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Jodi Arias Trial - Aggravation Phase Delayed Until 5/18/13!

The aggravation phase of the Jodi Arias trial was set to begin today at 1:00PM - the families were there, the jurors were waiting, the attorneys were there and from what I understand they were ready to roll when it was announced that they were unable to proceed! No reason was given for the cancellation, but May 18th is the date cited for the aggravation phase to begin.

Hmmm.  Could this have anything to do with the interview Jodi Arias gave yesterday following the guilty verdict, where she told a local reporter with KSAZ that she'd prefer death to spending life in prison? The 45 minute interview stunned everybody. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom", Arias told the reporter. This interview had to have been planned in advance. It's not easy to gain access to a murder defendant and it's virtually unheard of for somebody to give an interview just minutes after being convicted of first degree murder.  Is this the final card Jodi Arias has left to play? It has been reported that due to what Arias said during her interview, she was put on the "protocol suicide watch". I also heard a report about a possible bomb threat at the Superior Courthouse this morning - the building is routinely checked for such threats, particularly during a high profile case such as this one. Seems strange that Dr. Janeen DeMarte's house was broken into and her laptop stolen before the trial began, and a bomb threat the day after a guilty verdict? Maybe Arias has more fans than we thought she did. 

My question to Jodi Arias would be this: you have publicly stated more than a dozen times that you wanted to kill yourself, you wanted to be dead and gone. "If I hurt Travis, I'd beg for the death penalty" were your exact words. You were found guilty of first degree murder, yet as your death wish becomes more plausible, you are now unable to assist in your own defense? What gives  Jodi? I hope my words don't sound overly callous, despite my personal feelings about what justice should look like in this case - I don't wish death upon anybody.  She is a human being, just like the rest of us. She's made some monumental mistakes in life, mistakes that took a loved and valued member of society from this world. At trial, she has shown little if any remorse. She has fabricated rancid tales about the man that she claimed to love and admire. 

It appears that Arias was so shocked at the verdict that she didn't know how to react. Appearing somewhat defiant following the verdict, Arias looked back at her family in the gallery - something she didn't do often during her trial. The family she has thrown under the bus, a la Casey Anthony - "my mom kept a wooden spoon in her purse and hit me with it", "my sister is stupid". In an interview between Det. Flores and Jodi Arias' father Bill, it was revealed that Arias lashed out at her mother frequently and furiously. You can tell a lot about a person's character by the way they treat their family. Lack of respect is a big red flag. Taking for granted the love of your parents is a red flag. There were all kinds of red flags going up around Jodi Arias as she grew into adulthood. Tragically, Travis Alexander didn't see those red flags in time to escape the danger that lurked just beneath the surface of ex girlfriend Jodi Arias.

I don't know why the delay has me stumped and surprised. This trial has been full of these sort of oddities. The problem is, Arias has manipulated the system and cried wolf so many times that we are becoming numb to the suicide threats. Today was supposed to be an abbreviated court session, described as a "mini-trial", where evidence is presented by the prosecutor relating to the manner in which Travis Alexander was killed - Martinez will argue that he was murdered in an especially cruel and depraved manner.

That's stating the obvious and it would be outrageous to describe it in any other fashion. The jury needs to unanimous on their decision. If they are unable to reach an unanimous decision, a new jury would be empaneled to decide on the aggravation phase.

If the jury finds the murder was cruel and depraved, they would then move on to the sentencing phase. The jury would be charged with deciding if Arias receives a death sentence. If the jury decides in favor of the death penalty, the judge is bound by their decision. If the jury decides against the death penalty - sentencing would then be in the hands of Judge Stephens who would have two options:


  1. Life in prison without the possibility of parole
  2. Life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years

The best Arias can hope for is the potential for parole after serving 25 years behind bars. It's difficult to believe this came as a such a surprise to her. During yesterday's interview, she said she was overwhelmed that the jury found premeditation - yet she said she understood the felony murder decision but blamed that on how the law is written. After the countless number of delays in getting this case to trial and Arias' migraines that accounted for several cancelled court sessions this has to be the final insult to the murder victim who is finally receiving justice after nearly 5 years.

Were Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott aware of the scheduled interview yesterday? Why are they having such a difficult time keeping their client quiet during these crucial junctures in this trial? Or is this just another ploy for  sympathy, or is Arias falling back on a potential mental health defense now since the self-defense and heat of the moment arguments failed? The timing of it all is curious, and that's a generous statement. Some may say its just more manipulation from a desperate woman who is running out of options. If all else fails, play the crazy card. It's only a matter of time before Arias starts pointing the finger at her attorneys and plays the blame game.

