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No Verdict Yet in Jodi Arias Murder Trial

The first full day of jury deliberations in the Jodi Arias murder trial have concluded with no verdict. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations tomorrow at 10:00AM instead of the normal 9:00AM start time. It's unclear why they are beginning a little later tomorrow and I'd hate to speculate!  It's possible one of the jurors has an appointment? Or perhaps they are very very close to a verdict, and wanted to go home and sleep on it? Who knows! 

While I understand the financial constraints the county is under, I am still surprised this jury isn't being sequestered during deliberations. The trial is already reportedly costing $1.7 million dollars, what's a few thousand dollars more versus risking the cost of a mistrial?  As we all watch and wait on verdict watch, I'm so curious as to what these jurors are discussing. Which way are they leaning? Did they take an initial vote to see how close they were to begin with?  I believe their instructions are to first consider the most serious charge(s), first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder. If they don't agree on that, they move on to second degree murder and so on.

I found it so interesting to hear Judge Belvin Perry's interview on the Today show this morning. As you know, Judge Perry presided over the Casey Anthony murder trial. Perry said that when the verdict slip was handed to him, he had to read it twice to make sure he was reading "not guilty" correctly. He admitted to being very surprised by the jury's verdict, and he talked candidly about the two very different sides he saw of Casey Anthony. He said she was a much different person in the presence of the jury than she was without.

I thought Judge Perry did a pretty good job keeping the trial moving forward, and that was a full-fledged media circus. I haven't seen anything like for a non-celebrity trial. Oh my!  Apparently at some point Anthony's attorneys wanted to discuss a plea deal to aggravated murder with her,  Perry said Anthony could be heard screaming and cussing at her attorneys. Obviously there were no plea deals in that case, but that's the first I've ever heard of any potential plea deals. Many Monday morning armchair attorneys believed the State of Florida overcharged Anthony, although Perry said he believed there was sufficient evidence to convict Casey Anthony, albeit it was circumstantial.

I do not believe they overcharged Arias, in fact if there were a HIGHER charge.....another case that still haunts me is the murders of Sheri, Garrett and Gavin Coleman at the hands of husband, father and MONSTER Christopher Coleman. That trial was not televised, but after seeing the photographs of this beautiful family I felt compelled to follow the case. It was fairly obvious Christopher Coleman was the killer early on, although you never want to believe a man could murder his two young boys. His story never rang true - similar to Josh Powell's lame story about taking his young sons on an impromptu overnight camping trip in the freezing snow.

Christopher Coleman is one of the most despicable murderers in recent memory.  This is a man who strangled his 31 year old wife Sheri, and then strangled his 11 and 9 year old sons as they slept in their bedrooms. What kind of father could do that to his own sons? What kind of monster wipes out his whole family, and does it by ligature strangulation? The kind of man who wants a new life with his wife's old high school friend - that's the kind of coward Christopher Coleman is. These two boys were absolutely gorgeous, and wife Sheri was a beautiful woman - inside and out. Coleman thought he was smarter than law enforcement, he plotted for several months - sending himself threatening letters via e-mail, and once the threats were reported to police he went about the business of eliminating his entire family. Coleman reportedly left his home around 6:00AM to go to the gym. When he couldn't reach wife Sheri after several attempts, he called a neighbor to go check on his family. The neighbor happened to be a member of law enforcement, and when he and other officers entered the Coleman home, they were not prepared for what they saw.

The walls inside the home had bizarre messages spray painted on them. They discovered Sheri's body first, followed by Garrett and Gavin. All three were strangled to death in their own beds. One of the boys had a spray painted message on the sheet that covered him. Coleman's grief didn't fool law enforcement. After arriving at home to a sea of police and crime scene tape, he was told his family didn't make it. He never even asked what happened to them or how they died. He was taken to the police station to give a statement, which is when an officer noticed fresh scratch marks on Coleman's arms. Sheri Coleman fought hard for her life. In addition to being strangled, she had two black eyes. The coward then took the life of each of his sons in the same manner.



Staged crime scene - Coleman house


The jury in that case deliberated for 15 hours over 2 days and delivered their guilty verdict on the second anniversary of the murders. Cowardly Coleman deserved the death penalty, but instead he was sentenced to life in prison by a Judge. This was due to the timing, the Governor of Illinois commuted all death sentences given before the state's execution ban kicked in on July 1, 2011 so Coleman escaped the death penalty he so richly deserved. All murders are horrific, but there are some stories that just stick with you and touch you in a way that's hard to describe. I think we all feel that way about what happened to Travis Alexander.  Take a look at the beautiful family Christopher Coleman killed, I feel the same sense of tragedy for them.

Christopher, Sheri, Gavin & Garrett Coleman
How could a man wrap a ligature around the neck of his wife, then repeat the torture in each of his sleeping children's bedrooms? He did this THREE TIMES. Is there even a punishment that equals this kind of depravity? The Coleman trial was full of adultery, sex, lies and religion. Coleman worked as head of security for Joyce Meyers Ministries, and his father was a preacher. There is a special place in hell for people like Christopher Coleman - and for Josh Powell, who also killed his two young sons and himself after allegedly killing his wife Susan. Sadly, her body has never been found.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get so far off track - back to the Arias trial. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a verdict tomorrow. There was a ton of evidence presented during the trial, hundreds of exhibits and hoards of text messages, journal entries etc. - but the jury asked Arias so many questions following her 19 days on the witness stand, I think they have a pretty good idea of what Arias is all about. I'm praying they do. I don't want to think about Jodi Arias out there in the free world ever again. She forfeited that right nearly 5 years ago. Have a great evening and pray for justice!

