Jodi`s Secret Strategy? Defense Demands a Mistrial
MARTINEZ: You`re the one that did this, right?</s>ARIAS: Yes.</s>NURMI: When this intimidation began, almost the very day that Miss Arias started her case.</s>MARTINEZ: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?</s>NURMI: Convicted of first-degree murder or not...</s>MARTINEZ: Was he screaming?</s>ARIAS (singing): It might change my memory</s>MARTINEZ: And he`s feeling like he`s having a heart attack.</s>NURMI: This cannot be a modern-day version of a stoning or a witch trial.</s>MARTINEZ: All the way until he died. Until she put him into another life.</s>NURMI: The state attacked expert witnesses. We will not be calling witnesses in the defense case.</s>ARIAS (singing): O, night divine...</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just a crazy, chaotic day in court, as the defense says, "Hey, there`s a witness who`s too scared to testify in Jodi`s defense on her behalf, in the mitigation phase. She`s been intimidated; it`s a witch hunt mentality here. It`s like Jodi is going to be stoned to death." And then he says, "I want a mistrial." And the judge says, no. And then he says, "Well, I want off the case, then. Get us off the case. We don`t want to represent Jodi Arias anymore." The judge said no. So then what happened, Jean Casarez? What is going to happen tomorrow?</s>CASAREZ: Well, we`ll believe it when we see it, but it is supposed to be Jodi Arias giving a statement to the judge and the jury, right in this courthouse, tomorrow morning, first thing. But my question is, they had all day. I mean, why wasn`t it done today? You can`t tell me the two mitigation witnesses were going to take all day. Jodi would have been giving her statement. It`s before closing arguments. So for some reason -- and there was an issue. I saw that between the attorneys. Then the judge, though, just dismissed court for the entire day.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: There is something going on, as per usual this case, some kind of mystery, and I think it might have something to do with what Jodi Arias plans to say tomorrow. Remember the infamous interview she gave after she was found guilty of murder one, when she talked to KSAZ, and she said, "I want death." Let`s play it, and then we`re going to hear from our own Dr. Drew.</s>ARIAS: I said years ago that I would rather get death than life, and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I`d rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you`re saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to being in prison for life?</s>ARIAS: Yes.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Dr. Drew, thank you so much for joining us. I was talking to you last night, I believe, or a couple of nights ago, about what Jodi is up to, psychologically. Why she would give that interview and say, "Give me death." What is she doing? And could she do the same thing again tomorrow, Dr. Drew?</s>DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Because we know that she has psychological testing that documents, in fact, that she has a borderline personality disorder. And Jane, you and I talked off-camera and off-mike the other night, and I think I sort of surprised you with this mechanism that borderlines very commonly use, called projection of identification, where they disavow their own feelings and put them into other people. So what she is saying, when she says, "I want the death penalty," she`s saying, "I have murderous rage inside of me." Of course, we all know that, because we`ve seen the product of that murderous rage. "But I can`t -- I disavow it. You are going to kill me and then be guilty of my rage." Isn`t that nice? And then you see duper`s delight on her face, a little bit of glee when she says that. "Yes, get me out of here fast. You kill me, and then I`ll have made you guilty for acting out my rage."</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, so you`re saying, essentially, that she wants to play the martyr. That her borderline personality disorder has her wanting to get up there and have her moment, where she plays the martyr, and in a sense says, "Yes, kill me." And that this is killing their -- her attorneys psychologically. I mean, Jean Casarez, I`ve got to bring you back in. You`ve covered so many trials. Have you ever heard? We`re on the eve of something even more extraordinary, as crazy as today was, that Jodi Arias might get up there -- might, might, might -- and say what she said, which is, "Kill me!" She might tell the jury. Have you ever heard of such a thing?</s>CASAREZ: She definitely might. You know, with this case and with Jodi, once she starts talking, she can say whatever she wants. Right? I mean, there can be objections, and her attorney can call for a side bar, but she`s going to say what she wants to say. And that`s what I think is the amazing aspect, because her life hangs in balance with this jury. And remember, Martinez is going to get to have closing arguments. And although he can`t cross-examine her, he`s going to hear, as the jury is, what she says, and they`re going to be fair comment of what his ears have just heard in court, what Jodi has just said.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, you`re going to experience a little backlash from the intense sun here, but we`re going to turn around and we`re going to show you something that should make Jodi Arias think twice, think a lot. Jacqui (inaudible), my producer, you`re going to stand in here and take a look at this. This is the cell, the size of the cell -- see that white? You can see the white, you can actually walk around it and give us a sense. This is the size of the cell that she will live in, ok, if she gets the death sentence. Now, if you do this, if you take this and say, this is the bunk right here, ok, this is the bunk, so then look at this, she has even less. This is a giant coffin, essentially, she would be living in what amounts to a large coffin. This is extraordinary. I wonder, and I don`t know where Dr. Drew, we`ll bring in Dr. Drew -- I wonder if she really understands what she`s saying, when she says, give me the death penalty. I wonder, Dr. Drew, if she understands that she`s going to be in something the size of a very large coffin for approximately 12 years. That`s how long the average prisoner sits in that box before they go to get the actual lethal injection, Dr. Drew.</s>DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: Remember, Jane, her version of reality sort of begs no alternative, as she sees it. In her mind, she`s going to use the secret, she`s going to wish for something, and she`s going to get her freedom through death very quickly, much quicker than other people, so she doesn`t have to live in that cell. She may -- you may see her appealing for something like that tomorrow. That`s something that certainly could happen. But I can tell you for sure, people with borderline disorders, and I don`t want to cast aspersions on them, because they don`t deserve to be even in the same category as Jodi, even though they have the same disorder, but they can be very frustrating and unsatisfying to deal with. So whatever she tells us tomorrow, I predict we`re all going to be very frustrated when it`s done.