start w/ this from wiki and them let me know when you are ready for more - the nuances
The murder of Travis Alexander occurred on June 4, 2008, in Mesa, Arizona. The murder resulted in the opening of a 2013 criminal trial in which Jodi Arias was charged in relation to the shooting and stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend.
Contents
Victim
Travis Victor Alexander (born July 28, 1977), known to his friends as "T-Dogg", was born in Riverside, California, United States. Alexander had three brothers and four sisters. His parents, Gary David Alexander (1948?1997), and Gary's third wife, the former Pamela Elizabeth Morgan (1953?2005), were drug addicts. Gary Alexander died on July 28, 1997, his son Travis' 20th birthday. Alexander and his siblings were taken in as children by their paternal grandmother, Norma Jean Preston Alexander Sarvey (1932?2012), who eventually introduced them to Mormonism. She did not live to see the trial open.[2] Following his high school graduation, Alexander served a successful LDS mission in Denver, Colorado from the summer of 1996 to September 1998. In 2004, he purchased the home in which he would be murdered at 11428 Queensborough Avenue in Mesa, Arizona. He reportedly moved to Mesa due to a strong Mormon community.
At the time of his death, Alexander was 30 years old. He was a salesman for the network marketing company Pre-Paid Legal Services; he also worked as a motivational speaker. Alexander was described as caring, intelligent, charismatic, and having a good sense of humor. His funeral was held on June 21, 2008, in Riverside, California.[3]
Suspect
Jodi Ann Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California, to William Angelo and Sandy D. (n?e Allen) Arias. She is of Mexican descent from her father and German and English from her mother. Arias has an older half-sister (from her father's first marriage), two younger brothers, and a younger sister. She has testified that both of her parents began physically abusing her after the age of 7 with a wooden spoon and belt as a form of punishment.[4] Although she attended Yreka Union High School, she did not graduate; she later received her GED in jail while awaiting trial.[5] Arias and Alexander met in September 2006 at a Pre-Paid Legal Services conference, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. On November 26, 2006, Arias was baptized into the Mormon faith by Alexander. As of February 2, 2007, Alexander and Arias were a couple. She then relocated to Mesa, Arizona. Arias alleges that the two broke up on June 29, 2007 due to trust issues but that they continued to maintain a physical relationship after she moved back to Yreka, California in April 2008.[6] She returned to California after her then roommate in Mesa, Arizona married. The roommate did not feel it appropriate that Arias live in her marital home and Arias was unsuccessful in finding new housing arrangements. Arias was indicted on a first degree murder charge on July 9, 2008 (also her 28th birthday) by a grand jury.[7] On July 15, 2008, Arias was arrested at her grandparents' home in Yreka, California.[8] She was extradited to Arizona on September 5, 2008, where she entered a not guilty plea on September 11, 2008.[9]
Murder
Alexander's friends discovered his dead body in a shower of his home. He had been shot in the face, his throat was slit from ear to ear, and he had been stabbed 29 times (the original report indicated 27 stab wounds). Maricopa County Medical Examiner, Dr. Kevin Horn, testified that Alexander's jugular vein, common carotid artery, and windpipe had been slashed. Alexander's hands also had defensive wounds. Dr. Horn further testified that Alexander "may have" been deceased at the time the gunshot was inflicted.[10][11] Alexander's death was ruled a homicide.
Arias changed her account of her whereabouts three times. She originally told police that she had not been in the home at the time of Alexander's death. She later told police that two intruders had broken into Alexander's home and that they murdered him and attacked her. Finally, she stated that she killed Alexander in self-defense.[12][13][14][15]
Discovery and investigation
Alexander had scheduled a trip to Cancun, Mexico with Marie (Mimi) Hall and others from Pre-Paid Legal Services. He had also missed an important conference call on the night of June 4, 2008 at 7pm. After Mimi and others could not reach Alexander, they went to his home to check on his welfare on June 9, 2008. His roommates indicated that he was out of town. After some searching, they located a key to Alexander's master bedroom. Upon entry, they noticed large pools of blood at the hallway leading to the master bathroom, where his body was discovered in the shower.[16] He had been shot and repeatedly stabbed.
The 9-1-1 call notifying authorities of the discovery made mention of an ex-girlfriend that Alexander had told friends was stalking him, hacking into his Facebook account, and slashing tires.[17] Arias and many of Alexander's friends voluntarily gave fingerprint and DNA samples to Mesa Police.