She already began her Twitter campaign against the prosecutor and the State of Arizona, who turned down her offer to plead guilty to second degree murder. Juan was right, it's never Jodi's fault. Once again we are waiting on Jodi Arias. The trial WILL go on, delays or no delays. Justice is patient and it's willing to wait. The public may not be as forgiving. Delay, deflect and deny. Anybody seeing a clear pattern with the defense?  Jodi Arias was competent yesterday while she sat down and spoke to a reporter for 45 minutes. What happened? What do you think?

What's going on behind the scenes out there in Phoenix? If you have the inside scoop, please feel free to post a comment and share it with the rest of us. I will post more information if it becomes available! By the way, a few people asked about sources for alerts when the verdict was in - I posted one, and I checked it out myself as well and it does work. It isn't specifically for the verdict, it was for any breaking news relating to the Jodi Arias trial. I used a similar service during the Casey Anthony trial and it was effective. I'm re posting the information here, in case anybody would like to receive text alerts via your cellphone if there is breaking Jodi Arias news. 

Text the word BREAKING to 23765. The news source has been great. I received a text message right after I saw the announcement on television. The text message  you receive will tell you how to cancel or stop receiving breaking news alerts. OK, that's all I have time for now. UUUGGRRR! Frustration and disappointment are good descriptors of how I feel about the delay. Have a great day!

27 comments:

  1. It's delayed until 5/15/13 not the 18th!

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  2. We heard that Jodi Arias wanted to fire her defense team, and we heard that the defense team wants to quit!
    We also heard Jodi and her defense team got into a huge arguement about the post verdict interview.
    This interview should not have been allowed.
    Now Jodi is under suicide watch.

    Jodi Arias Talks To Troy Hayden After Guilty Verdict. Complete

    Complete interview:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JGqNG9Z8v4

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  3. JA isn't going to commit suicide and she doesn't want the death penalty.....I truly believe that. The reason.....she loves herself to much.
    I think she set the interview up herself because she believed she WOULD NOT be convicted of 1st degree murder. I think she was going to put on her fake nice face and victimize the Alexander family again, saying Travis did abuse her and the verdict is manslaughter because "I am the victim". She is an evil vile monster. I hope she gets her fake wish.....DEATH!

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  4. https://twitter.com/PlanetChrissie/status/332655155071815680/photo/1

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    1. LOL, I love the "special coloring section" hahaha!

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  5. Voice mail to reporter Troy Hayden from JA on 5/5/13 regarding her post verdict interview. Her evil planning has NO limits !! Chilled to the bone. She sounds as carefree as someone making last minute catering arrangements.

    Published on May 9, 2013 zapptv02155
    “This is the sound of a calculating psychopath planning her rehearsed verdict reactions and plans. Listen carefully as she talks about what the verdict may be. Keep in mind this voice mail was was recorded on or around May 5 – three days before the verdict. Troy Hayden is the reporter from FOX that got the interview with Arias right after the verdict was read.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WiePr-Vsn6M

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    1. Unbelievable Nancy B. You are so right, her evil plots never cease. Thanks for posting this link.

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  6. Living in AZ I hear things, along with what the news reports. JA is under a Suicide Protocol, a broader form of observing/assessing her as a risk. She has not made any direct threats about taking her own life. She only talks about suicide in the most general of terms. We know she would not go through with it as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, because it was one of the potent ways she had of manipulating Travis. He could not bear the thought of her following through, thus he could never break his connection to her. He'd never come in contact with JA's level of sociopathy.

    Yes, the yelling between her defense team that occurred after the verdict reading, down in the basement of the courthouse (where JA was held before being transferred to Lower Buckeye Jail - this jail has a Psychiatric Unit) was Jody trying to have her way with Wilmott and Nurmi. What a nutcase! I do believe that if JA pleads "mentally incompetent" she would avoid the death penalty, because a mentally incompetent person is not capable of understanding the "WHY?" of their sentence. Among other things, I imagine that's one argument JA was having with her lawyers. They know that one of the only ways she CAN avoid the death penalty is by pleading diminished capacity (or whatever the term). Whatever! She truly does have mental problems.

    For Jodi Arias to have this interview planned prior to the verdict shows the utmost disrespect for the deceased and his family! No remorse, no feeling of guilt = sociopath.

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  7. My Forte, I just can't take it! This is Nora Desmond (Gloria Swanson) from SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) on steroids. All acting, no substance; constantly threatening suicide, but instead she murders her lover because he's leaving her. Then, after she murders her lover Joe & the police are ready to haul her into the hoosegow, she believes they are her "adoring public" & recites the classic line, "Alright Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up." As Elton John so eloquently sang, "Well, I've seen that movie, too," (from the song of the same title, on the GOODBYE, YELLOW BRICK ROAD cd). It's pathetic. Research that movie, if you're not familiar w/ it. Arias' whole life is like a bad re-make of an old Hollywood melodrama. Unfortunately, if she's not stopped, we'll be seeing a dozen unwatchable sequels. She said in that interview, "I can't talk right now," then proceeded to drone on for 45 minutes. Again, as a family member & friend of 3 murder victims, my only concern is for the REAL victim, Travis & the Alexander family/friends. I wish Arias will be forgotten in a haze of obscurity & only remembered as the monster she is. Long live the memory of the young man who touched so many hearts & lives; Travis Alexander. Thanks, always My Forte, for your excellent coverage, sensitivity & synapses of the unfolding events.

