Your Legal Lady

Throughout the seemingly never ending Jodi Arias trial, prosecutor Juan Martinez has done an ace job of consistently trying to prove Arias is lying about her claim that she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense. With his original witnesses and then heated cross examinations with Arias herself & a round of defense experts, Martinez has been planting the seeds of skepticism in the mind’s of jurors. It’s clear jurors took the bait in their hundreds of submitted questions doubting claims that Jodi suffers from PTSD, battered woman syndrome and that Travis was an abusive pedophile. As the case finally comes to a close, Martinez is performing a hell of a grand finale with a range of rebuttal witnesses yet again debunking Jodi’s litany of lies.

First, Martinez called psychologist Janeen DeMarte, who went on to discredit both defense experts Dr. Richard Samuels and psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette. DeMarte told jurors the fact that LaViolette spent more than 40 hours interviewing Arias led to a defective diagnosis because the time ends up becoming therapeutic, skewing LaViolette’s findings that Arias suffered from domestic abuse and battered woman syndrome. She also told jurors evaluators should not give gifts to their clients, as Samuels had, because it alters the relationship and leads to a defective diagnosis, doubting his claim that Arias suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Then on Tuesday came a lightning round of rebuttal witnesses, taking the stand at a fast pace in marked contrast from the lengthy testimonies jurors are used to seeing in this trial. Martinez spent part of the day focusing on the gas cans Jodi purchased to allegedly try to cover up any sign that she had been in Mesa visiting Travis, which is key to proving the killing was premeditated and deserving of a 1st degree murder conviction. Tesoro gas employee Chelsea Young testified that Arias made three gas purchases at a gas station in Salt Lake City all in the same day; two days before she killed Travis. Walmart employee Amanda Webb testified that she reviewed all of the records from the Wal-Mart store in Salinas, California, on June 3, 2008 and that no one returned a five-gallon gas can on that day, in direct contrast from Arias’ claim that she had returned a third gas can before she even visited Travis.

Martinez also focused on what Travis was like as a boyfriend, trying to disprove Arias’ claims that he was an abusive pedophile. Jacob Mefford, a friend of Travis’ and co-worker at PrePaid Legal testified that at two different PPL events he saw Travis being affectionate with Jodi & acting “like a couple.” Such a statement stands to discredit Jodi’s claims that Travis tried to hide their relationship and act like they were not a couple in public. Mesa Police Dept. Computer Forensic Unit officer Michael Melendez testified that he searched every single file he could open on Travis’ computer and never found any images of children. He also said he went through the internet search history and found basic usage with no access to adult sites of any sort. Such testimony is strong evidence that Jodi is lying about claims that Travis had a sexual fascination for little boys, making her dress up in Spiderman underwear and masturbating to photos of little boys.

Martinez’s most important rebuttal witness was Travis’ ex-girlfriend Deanna Reid, who testified that in their entire relationship, he never raised his voice at her, yelled at her or became physically violent with her. Such testimony is key to discrediting Jodi’s claims that Travis was abusive throughout their relationship and, most importantly, that he threatened her life on the day he died. Reid also testified that she never saw photos of little boys in her relationship with Travis. Reid will be essential when jurors gauge whether to believe Arias’ claims that Travis abused her because such a description stands in stark contrast from the calm & caring man Reid portrayed him as. While defense attorney Kirk Nurmi tried to remind jurors that Travis was a different boyfriend with Jodi, asking Deanna if he ever made her dress in maid’s costumes or ever sent her dirty texts like he had with Jodi, I think the strategy backfired. Jurors are getting sick of the defense’s attempts to try to villainize the victim.

The defense is clearly feeling the heat as the trial nears deliberation, filing two last minute motions to try to save their case. Nurmi filed a motion asking the judge to grant a surrebuttal, claiming the fact that DeMarte said Arias suffered from borderline personality disorder was “new” evidence that deserves a rebuttal witness psychologist. The judge may grant it just to ensure the defense has no option to claim it was an error on appeal. Yet, such a rebuttal is unlikely to change jurors minds and will just lead to another bulldog cross-examination by Juan Martinez. Nurmi also filed a motion to have the jury instructions include a mitigation to manslaughter “in the heat of passion,” but such a last-ditch effort is unlikely to be successful.

As the case nears deliberations, I’m looking forward to seeing Juan Martinez’s closing argument because if his performance thus far is any indication, it’s sure to be quite the show in his final attempt at getting justice for Travis Alexander.