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Juan Martinez Delivers Powerful Closing Argument

Arizona prosecutor Juan Martinez began his closing arguments today to a packed court room in the Jodi Arias murder trial. Court is in their noon lunch break now. The morning began with Judge Sherry Stephens setting forth each count against the defendant and how the law applies to each. The jury instructions were extensive, I'm sure the jurors will refer back to those instructions many times during their deliberations.

Then it was time for Juan Martinez to begin. During the morning session, he began by describing Arias as a lying and manipulative woman, "she has lied to each and every one of you", he told the jury, "and she is trying to manipulate you too". That has been the theme, as Martinez mocks Jodi Arias' claims of not writing about the alleged abuse in her journals because of "The Secret" and the Law of Attraction. He is weaving the story, not necessarily going in chronological order but methodically putting together pieces of the puzzle with premeditation. Martinez has said "with the truth you don't have to remember nothing", as he pointed out where Arias lies tripped her up.

He put all of the known lies of Jodi Arias out on display, lies she told to law enforcement, family and friends, her own expert witnesses and most importantly the jury. But when he started the afternoon session, he really began to focus in on the killing and how premeditated it was. He said that the trip to Mesa was not impromptu, as she would have the jury believe. She planned to go to Arizona to kill Travis Alexander and that plan was hatched as early as May 26, 2008 following that angry text message Travis sent to her in which he called her "the worst thing that ever happened to him". There was so much said during his closing I cannot possibly cover it all - but the afternoon session in particular was outstanding ad powerful.

The court room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as Martinez explained that when Jodi Arias arrived at Travis' house around 4:00AM on June 4, she did not knock on the door - she knew his garage door code and she let herself in. She stood in the doorway, Travis happened to be awake and on his computer. Jodi watched him for a good 35 seconds before Travis' dog Napoleon began to bark as he noticed someone was in the house. I hadn't heard that before. It was a powerful moment, and he suggested that Travis may not have been at all aware Jodi Arias was coming to Mesa despite the phone call between the two. Rather, Arias called Travis to get information on what he was doing, if he was alone and who else may have been at the home.

Wow. A silent courtroom seemed to hang on his every word as Martinez then described how he believes the killing of Travis Alexander unfolded. There was a shower photo that Martinez displayed that I had never seen before, but it's the last photo of Travis alive. You can't see his face, he is seated in that shower stall with his legs slightly bent and his arms over his knees. Martinez described how vulnerable he was, no weapons, no clothes - with Arias standing over him fully clothed and potentially with a knife on her person. It's then when the State believes Arias stabbed him in the chest. The first stab wound would have been fatal, but not immediately. Travis gets out of the shower and is standing in front of the mirror, more than likely he can see the reflection of Jodi standing behind him as she begins to stab him in the back.

Martinez describes Travis' attempts to get away from Jodi Arias. The photos of the sink were displayed, followed by the photo of the bloody hallway where Martinez believes Travis struggled to get away from his attacker before he collapsed on the floor outside of the closet. The photo of the bloody carpet was then displayed, Martinez says this is where Jodi Arias cut his throat. The attack was relentless and it took time. Calling it "a well orchestrated killing", it was not a heat of the moment type of killing - those tend to be more disorganized and this was very targeted. Travis Alexander was likely dead when Jodi Arias shot him in the head, based on the lack of blood on the bullet, Martinez said. The photo of the bloody carpet was particularly chilling, as Martinez pointed out all of the footsteps around where Travis Alexander's body would have been. Martinez focused in on everything Arias did after the killing, while she says she was in a "fog" - she didn't wash Travis' body off because she cared about him, she did it to get rid of any DNA evidence that may have implicated her. She removed her bloody socks and was careful not to track blood out of that master suite. All of these things would not have been done by someone with dissociative amnesia.