Arias began calling the detective assigned to the case, Esteban Flores, inquiring on details and offering assistance. While knowing Alexander was dead, she claimed that she had no knowledge of the crime and that she had last seen him in April 2008.
Prior to the discovery of his remains, Arias continued to call and leave multiple voicemails for Alexander. It has been alleged that she also accessed Alexander's voicemail messages after his death.[18] She stated that Travis was to visit her in May 2008 but that plans changed. A white Ford Focus was rented by Arias in Redding, California on June 2, 2008, some 100 miles south of her residence. She advised Budget Rent a Car staff that the rental was for local use only. The vehicle was returned on June 7, 2008 after being driven approximately 2,800 miles, missing floor mats, and "kool-aid" looking stains on the front and rear seats. The vehicle had been cleaned before police could examine it.[19]
Several days before the trip Arias repeatedly contacted her ex-boyfriend, Darryl Brewer, asking to borrow gas cans for a trip to Arizona without explanation. The cans were not returned to Brewer. Receipts presented at trial also show Arias purchased two 5 gallon gas cans, hair dye, and lubricant from Walmart in Salinas, California on June 3, 2008. She then made multiple gasoline purchases with her MasterCard, totaling 20 gallons in Pasadena, California the same evening. The MasterCard was not used again until June 6, 2008 in Sparks, Nevada.[20]
Her initial trip was to head south to photograph a friend's child and then to Utah to spend time with her new love interest, Ryan Burns. Arias has alleged that Alexander called her in the early hours of June 4 and persuaded her to go see him in Arizona. Her arrival at his home was approximately 4am on June 4, 2008.
A spent .25 caliber round was located near one of the sinks in the master bath. Alexander's heavily damaged digital camera was located in the downstairs washing machine. The camera was new. Detective Flores, via phone interview with Arias, asked her if she knew a possible motive for why someone would want to damage Alexander's camera. Although images had been deleted, Mesa Police were able to recover the images. The recovered images included Arias and Alexander, both in sexually suggestive poses, at approximately 1:40 p.m. on June 4, 2008. In the photos, she is brunette and wearing pigtails. The last photo of Alexander alive, and in the shower, was taken at 5:29:20 p.m. on June 4, 2008. Moments later, images appear of an individual, believed to be Alexander, "profusely bleeding" on the floor.[21][22] The attack on Alexander began at approximately 5:30 p.m. on June 4, 2008.
A bloody palm print was located on the bathroom hallway, which DNA revealed to be a mixture of Arias's and Alexander's DNA. Arias continued to insist that she had last seen Alexander in April 2008 despite being presented with DNA and photographic evidence by Detective Esteban Flores.[21][23] On May 28, 2008, an "odd" burglary occurred at the residence of Arias's grandparents, with whom she was living, in Yreka, California. One object, each worth very little, was taken from every room of the home while cash and other valuable items were not taken. Arias's grandparents had guns in the home, which Arias denied knowing the existence of. Four firearms were in a gun cabinet but only a .25 caliber gun, same caliber as the firearm used to shoot Alexander, was taken. The whereabouts of the gun and knife used in the crime are unknown. They were not recovered at the scene.[24]
Ryan Burns and others who met up with Arias in Utah, after the murder, indicated she had bandages on her hands and that she wore long sleeves on days it was very hot. She told different stories about how she received the cuts to her hands. Burns was told they were from an injury while working at Margaritaville. At trial, it was revealed by Siskiyou County, California authorities that no such restaurant exists, nor ever existed in the area. At the time of the murder, she worked at Casa Ramos in Yreka.[25] When she arrived in Utah on June 5, 2008 Arias had dyed her hair blonde.
Arias arrived approximately 24 hours late of her intended date with Burns. She explained this by telling Burns she had gotten lost. Later, she told Detective Esteban Flores that she had gotten lost but had also been out of touch because her cell phone battery had died, she lost her charger, purchased another charger, and finally that she'd found the missing charger under her seat. There are no cell phone or credit card receipts placing her in Arizona around the time of the murder.[26]
While driving to a meeting with Burns, West Jordan, Utah Police Officer, Michael Galieti, pulled Arias over on June 5, 2008 in the rented vehicle. The front license plate was missing and the rear plate was upside down. Arias attributed this to some kids at a rest stop playing a trick on her. Burns helped Arias fix the license plate and Officer Galieti did not cite her for the infraction.[27]
Media
ABC News conducted a jailhouse interview with Arias in which she said, "I didn’t hurt Travis. I would never hurt Travis.....“I would be shaking in my boots right now if I had to answer to God for such a heinous crime.”[28] The case was also featured on an episode of 48 Hours Mystery: Picture Perfect in 2008.