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, remember, her dear friend, Patty Womack, Jodi was the bridesmaid at Patty`s wedding, Jodi took photographs for Patty, Patty knew her since the sixth grade, they were dear friends. Here`s what Patty had to say about Jodi, but what she did not say in court, because she claims she was too terrified of the backlash. Listen.</s>PATTY WOMACK, FRIEND OF JODI ARIAS: She was a kind person. She was funny. Like everybody knows, she`s a beautiful artist and photographer. She was athletic, actually. She`s extremely funny and just everybody loved her. In fact, everybody just wanted -- she was a great person. Everybody wanted to be Jodi`s friend.</s>KIRK NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Now we`re in a situation, judge, where a key mitigation witness, someone who knew miss Arias long before Mr. Alexander came along and came into her life, has been intimidated --</s>JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: When I started to talk about her drug use as it involved the witness and the defendant. At that point, she deferred and chose not to answer. And she indicated that it was her belief that she should assert her Fifth Amendment rights.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go out to my very special guest, Clancy Talbot, a dear friend of Travis Alexander, the victim -- Clancy, thank you so much for joining us. I`m certainly sure that you`ve heard about all of the bizarre developments in court today. Jodi Arias, her attorneys basically saying, we don`t want to represent her, after losing their bid for a mistrial, and now Jodi coming back tomorrow. You knew Jodi. Do you think she`s going to stand up there tomorrow and say, "kill me", or do you think she`s going to plead for her life?</s>CLANCY TALBOT, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Who knows with Jodi? My personal feeling about her interview about saying she wants the death penalty is just kind of like a manipulation. I don`t think she wants the death penalty, because that would be ultimate torture for her, to keep her in a cell, secluded from everyone else. So I think that that`s, you know, kind of her reverse psychology, if you will, about that part of her interview. Who knows what she`ll do tomorrow. I don`t know. Today when I heard there was a mistrial, the first thing I thought of was they`re going to say that --</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: There wasn`t mistrial. There wasn`t a mistrial. It was a request for a mistrial that was denied.</s>TALBOT: When they asked -- when they asked for a mistrial. Right.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Yes.</s>TALBOT: When they requested the mistrial, I figured it was probably about the witness and, you know, there would be something there about her not wanting to testify and I think that they kind of had everything set to play out how it did, if things were denied and went the way they did. And I agree, I don`t remember who said it, but it was like Kirk Nurmi was throwing a tantrum saying, well, if you`re not going to give us what we want, then we`re not going to represent her, we`re not going to call any witnesses. And it`s amazing, you know, you never know what`s going to happen with this case. And that`s Jodi -- you never know what`s going to happen next.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, absolutely. Her ex-boyfriend, Darryl Brewer (ph), the man she dated before she met Travis, with whom she had a four- year relationship. He was -- and my producer, senior booker, Selin Darkalstanian actually talked to him -- where was he and was he ready to take the stand, even though they decided not to call him? The defense decided not to call him at the 11th hour.</s>TALBOT: Jane, I saw him 15 minutes before court started today, in the lobby of our hotel. And he was just hanging out, talking on the phone. And I approached him and he was sitting there waiting for the call to go upstairs to testify. So we went into court, the defense said, they`re not going to call any witnesses. And when I came back out of court, he was still sitting in the lobby, waiting to find out what he was going to do. He was still talking to the defense attorney. So he was here and ready to go. That was the original plan and they decided not to call him last minute.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: I just don`t understand that. I have to wonder, and I`ll posit this to Jayne Weintraub because you`re a defense attorney and you`ve been around the block. Could it be part of a strategy? Hey, we`re not getting Patty Womack, who we really want, so let`s not call anybody, because then it will be a better chance for an appeal. Then, if we have no mitigation case, if the defense puts zero people up to say nice things on the Jodi Arias that will look better on appeal. Do you think that could be their strategy?</s>JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it could be part of a strategy, but it would be, as Kirk Nurmi said, it would be because the judge was not permitting them to do his job. In other words, because of the intimidation, they weren`t allowed to do what they thought was the right thing. I will also say, as part of an appeals strategy, if their client is going to get up there tomorrow in allocution and say, I want the death penalty, I don`t think there`s going to be an appeal. I think she will waive an appeal, and I don`t think there`ll be a 12-year wait to get a lethal injection. But I do question, where`s the rest of the mitigation? Where`s a jail guard to say that, you know, she`s good behavior and cooperative and compliant. Where is a social worker that`s been working on the case with Jodi for four years? Where`s her mother falling on the sword and saying, you know, almost like in Casey Anthony`s case, the mother. How about, you know, "I love her, maybe I did abuse her, I didn`t think it was abuse, but she didn`t have a good childhood." Somebody to fall on the sword for her so that she could get there up there and do the right thing tomorrow -- to be remorseful. That`s what I don`t get.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, we`re going to discuss why Jodi Arias` mother is not part of this process, is not part of the mitigation process. We know she supports her daughter in the sense that she has been here every single day, practically. And she was here today. And the whole family was here today. We`re going to show you that and debate it on the other side.</s>MARTINEZ: Once she began stabbing him, it`s not a situation where she stopped. She killed him three times over. I`m asking you who`s making the money, aren`t I? Nothing here is to make the prosecutor happy. Do you understand that? Why don`t you want to answer my question? So when was the third time you met her? Sir, am I asking you about the evening? I`m not, am I?