Very powerful story. I'm riveted, I can see this all happening. It makes sense with the photos and the evidence. Martinez showed Jodi's consciousness of guilt around this killing. All the planning before and after were discussed, such as how Arias took such steps to be sure she wouldn't be discovered in the state of Arizona, turning her phone off and having adequate gas to not have to stop. She arrived at Ryan Burns house and acted as if everything was normal, she talked to Leslie Udy about her children playing with Travis' children at some point in the future. Who does that when you know the person is dead? 

Martinez told the jury that Jodi Arias lied about all of the abuse. "She went too far with her lies", Martinez said. He also pointed out that Jodi Arias loves the media attention she was getting. Her lies about Travis Alexander were an attempt to take away the only thing he had left, his reputation. The allegation of pedophilia was as low and as vile as she could get. "She chose a hot-button issue", Martinez told the jury.

Juan Martinez is talking about the charges for first degree murder, premeditated murder and felony murder. It seems that Jodi Arias tripped herself up here. IF the jury believes she took her grandfather's gun to Arizona, that goes to premeditation. IF the jury believes the gun she used was Travis Alexander's gun, Arias in essence stole the gun after during the commission of a felony, and that equals felony murder! Juan Martinez has pointed out how the State has more than met their burden of proof for both premeditated and felony murder counts. I've got to catch the rest of this closing argument but wanted to post this in case you can't watch it online or on TV.

27 comments:

  1. I find it interesting how you can "cry" without any tears or without your eyes getting red. By interesting I mean bs.

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  2. I think she pinches her nose.

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    Replies
    1. Yes Anon - I saw her doing it - to make it red! And she must think that tears come from the nose! She can turn it on and off like flipping a switch.

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    2. I hope the jury's caught on to all the nose pinching she's done. She figures if her nose is really red they'll believe she's crying but normal people don't cry out of their noses.

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  3. Yeah Jimmy - not one tear any of the times she has faked "cried" in court - and there have been so many times. She is very cold. Did you catch when she smirked and then smiled during Juan's closing? Creepy.

    My Forte - you have one typo - she didn't stand and watch Travis for 5 sec - it was 35 sec!!!

    This is done by AngelaAnne who is Det Flores daughter.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SmqAFapJok&feature=youtu.be

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    Replies
    1. Thanks NancyB,
      I actually thought he said 5 seconds, but this was the first time I'd head this theory so I was so shocked I may have heard it incorrectly. Makes sense that the dog alerted him that somebody was in the house. Even more creepy than I thought!

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    2. So Jodi actually admitted to standing there watching him for that long? My gosh, she's so psychotic!

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    3. JA is so scary. I really believe she is up there with some of the worst.

      So did Jodi have family in the court room other than mom, grandma and aunt? Donavan was there and Donavan's side kick. But it looked like her dad and all the siblings were not there. I guess we will see today.

      Sue

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    4. The FBI profiler that they interviewed on HLN put her on the level of Bundy. This was before we knew she has BPD which I am sure you know used to be called Borderline Psychotic. Enough said.

      I can't stand listening to Nurmi today... Just because she made mistakes and is not as smart as she thinks she is doesn't mean she isn't a cold-hearted premeditated murderer. And unless your completely dilusional, don't you think even the coldest person takes a little time to build up the courage to actually kill someone? Even with serial killers isn't that the case? Besides that I still think she was there with her last ultimatum and attempt to manipulate him.

      Sonja

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  4. This is off Topic, but did anyone the professional quality of the photographs of Jodi and Travis together? The Photos look like the came out of Life magazine or any other celebrity photo magazine.
    The Photographs are very Professional.
    Hell, they look like celebrites!
    Did they have a good friend who was a Professional Photographer?
    Who was photographing Jodi and Alexander during all of their
    adventures and time together?
    Now that person was a Good Photographer!

    If you look at the photography done by Jody; it's very amateurish.

    Sorry We were off topic;just curious.

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    Replies
    1. No, it is not off topic. I am also tired of hearing that Jodi is a photographer. I haven't seen any great pictures done by her and on top of that her paintings are super naco! The only pictures that are great where taken accidentally and are now of great help to proof that she is a cold blooded killer.