Inside Edition also interviewed Arias at the Maricopa County Jail where she proclaimed, "No jury is going to convict me ... because I am innocent and you can mark my words on that. No jury is going to convict me."[29] It was during this interview that she offered up her second version of events by describing how two unknown individuals attacked her and Alexander. She was "miraculously" spared after the assailants gun misfired which gave her time to flee the home, naked, but she did not make any attempts to get help for wounded Alexander.[28]
Footage from the various programs were presented at trial.
Trial
The trial against Jodi Arias began on January 2, 2013 in Maricopa County Superior Court with Hon. Sherry K. Stephens presiding.[13][14] Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Arias.[30] Tanisha Alexander Sorenson, Alexander's sister, has been vocal of her desire to see Arias sentenced to death row.[31]
Arias is being represented by counsel L. Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott of the Maricopa County public defender's office. Her counsel is arguing that Alexander's death was a justifiable homicide committed in self-defense. The defense asserts that Alexander became enraged and attacked her after she dropped the camera.[32]
In late January 2013, artwork purportedly drawn by Arias began selling on eBay. It was later revealed that the seller was Arias' brother, and the items were being sold to cover the family's travel expenses to Arizona and to purchase Arias better quality food while in jail.[33] Thus far, the only family members present in the courtroom to support Arias, have been her mother and her mother's twin sister.
She took the stand on February 4, 2013. When asked about her quote, given to Inside Edition that she would not be convicted, Arias testified, “At the time, I had plans to commit suicide. So I was extremely confident that no jury would convict me because I didn’t expect any of you to be here, I planned to be dead."[34]
On February 6, Arias testified that she killed Alexander in self-defense and recounted an intimate encounter with Alexander that started with kissing and ended in anal sex, describing the anal sex as painful and adding: "It was not something I expected to happen, and I can't say I wanted it to, but I didn't stop him."[35]
a rep from sheriff joes office came in today and lodge a complaint because the defense was allowing jodi in unsafe and unsupervised places - special treatment - that os not allowed by the sherrifs office - this is a bad pic - but gives you general idea
hunky me
to name just a few :)
Harlette who is the other woman that's been sitting at the defense table with Jennifer?
oh and travis' sisters found jodi's moms spoons in her purse
Yeah, they gather mitigating evidence that may help the defendant. Evidence that the defendant may find too embarrassing to reveal themselves. The mitigation specialist will find everything on Jodi. Embarrassing, humiliating, all of it and expose it to save her life. These are used in capital cases. Wasn't aware that's what she was. They also assist the defense on how to present this.
Last edited by GlassHat; 02-07-2013 at 12:46 AM.
What was the defense allowing Jodi to do? I am so far behind.
[QUOTE=GlassHat;3310395]What was the defense allowing Jodi to do? I am so far behind.[/QUbeing allowed in judges chambers w/ no security, or being left in court room w/ no security and just basically being able to roam into areas recricted from prisoners unsupervised - basically it sounded like she was just given free range of the courthouse when ever she wanted, her own special privileges - this just came out today and sherrif joe sent that guy there to make a formal complaint, and that it could not happen any longer - and nurmi got pissed
[QUOTE=GlassHat;3310402] that was all that was said in court - the jusge is taking under advisement and will decide how to handle it
plus today a key rebutal witness for the prosecution today some one broke into her house, a DR, - and stole her computer where she has an in depth psychological profile in it today
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/21...me-burglarized
and she is listed on the witness list - seems fishy to me
The weak judge finally got a little backbone. Anyone else catch she said to the def that like we discussed, I'm going to be limiting sidebars.
Got my morning coffee and thinking about shirt pics. Why did they use a diff one in opening statement?
The one they used in opening statement doesn't appear to be Travis' house. There is white crown moulding around the top walls, Travis' house I don't see any of that.
With the master liar Jodi, I wouldn't believe spider underwear or this shirt unless they present a sales receipt with Travis' name on it.
"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are" --- Benjamin Franklin
I'm amazed at how classy Travis' family and friends act compared to Jodi's friends and family in court.
I think the attitudes you are seeing in court is probably a real testament to how they act outside of court.
Jodi's family acts like it's a party. Laughing, whispering, smiling, and talking. I don't like them. I don't like them at all. What a bunch of trashy people.
I predict Jodi will be talking to Nurmi at least 2 more days. Mon and Tue. I think JM will start fresh on a full day which will be Wed.I forsee her being on 7-8 more days.
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