 45 hours interviewing Arias at $250 an hour, that alone brought her a fat paycheck of $11,250.00.  She makes $300 an hour for court testimony, and she has spent 6 days on the stand already - let's call it 30 hours, since she was sick on Wednesday, there's another $9,000.00 - and she's still testifying.

Who knows how many hours she spent on "research", and I believe she testified that she is paid $250 an hour for that. Let's be conservative and say she spent another 100 hours "researching" this case, listening to interrogation tapes, 48 Hours and other media interviews and reading the 600+ Arias journal entries. Add on another $25,000.00. That's $45,250.00 so far. What's harder to put a price on is the national exposure LaViolette has received for her role in this trial.  That's free advertising for her private practice, that's free publicity for her book "It Could Happen To Anyone: Why Battered Women Stay" - which by the way, the 3rd edition reprint is coming out on April 23, 2013. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

Alyce LaViolette is also scheduled to speak at a handful of upcoming events in April, where with other guest speakers the registration fees range from $80-$495! She is scheduled to speak on April 26, April 27, and 5/4 in Manhattan California and San Diego California. The topic of one such conference is "Is It Anger Or Abuse: Assessing For Intimate Partner Violence". Do you think she will use the Jodi Arias trial as a case study in any of her future speaking engagements?http://www.alycelaviolette.com/Speaking-Schedule.htm

Whatever her motives were for choosing to get on the witness stand and defend a woman who borrowed 2 gas cans and bought another, staged a robbery at her grandparents home and stole a handgun, rented an inconspicuous white car and flipped the license plate, told everyone she was going to Utah and told nobody she was going to Mesa - why she chose to give any credibility to THIS woman's tales, I'll never know and never understand.  This wasn't the "fight for her life" that Arias sold to her defense attorney Jennifer Willmott. This was a carefully planned out and calculated murder. She lured Travis Alexander into a false sense of security by engaging in sex with him, talked him into posing for pictures in the shower- carefully posing him to get him in a vulnerable position before HER ATTACK began. Travis Alexander likely never saw it coming. And when she was finished, Arias had the presence of mind to try and clean up the scene and remove all traces of her visit from the home. THANK GOD FOR THE MEMORY CARD! Arias had the forethought to leave voicemails and send text messages to Travis. She knew she had to remove the battery from her cellphone while she was in the state of Arizona. This was planned, down to the smallest detail. She carried on as if nothing ever happened. It's so clear to me.

Had he seen this coming, he surely would've been better able to fight her off and inflict injury on Arias in the struggle. Evidence in that bathroom and at the crime scene shows the only struggle that was going on was Travis struggling to get out of the shower and away from his attacker. She followed him, she continued to attack and attack until he was no longer able to even protect himself. He had deep stab wounds on his hands, defensive wounds - he had a cluster of stab wounds on HIS BACK, again - not indicative of Arias's self defense claims. He was shot in the head, just for good measure. Make no mistake, Arias was in a blind rage and all of her anger was released onto Travis Alexander in that bathroom on June 4, 2008. All of her anger, jealousy and personal frustrations spilled out and Travis Alexander was executed.

So how could LaViolette attempt to justify this kind of brutal killing? This wasn't a woman who endured beatings on a regular basis, she was a woman who didn't get what she wanted or thought she deserved. Travis Alexander was happy, he was getting ready to leave on a trip he was very much looking forward to with a woman he was very interested in. Arias believed Travis wanted to spend the rest of his LIFE with Mimi Hall! She told Detective Flores as much during one of their interrogation videos. So as Arias sat in the small bedroom she now called "home" in Yreka, the thoughts of Travis and Mimi most likely were haunting her. Knowing how charming Travis Alexander could be, I'm sure Arias worked herself into a frenzy imagining the two of them in romantic Cancun Mexico, a location listed in the "1000 Places To See Before You Die" book we've heard so much about. That was supposed to be HER trip.

Relying on Arias's journal entries and the text messages between the pair, along with her 45 hours spent with Arias at Sherriff Joe's place provided LaViolette with a limited view of what really went on in this dysfunctional relationship. Yet she was able to form a fairly solid opinion on Travis: he was controlling, he had all the power, he was jealous and said cruel things to her, he was a womanizer. As for Arias, she came out smelling like roses. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark. Did LaViolette interview Jodi Arias's parents? They may have given her a better insight on her "family of origin" theories. Instead, she formed an opinion on Travis Alexander's family of origin - using his own words about his difficult childhood against him as a precursor for having difficulties forming relationships as an adult. Shame on you, attacking the character of a dead man. The very least you she could have done is say "while I never had the opportunity to talk to Travis Alexander......" She seemingly ignored all of the positive things that Travis Alexander did DESPITE his "family of origin" issues. Again, shame on you!

I personally don't know what Alyce LaViolette's reasons were for taking on this case, we like to think there are still some people out there who are beyond reproach and that cannot be tempted with money or fame. But I just cannot understand her decision to stand up for a woman who brutally and viciously attacked a defenseless man. Regardless of what she thinks of the way Travis treated Jodi, does she truly feel Arias was justified as a battered woman? Come on Alyce. You made a big mistake.