It’s been a
while since my last post, and I must admit that I truly miss interacting with
the people who visited this blog!
Unfortunately, crime never seems to take a day off and murders continue
to happen across the country each and every day. The murder of Travis Alexander seemed to
effect many people, complete strangers like you and I – whether it be because
of the extremely violent way in which he was killed, the psychopathic traits of
his killer or a little of both? It was a
topic that outraged and intrigued us.
How rare is it to have evidence of an attack digitally
memorialized? The facts of the case and
the tragic way things unfolded for a seemingly normal couple may be what
captivated so many.
The trial
was a long time in the making, and although Jodi Arias is officially a
convicted murderer the tale is still unfolding.
The retrial of the penalty phase of the trial is off somewhere in the
distance, and after what felt like 24/7 non-stop television and online coverage
of the trial, it seems like time is standing still as we wait for justice to
take its course. The story has spawned
numerous true crime books and a Lifetime movie – and guess what? Rumor has it there is another book, written
by TV anchor Jane Valez Mitchell called “Exposed – The Secret Life of Jodi
Arias” coming out in late August. Jane
Valez Mitchell covered the trial extensively for the HLN network and recently
made news herself after a 48 year old man from Bath, NY was arrested for making
death threats against her and fellow anchor Nancy Grace!
David Lee
Simpson was arrested and charged with 5 felony counts in association with the
death threats made against the anchors via Twitter. Simpson has the hots for Arias, and was
infuriated by the media coverage during the trial. In addition to the threatening tweets,
Simpson allegedly repeated the threats to co-workers and was eventually
indicted by a grand jury on 7/19/13.
Simpson quit his job and headed out of town with guns, ammunition,
knives, handcuffs and zip ties in his car.
All weapons were recovered when Simpson was pulled over and arrested
before he made it to his destination, believed to be the state of Georgia where
Nancy Grace lives. People either love
Nancy Grace, or they hate her. There
seems to be little middle ground where Nancy is concerned, but I’m glad law
enforcement in Arizona took the threats seriously and got to Simpson before he
could harm anybody.
Back to Jane
Valez’ new book…. JVM told USA Today she
wanted to write a book about how the intense sexual relationship between Jodi
Arias and Travis Alexander turned toxic.
She said “after reading ‘Exposed’, readers will understand that Jodi
tried to make Travis responsible for her own happiness, and when that failed,
he became her obsession, and if she couldn’t have him, no one could”. There is also another TV movie reportedly in
the works. I couldn’t find any casting
information or release dates, but like “Dirty Little Secrets”, the role of Arias
is being described as highly sexual, and the actor who lands the role will “need
to be comfortable being depicted in very kinky, highly sexual and physically
violent scenes”.
According to
the Maricopa County Superior Court website, the next status conference for the
retrial is scheduled for August 26, 2013 at 8:30AM. I noticed on the court minutes the mitigation
specialist assigned to this case is now listed as Sue Stodo. I’m not sure what happened to the previous
mitigation specialist, Maria De La Rosa?
We know from court documents that she was paid for at least 100 hours
for her work during the guilt phase of the trial - yet when it came time to
actually present mitigation – it seems the Arias defense team fell flat on
their faces! I wonder if she signed off
on Jodi’s multimedia presentation to the jury, or if she had some other
mitigation strategy in mind that her difficult client wouldn’t agree to? Who knows!
It’s unclear why she was replaced, but I’m willing to bet there’s a
story behind the move!
For Travis’
family, this must seem like a nightmare that will never end. On what would have been Travis’ 36th
birthday, family and friends gathered in Phoenix and did something Travis was
known to do as often as he could – they handed out 400 care packages to people
in need, in memory of their brother. The care packages contained water, food,
clothes and essential hygiene products.
What a thoughtful and fitting way to remember their beloved brother on
his birthday. It’s nice to hear some
positive things being done in his memory, after the relentless attack on his
character by Jodi Arias and her defense team.
What will
happen at the next status conference?
Will Nurmi & Willmott file a motion to delay the retrial until
2020? Will they request the trial be
moved to Kansas? Will Arias try to hire
Dr. Ruth as an expert or mitigation witness?
Only time will tell, and as we all have grown to accept – anything is
possible in this trial! Until next time……
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