The judge called in the jury and read an instruction regarding Life In Prison, Then the sides argued the point- Willmott-Martinez-Willmott. There were no media allowed in, though later they got to see a video. From what I could gather Juan argued she could be paroled in 25 years and Willmott said if the jury was ‘merciful’ and gave her life that she would ‘never get out.’
According to Jose Mcyntire (Twitter) “Got e-mail from Beyonce’s rep confirming cease and desist issued on #jodiarias ‘survivor’ T-shirts using Destiny Child video promo! Done! Next?”
HLN just reported the ban on Jodi’s ability to do interviews has been lifted. They go on to say she has several interviews lined up for tonight. She will give 1& 1/2 hour interviews to the media she has granted from her list. Stay tuned.
What follows is a summary of what Jodi said to the Jury today.
-Donate hair. (Which she has already done a few times).
-Teach Spanish and Sign language.
-Start recycling program.
-Help with illiteracy, start a book club.
-Donate to Domestic Violence (she showed her ‘Survivor T-Shirt and claims 100% goes to charity). Mentions she knows some don’t consider her a survivor of DV.
7. She goes through her life with pictures starting with her as a baby- she was the first born. Carl & her were ‘inseparable.’ She was 11 when Angela was born. Shows family portrait- which they now take with a photo of her in it.
8. Picture of her with Patty. She gets in that Patty didn’t return today because her and her 9 year old daughter were threatened and harassed.
9. Shows picture of her & Bobby. The ‘best of times and the worst of times.’ No power, no support from parents buts figuring things out for themselves.
10. Her and Matt they remained friends. Her and Darryl- several pics with the 2 of them and with the son as well. Hasn’t seen the boy since June 2008.
11. Back to the family. Her sister and brother have children. She never will ‘because of my terrible choices.’
12. Shows her drawings.
13. She didn’t want to go through a trial and expose these ‘darker aspects’. She was obligated to answer questions asked on the stand. Says she ‘loved Travis’ and ‘looked up to him’…he ‘was my world.’
14. Before this she couldn’t ‘kill a spider.’ She didn’t know she was capable of such violence.
15. Her family is suffering. When the Guilty verdict was read her Mom said her Dad cried harder than ever before. ‘I caused that pain.’ She concedes Travis’ family has much greater pain.
16. Steven said he never wanted to see her face again- if she gets life in prison he won’t. She previously had asked for the D P. and found life in prison unappealing. Now she can’t ask for Death in good conscience because of her family. Either way she will spend her life in prison just shorter if DP.
17. She is asking that her life be spared for her family’s sake. ‘Please, please don’t do that to them.’ She wants their pain to stop. “Thank you.”
(After the judge reads the jury instructions- they are almost exactly what I recorded on an earlier day on this blog).
The motion for a mistrial (because Patty was supposedly threatened) has been denied. Martinez pointed out that Patty refused to answer his questions regarding her and the defendant’s drug use. She then left for a few minutes with Nurmi and Wilmott (who are NOT her attorneys). When she returned she ‘took the 5th.’ This means she most likely wouldn’t have testified anyhow. She also apparently never claimed the income from pictures she sold to the Nancy Grace show.
Right after the judge denied the motion Nurmi stated he and Willmott wanted off the case…again. This was also denied. Then when the judge asked to call the witnesses Nurmi informed her they were not going to call ANY witnesses. The judge then asked if the defendant was ready to allocute and this resulted in the parties going back into chambers. We are now waiting.
The court adjourns for the day. Then the judge asks about telling the jury about Patty- apparently the defense wants a jury instruction regarding Ms. Womack. Martinez says it would not be proper as we don’t really know- it could be that the defendant had a ‘bad background.’ Nurmi mentions the jury will wonder why no witnesses as they said there would be two. The judge will indicate to the jury that Ms. Womack is ‘unavailable.’ Martinez asks to approach. Nurmi asks for a stay of these proceedings- it is denied. The jury is brought back in. Judge tells jury they cannot continue today and will resume tomorrow.
Back tomorrow at 9:30.
According to azcentral.com the defense attorneys filed another motion for mistrial on Sunday. They say the witness Patty Womack withdrew from testifying due to death threats. Kirk Nurmi wrote in the motion ‘After returning home Ms. Womack began receiving threats, threats that included threats on her life if she were to testify on Ms. Arias’ behalf. On May 19th, 2013, Ms. Womack contacted counsel for Ms. Arias that she is no longer willing to testify due to these threats. It should also be noted that theses threats follow those made to Alyce LaViolette, a record of which was made ex-parte and under seal.’