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  5. I just have to vent - In typical Nurmi fashion, being classless and unprofessional, he had to laugh out loud when Juan said Travis was naked and would not have run outside after Jodi. His courtroom behavior is disgusting.

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    Replies
    1. NancyB, Nurmi is disgusting. He makes my stomach churn. Did you notice Jodi taking little peeks at the death pics of Travis? Admiring her handy work.

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    2. Geez, I missed that NancyB. Guess I was too wrapped up in what Juan was saying. Nurmi is so sophomoric and how inappropriate!

      Sue

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    3. The fact that Travis was naked and wouldn't have followed Jodi outside is actually something I have been considering all this time. Jodi instead was already dressed, ready to kill and ready to leave the house after making sure that he was dead. The killing in the shower reminds me the movie "Psycho".

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  6. Re: NancyB
    Subject Nurmi fasion
    His Shirt and Tie visually looked like he was wearing
    80's Tuxedo shirt.
    (my cousin vinny)
    Maybe he has a bow tie in his pocket for playing at the piano bar later.

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    Replies
    1. Anon - You made me giggle!! And I needed that. Who dresses him? Pitiful - and all of his gaudy socks to boot.

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  7. I remember hearing that the public defenders office staff was happy when they heard Nurmi was
    going into private practice, but judge told him he
    couldn't until after this trial was over, also Jodi
    said that if he left she would kill herself. That's
    when Dr. Samuels was hired, Samuels told Nurmi
    to never be alone with Jodi. If you remember
    they went together to the jail to convince her to
    change her Ninja story. And Wilmott was hired
    to replace V. Washington.


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    1. Anon (5/2 @ 7:48PM),
      Is that right? I'd never heard that! Interesting...Dr. Samuels was wary of being alone w/Arias! Wow, these are the people trying to help her! I've seen the court docs where Nurmi asked to get off this case but was ordered to finish with a big fat raise!!

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  8. I've seen Jodi pinch her nose repeatedly. HLN is trying to figure out if Jody was crying for herself or Travis. I believe she's portraying herself as shocked by hearing what happened (again) while she was in her fog; she's playing to the jury as always.I saw her visibly shake her head from side to side during Martinez's closing.
    I admire him more and more. To hear him tell the story in a softer voice than he normally uses demonstrates his total devotion and belief in representing Travis, in being his voice on this planet. I also admire his sarcasm and finally calling JA what she is, over and over: a liar and manipulator.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous (5/2 @ 7:49PM),
      I agree that Juan Martinez's toned down voice during the description of the killing was very effective! You could hear a pin drop in that courtroom. He nailed it!

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    2. Anon (5/2 @ 7:49PM),
      I noticed the red nose on Arias too! Creepy that she just had to sneak a peek at the gruesome photos on that little screen in front of her. She couldn't help herself. Willmott kept looking up at the jury to gage their reaction. The defense has their work cut out for them today. At this point, does anybody really believe anything Arias has said?

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    3. Jodi's been pinching at her nose through the whole trial, it's her weak and pathetic attempt at trying to look like she's crying. I hope the jury's noticed it!

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  9. I think Daniel and Desiree Freeman took alot of those pics.

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  10. Thanks for the great commentary, My Forte!

    I have a question for anyone who has been thinking about the gun shot wound. Because there wasn't blood it does seem to have come last. But in my mind it makes more sense that she shot him first and saw it didn't work and made up the ninja story around that. I am trying to picture when/where she shot him, because it was last. Was she still raging/seeking revenge and decided to finish him off....after she finished him off with the slit throat? What about the angle of the bullet wound.....could that have happened in the end when he was in the shower again? Seems likely.....but I am not sure with how his body was and the wound angle....was that possible? Any input?

    Thanks!
    Sue

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  11. Nevermind, Juan explained it..... Shot in the bathroom. Makes sense.

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