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    1. Oh, & the delay of this phase is aggravating.

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    2. "This is Nora Desmond (Gloria Swanson) from SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) on steroids" ... wow! That made me laugh but it's so true. Jodi lives in her own reality.

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    3. From Anon @ 8:16 to Anon @10:15- Yes, it was just so nauseating to watch, I wished I hadn't eaten dinner prior to seeing it. I had "agita" for the rest of the evening. I feel not one ounce of sympathy for this rapacious cretin, trying to sound clever through her diaphanous facade. Everything is so contrived & self-serving. I'm saving my sympathy for the Alexanders. My only fear is that impressionable, attention-seeking young minds might view this evil woman as the new breed of celebrity & that's beyond unsettling. I heard Dr. Drew was all in a tizzy over her suicidal ideation. In the normal run of things, I too, would be concerned, but this isn't the normal run of things. She's a ruthless, cold-blooded manipulator & believes herself far too important to end it all... it's only others, who are expendable, in her world. If she looked like 2-ton Tessie or that guy from Cleveland, he'd see her as a monster. In med-speak, they probably gave her a "cocktail" at the psych-ward to knock her out for the night, so they wouldn't have to hear her rantings.

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    4. Anonymous (5/10 @ 8:00AM),
      Funny you should make the comment about the potential support if she were a "2-ton Tessie"...I just said something similar, that I suspect that the men who are supporting her would not be so passionate about her "innocence" if she were not a young attractive female. She has managed to cast her spell on these guys, from the comfort of her jail cell. Go figure!

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    5. Anonymous (5/9 @ 8:16PM),
      I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen Sunset Blvd! Looks like I need to catch up on some of these classics - believe it or not, I haven't seen Psycho either! Yikes. I do love movies though, I just haven't worked my way through those classics as of yet!

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    6. They are worth it, My Forte. Although, honestly, I saw both of those so many years ago.....I hope they hold up the test of time.

      Sue

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    7. From Anon @ 8:16pm/8:00am to My Forte & Sue- yes, I'm a classic movie junkie (Turner Classics- TCM, is great & commercial free), so I always reference them (then you'll know it's me). So many of today's movies are poor remakes of classic films. I always love the originals because the dialogue is wittier, they didn't need to be so expository- like the viewers wouldn't get it & the stories move forward w/o a need to supplement the lack of a good plot w/ special effects. Sorry for going off on that tangent, but classic films are, if nothing else, a glimpse of our history. Like the French proverb, "The more things change, the more they stay the same" (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr). I'm just so disgusted by these pseudo-suicide threats... if Arias really wanted to kill herself, why has she spent almost 5 years & 5 months of trial trying to wiggle out of any & all responsibility for her crimes? If she was truly suicidal & not just manipulating the system or anyone she can, why not just say, "I did it," from the get-go? Unfortunately, her pathology is much more savage & like all serial killers, rapists & child molesters, she cannot be rehabilitated; there is no treatment, Rx or cure.

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  8. I am SHOCKED that they allowed her to give an interview. The only other time she should ever be allowed to speak publicly again would be as they are inserting the needle!!!

    I don't want to allow her the "freedom" that death will grant her; however, I REALLY don't think she should be given Life w/o parole as the living conditions are so much better than the living conditions on Death Row. Ideally, she will get DP and they won't give her the needle for at least thirty years. 23+ hours a day in solitary confinement for 30 years is the best choice for this sociopath!

    she will only manipulate other prisoners (and prison guards for that matter) if she is in the more relaxed confines of Life prison. And you just know that she will be able to kill again (likely Juan Martinez and Detective Flores) by one of her minion cell mates after they are paroled. She will be the ultimate puppet master from behind bars if she is allowed a social life in prison.

    IF she gets life instead of Death, let's hope that they will bring back lobotomies!!!

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    1. Anonymous (5/9 @ 9:34PM),
      You have described a very possible outcome/scenario! I read somewhere that on average, death row inmates spend 12 years between conviction/execution. That number seems low to me, but I've seen it quoted in several different sources. It seems to take much longer in some states than others. In Texas the wheels of justice seem to roll much faster than in other states. There are numerous automatic appeals etc. and so many things that happen post conviction. I'm so glad that Arias wrote that letter to the judge begging for Kirk Nurmi to remain on as her attorney! It would be difficult for her to argue ineffective counsel with that on the record. I'm sure we haven't seen the last trick pulled by Jodi Arias as she looks for loopholes to wiggle through!