The article goes on to say whether a defense attorney presents mitigation evidence becomes an issue on appeal.
Looks like the rumors were correct. According to Jeff Gold, esq., ‘ABC reports Womack backs out of testifying in Jodi Arias – abcnews.go.com…’ I had a feeling this would happen, though I think when she showed up for court Thursday inappropriately dressed (short-shorts and a tank top) I heard they tried putting a sweater on her and the judge still wouldn’t let her testify.It was also reported she did not want her face to appear on camera, though she has been on HLN numerous times. There is more on Patty if you want to read my prior post: ‘Jodi Has A Friend?’ Looks like it’s up to Darryl. Then we get to see Jodi’s ‘art.’
From “The State vs. Jodi Arias” facebook site: (Credit to Laura Payne)
“Women Shelter of Long Beach does not have knowledge of the facts nor any opinion on the case before the courts which involves Jodi Arias. WSLB supports the process of the courts and we do believe the court will do it’s work. As we have no opinion on the case, we have asked the web site “JodiAriasIsInnocent.com” to remove our name from their website and believe they have done so. We had no prior knowledge of or involvement in the T-Shirt campaign on that website. WSLB is concerned for all victims of domestic abuse and our mission is to provide shelter, support services, and community education to help victims and work towards eliminating domestic violence in our communities. We would be pleased to accept donations that are given directly to our organization. Thanks for your support!”
For the longest time I thought that Jodi was asking for the Death Penalty to try to trick the Jury into giving her Life in Prison. You know- the old ‘reverse psychology’ trick. I thought- yeah, they hate her so much and she absolutely doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life in a cage (you know she’s so young, doesn’t smoke and her family has a history of longevity- though her Dad has cancer…) oh, and let’s not forget poor granny in the wheelchair almost comatose during the trial (but a spry old fox when filmed leaving the jail after seeing Jodi- at one point she looks like she is talking on a cell phone and jumps over a curb. And doesn’t even look down. You know even when I was young if I had to jump a curb I looked down at it as I jumped. Please go to you tube and check this out!) But I digress…I have now changed my mind about the reverse psychology and here’s why:
She wants to ‘win.’ She has asked for Death, believes they are going to give her Death, but she asked for it so she wins! She will appear to be happy with the decision thus taking the victory away from the public. She got what she wanted! And as an added bonus she can continue to play the martyr. Because well, you know she is a ‘survivor’ of domestic abuse. I was abused/stalked and got a restraining order and went into hiding. There is NO WAY on this Earth that I would drive 1/100th of a mile to see my abuser, much less 1000 miles! NO FREAKING WAY!!!!!
From Monica Magnes:
“As confirmed by KPHO Channel 5 news, Phoenix, this evening, May 17th 2013, the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department has launched an investigation into convicted felon Donovan Bering’s association with convicted felon Jodi Arias. Donovan Bering is on Supervised Probation for a class 2 Felony Conviction, Arson of an Occupied Structure. She is forbidden from having contact with any convicted felon as stipulated in her Supervised Probation agreement.”
And another interesting tidbit:
From Ace Hunter who commented on the above:
“She is also not supposed to go to any bars but I just saw him/her on TV in a bar giving an interview and playing darts. So byebye Jodi’s twitter, website, art sale, t-shirt sale, fund raising crap.”
Another comment: (Lou Tracey-Walker):
“Somebody from another support group called the probation office and told on Donoman for tweeting and being in court every day. What I want to know is how could they NOT KNOW she was doing these things when this mega million dollar case is in their own backyard. OH and lady in a support group is getting threatening e-mails from Donoman she has them saved.”
And my favorite comment: (Denise Utter Pribe):
“She’s an arsonist and she should be behind bars too!! I almost feel sick when I look at her, PUKE!!!!”
This case has been disturbing in many, many ways. The savage way Travis’ life was taken is never far from my mind. One thing I didn’t expect was to see how many disturbed people are out here on the streets. Like a lot of JA’s associates/friends. I don’t know how long Donovan was behind bars but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t long enough. Really- to set fire to a building with people in it? Who were they? Were there children? How could ANYONE do such a thing?
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