10 comments:

  1. Christopher Coleman is evil personified. Another excellent article, My Forte.

    This is very interesting - 2011 hand-written letter from Arias to Judge Duncan, concerning the ‘precarious circumstances of her legal defense’…especially the letter from Sandy Arias. The hand-written letter from JA, to Judge Duncan is also revealing.

    To read the letter from Mrs. Arias you’ll need to go to the Bottom of Page 5. Below the TwitterDoc box on the RIGHT side click NEXT.

    http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=94223&sid=20PB&ext=PDF&lcl=JA-Letter-from-Jodi-to-Judge-re-Nurmi-Motion-to-Withdraw.pdf&usr=zou2&doc=139833553&key=key-2gxotllz9sge8erm21fo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NancyB,
      Can't wait to read that letter. You always manage to find excellent content, and I'm grateful that you post it here! I had been thinking about Sheri, Gavin & Garrett recently as May 5th came and went. Josh Powell is another evil man who wiped out his entire family. I'm praying Jodi Arias gets the same mercy from the jury that she showed Travis (NONE).

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    2. NancyB,
      I just read the letter you referenced in your post - looks like the princess got the attorney she wanted! This is good, right? If she hadn't retained Nurmi, she could have made an argument that she wasn't allowed sufficient time to bring a new attorney up to speed etc. Thank you for sharing that NancyB!

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  2. I had dreams about the trial all night, uggghhhh I hope they have a verdict today.

    I had seen the Coleman story on either ID channel or a 48 Hours and yes, shocking and just beyond the realm of belief that someone could do this. I remember one of his neighbors actually put a security camera pointed on their mailbox, hoping to catch the supposed "stalker" but there was no stalker!

    I don't believe Jodi Arias should see the light of day again. On Dr. Drew they just showed a clip of her interrogation, she's got her head down on the table and she's bawling her eyes out...real tears. Det. Flores says to her "I think the reality of this is finally hitting you" and she responds "I'm feeling sad about the things I might have to miss out on"...WTH??? Just like Travis said, she ONLY cries for herself!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous (5/7 @ 3:01AM),
      The Coleman family murders were among the most chilling I've ever heard of. The way he staged the scene, spray painting over the body of his dead child. Thankfully the ME and time of death, along with the paper trail he left caught this killer and put him away for life. Some "head of security"! Thought he could outsmart the world. What kind of man sends his neighbor in to discover the bodies? I truly believe there is a special place in hell for men like Chris Coleman, and Josh Powell as well. I pray that the Arias jury sees Jodi for the cold blooded killer she is. Mercy is given where mercy is shown, and she showed no mercy to Travis Alexander.

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  3. I don't like the way she reacted
    when JM was talking at closing,
    shaking head no, whispering BS
    and the hand gesture of throat
    slashing, I just hope the jury
    gets it right, she IMO would
    kill again if she got the chance.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous (5/7 @ 3:13AM),
      I agree, Arias appears to absolutely despise Juan Martinez. She has shown outright contempt in that courtroom, with her middle-finger-gestures, her sketching during her own $2 million dollar murder trial - Dr. DeMarte nailed it when she called her immature! I don't think she has any remorse for killing Travis, only remorseful that she got caught! Justice is just around the corner.....

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  4. Jodi's shooting her big piehole off on Twitter again. One say's:
    "I would have signed a plea deal years ago to avoid this disaster, but I was refused a plea as the State and the family refused to settle". Ummmm, who thinks or has ever said this trial was a "disaster"? The only one it'll be a disaster for is HER!

    Next one say's:
    "I wanted so much to avoid trial but the State forced it. My only other option was suicide and, well...". Well what Jodi? Did the little owie you gave yourself while attempting it hurt too much?

    Of course she wanted to avoid trial, because she KNOWS it was premeditated and she KNOWS she's guilty and she KNOWS the potential consequences she could be facing. Why should the family have settled with a Murder two conviction, just so she could get 10 years and probably serve only half of that then go on her pyscho merry little way!!!

    And why would she want to plea so badly if she so strongly believes it was self defense? I DESPISE this monster!!!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous (5/7 @ 5:25AM),
      Wow, she just can't help herself can she? She seems to think she's a celebrity, poor misunderstood Jodi Arias. Is it just me, or is everybody else tired of hearing about these suicidal thoughts of hers? She aborted her "suicide" attempt in the CA jail after the paper cut she inflicted on herself was too painful! Can she even imagine how painful it was for Travis Alexander when she was stabbing him to death? I hope she gets exactly what she deserves!! I have a feeling that today is the day.

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    2. Anonymous(5/7 @ 5:25AM),
      I'm soooo glad she did not get a plea deal. She doesn't deserve 2nd degree murder. It was almost like emotional extortion versus the Alexander family! In exchange for guilty plea, I won't lie to the world about your brother. Just nasty. Justice is near! Thanks for your comment....

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