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    2. I had heard one of the women on death row in that prison has been there for 25 years already, so I agree that 12 years sounds very low.

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    3. 12 years is the average in AZ because they accelerate their DP cases. The AZ sheriff has historically toughened the AZ handling of inmates. He used to house inmates in military tents b/c of overcrowding and said if it's good enough for our soldiers, it's good enough for inmates. I am going to repost my thoughts on the DP for the vile, dispicable JA:

      One thing I would like to say is this, we will never have the satisfaction of JA's repentance or admission or empathy for TA or his family so we must not seek it. The only sembelence of justice we can hope for is the DP. Despite her manipulative words to the contrary she does not want it. She believes she'll get an appeal and ultimately create some lie and manipulate her way out of it. I think JA truly believes that she can manipulate EVERYONE. Her shock at the verdict makes that clear. Her testimony on the stand makes that clear. Do we forget how she would not even admit "the sky was blue"? No matter what JM asked, no matter how clear it was, she would just deny it if it conflicted with the image she wanted to present. JA's shock and I believe greatest fear is that we know her for what she is. Well Jodi, we ALL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE! Even the jury! Did you see her scanning their faces trying to make sense of how they didn't buy her facade? This is why the Death Penalty is what she deserves. While she says in her interview that she knows some support her and very vaguely goes into she hears things and finally admits the majority don't like her, she still says facts have been withheld, blah, blah, blah... So for the next 12 years or so she is going to try to manipulate different attorney's, judges, civilians, inmates on and on and on in her exhausting manner. Time after time she will realize and be faced with the fact that no one is buying it and that they ALL know what she really is, just like TA, and after years and years of this fear and frustration, she will get death as she deserves. That is the closest to justice we can hope for.

      Having been the victim of serious dom violence in my past, I can say pretty confidently that abusers escalate when the smaller controls don't work anymore. Add to that her personality type and the fact TA was going to expose her for something horrible she had done and there was her trigger. Having been in the situation where you are dealing with someone violent you have to handle that person carefully. Yes you should be able to safely express yourself to anyone at anytime but poor Travis just didn't know who/what he was dealing with...

      One commentor I read said that we should all go visit her in jail and eat Cinnabon in front of her. I would like to add that before we leave we look her straight in the eye and say, "You don't fool me and I know who you really are."

      Sonja

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  9. The state should definitely send her brain to a University at her death . It should be the law to do so with all psychos. We might find a way to prevent future killers from walking this earth.
    Cheryl

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  10. I don't think you are being callous, My Forte. I think Arias will say anything to manipulate people. She is dangerous and truly frightening. Isn't it interesting that the verdict was a shock to her?! People have said this, and I agree: this is probably the first time she has actually been held accountable for her actions. She is use to being able to manipulate and bully her way out of situations. She thought she was going to get away with murder.

    It is interesting to me that, in her mind, she is allowed to lie, twist reality to suit her, but as soon as she thinks someone has lied about her she is outraged. Calling Martinez a liar. Calling Flores a liar. I agree, it is only a matter of time before she sets her sight on her lawyers. No wonder Nurmi didn't want the job.

    Thanks for the link, NancyB. Yes, she sounds like she is making casual arrangements. I am sure her lawyers told her not to do it and she was going to do what she wanted to do. Apparently this was a deal she had with Troy Hayden, if he kept her confidences. I wonder what that is all about.

    I completely agree, Anon 9:34. If she is allowed to be in contact with other prisoners or have relationships in prison there is no telling what strings she will pull to hurt others. She needs solitary confinement for the rest of her life. She reminds me of Diane Downs, but maybe her acting is a little better. Which makes her all the more dangerous.

    Thanks for another great article, My Forte. And thanks for this forum for us to get together and vent. ; )

    Sue

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  11. Someone on another blog posted a letter Jodi wrote to Ryan Burns after she was arrested. It is something you HAVE to read to believe! She's totally working Ryan, trying to get him on her side and build up his ego, like she did to Travis. I'm going to hunt for the link then I'll post it.

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  12. Okay, I found it. The link is rather long but it's a MUST READ!
    http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/09/jodi-arias-letter-to-her-ex-lover-ryan-burns/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogs%2FGretawire+%28Internal+-+Gretawire+-+Blog%29&fb_source=message

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  13. Thanks, Anon! I saw that yesterday. That is something else, huh? That must have creeped him out!

    Sue

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    1. Her use of big words is her pathetic attempt at pretending she's so intelligent. I'm sure it did creep him out and I found it interesting that she states in the letter that Det. Flores called her a "serial killer". I know most of us believe she would definitely have gone on to kill again but I thought it was interesting that the Det. caught onto that so early on.

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