Jodi Arias Trial: Day 47, or, Can This Trial Be Saved?

Today is a scheduled hearing about the defense motions of prosecutorial misconduct, and I believe there is a hearing of defense witness Alyce LaViolette over what is likely the outrageous witness intimidation by the so-called Travis Alexander supporters.

Witness intimidation is a serious crime, and this case could be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can never be tried again, because of it. I think Jodi Arias should be acquitted anyway, but this would end the circus once and for all. Declaring a mistrial and forcing a plea deal with Jodi serving a minimal amount of time or credit for time served is another alternative that should be considered.

I hope some people are prosecuted over their relentless bullying and intimidation tactics, and if that includes Travis Alexander's family and friends, so be it.

You just can't do this in American criminal law. The sixth amendment is SO important, and it overrides any argument about "free speech."
_____

HLN's Grace Wong is on the stand being asked about "rock star" Juan Martinez's encounter with his groupies outside of the courthouse. A photographic expert talked about the reflection in Travis's left eye which showed that somebody took the picture, i.e., Jodi, and that she had no gun or knife with her when she took that picture of Travis sitting down in the shower.

JM tried to claim he saw a "dog" in the picture when he argued for it not being admitted because it was trace over since the equipment in the courtroom couldn't enhance the way equipment in the lab could enchance. The expert, Neumeister, had a hard time keeping a straight face. The judge will rule on this later.

The judge denied motion for mistrial on the basis of JM's encounter with his fans in front of the courthouse.

She is clearly a puppet for the prosecution. More and more appellate issues.

Now we have witness intimidation issues. However these issues have to do with the closed chamber hearings, not with the outrageous antics outside of the courtroom.

That motion was denied, predictably enough. Martinez tried to get her to take action on the Twitter issue, but she refused to rule in his favor on that, saying it was up to the sheriff's department to enforce anything along those lines. Martinez was upset because he was told by "somebody" that among other things, the tweets mocked his height.

At 1:15 will be the closed hearing with LaViolette. That I suspect has to do with the intimidation outside of the courtroom, but we won't know.

Update: 3:15 p.m.: The jury was in the courtroom for maybe one minute when Judge Stephens announced both sides reached a stipulation that the reflection shown in Travis's left eye in the last picture of him alive does NOT show Jodi Arias with a gun or a knife. She was using both hands to hold Travis's camera.

This helps blow another hole in the prosecution's premeditation theory.





Trial can be viewed at the Arizona Republic website, among live streams or can be viewed here on the blog: