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Jane Velez-Mitchell
More Tape Shown of Jodi Arias`s Changing Stories
Aired January 15, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, we are going inside Jodi Arias`s complex web of lies. Hear her sob, weep, cry, laugh, and try to spin her phony stories to the detective who knows -- he knows she`s the only person responsible for the vicious, brutal murder of Travis Alexander.
And tonight, I`m joined by the man who introduced Jodi to Travis. He`s going to tell us what she was like before this grizzly crime ever took place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Sex, lies and videotape, all splayed out before the jury and the world, as the Jodi Arias murder trial stuns the courtroom again today.
Prosecutors play a voicemail from Jodi to Travis Alexander, sent to him right after she had killed him. How bizarre is that? We`ll play you the chilling voicemail. And the most extraordinary videotape of Jodi lying over and over to detectives, even as they confront her with evidence that she killed Travis.
Plus, I`m talking exclusively to the man who introduced Jodi to Travis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a picture of you in Travis`s bedroom with Travis. It`s obvious you guys are having sex.
JODI ARIAS, MURDER SUSPECT: Are you sure it`s me? Because I was not there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s you.
I can show you proof you were there.
ARIAS: I was not at Travis` house. I was not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your hair is there with blood. And your palm print is there in blood. It`s over.
ARIAS: Could it have been my blood from before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your image is not important right now. Saving the rest of your life is. You`re even denying the pictures of you being there, the pictures of you laying on the bed in pigtails.
ARIAS: Pigtails?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ARIAS: If I hurt Travis, if I killed Travis, I would beg for the death penalty. I`m not guilty. I didn`t hurt Travis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, explosive new evidence in the Jodi Arias murder trial as the so-called cold-blooded killer`s litany of lies is exposed in open court. Will a jury convict Jodi of murdering her ex- boyfriend after listening to her sob and wail and cry, and laugh, and most of all lie and lie and lie over and over again to police?
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live.
The beautiful 32-year-old admits she stabbed her ex-boyfriend 29 times, slitting Travis Alexander`s throat ear to ear, and shooting him in the face. Just look at what she did to his hands alone.
Jodi now says, "Oh, it was all self-defense." But when cops first questioned her, she displayed some very, very weird behavior. Look at this: stretching. Oh, yes, she`s doing a little backbend there, over the table during her interrogation. You can`t make this stuff up.
Before then, flipping over and kind of falling asleep and also telling police there was absolutely no way, no reason she would have killed Travis. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis is telling me that you did this to him. That`s my job. My job is to speak for him. And this is what he`s telling me. And I want to know why. It`s killing me inside. I don`t know why.
ARIAS: There`s reason for it. There`s no reason why. There`s no reason I would ever want to hurt him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no way that anybody else...
ARIAS: He never raped me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The next day, in jailhouse orange, Jodi crumbles, admitting, yes, she was at Travis` house when he was killed, but still, she didn`t tell the truth. Instead, she concocts a wild story about Travis` home being invaded by ninja intruders.
Believe it or not, Jodi also lied to investigators about these kinky sex photos taken hours before Travis`s death, triple X photos like this one. This is one of the mild ones, of Jodi naked on a bed wearing pigtails. And this one of Travis, totally naked next to a bottle of personal lubricant.
Even when she changes her story to lie No. 2, the ninja home invasion story, she manages to work these photos into her new story line seamlessly. She`s an accomplished liar.
The jury, even her -- are you sitting down for this one? -- the voicemail Jodi left for Travis less than seven hours after she had already killed him. Yes. She rambled on, as if she didn`t leave the scene, a blood-soaked bedroom, with his dead body in the shower hours before. Listen to this extraordinary after-death voicemail she leaves the man she killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: My phone died, so I wasn`t getting back to anybody. I drove 100 miles in the wrong direction, over 100 miles, thank you very much. So yes, remember New Mexico? It was a lot like that, only you weren`t here to prevent me from going into the three digits. So fun, fun. Tell you all about that later. Also we were talking about, when we were talking about your upcoming travels my way. I was looking at the May calendar -- duh -- so I`m all confused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and she ends it with "talk soon." No, not talk soon because he`s dead. I`m taking your calls on this. Call me: 1-877- JVM-SAYS. Your thoughts, your theories: 1-877-586-7297. Do you have any idea why she would behave in this manner?
Straight out to senior producer for our show, Selin Darkalstanian. You were inside court for this extraordinary marathon of lies caught on tape. Describe the mood as we see this interrogation tape. What`s the reaction? Tell us.
SELIN DARKALSTANIAN, HLN PRODUCER: We were all hanging on the edge of our seats watching this, Jane, because we see July 15 is the first day. She gets taken into the interrogation room. She is lying. She`s saying, "I have never been there. I have nothing to do with this. I never went to Arizona. I was never at Travis`s house."
And then we cut to day two, the next day. She comes back. She`s wearing an orange jump suit, because remember, day one, she`s saying she wasn`t there. She gets arrested. She gets put in jail.
Day two, she`s back in the interrogation room, and what does she say? "Oh, yes, actually, I was there. I got there at 3 a.m. in the morning, so his roommates wouldn`t see me. He didn`t like other people to see me when I came to his house." And we see this girl change her story, lie, after lie after lie.
And then, at one point, the investigator leaves the interrogation room, and you`re just sitting there. And there was a good minute or two where the entire courtroom is just watching her sit in a room all by herself. So you`re thinking, "What is she going to do? She doesn`t think anyone is watching her." She`s just sitting there stretching, doing yoga poses in the middle of an office, in the sheriff`s office.
So as if that wasn`t the most compelling moment was when she was alone in that interrogation room, because the entire courtroom, including the jury, was looking to see what is this girl going to do next? I saw the jurors. They were all taking notes, like, as she was giving her lies. One juror had filled his notebook completely. He went to a second notebook; he started writing, so the jurors are very, very into this.
And Selin, I`m watching her stretch and I`m like, I have never seen anything like this before in all my years of covering cases. That somebody is left in a room by interrogators after being grilled and she does this? It`s just truly bizarre, it`s extraordinary, if you put in a movie, people would say that`s absurd. Write it out. Nobody would ever do such a thing. Really extraordinary.
Here`s, now, as Selin mentioned, day one, she`s being grilled, "No, I wasn`t there." Day two, they arrest her. She`s in jailhouse orange, and she offers her second version of events as she`s being grilled, another elaborate lie when she says that Travis was killed by two intruders, all dressed in black, in masks, a man and a woman. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: I ran. And he stopped me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who stopped you?
ARIAS: Travis. He was still, like, conscious and still alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you just left him there?
ARIAS: No, I ran into the closet, because there`s two doors. And he was sort of in the hallway already, and he stopped me. Her didn`t touch me. He just held the gun to my head, and he was like, "You don`t go anywhere." And he (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: By her own admission today, that is a complete and utter fabrication. there were no ninjas.
Let`s bring in the attorneys and Jon Lieberman, investigative reporter and host, "Searching for Justice" on AOL.
I want to start with you, Jon. This is one of the most extraordinary cases I`ve ever seen come down the pike. Not just the overwhelming forensics, but this marathon of lies is the best ways I can describe it. And the jury watching this, it almost seems like it was a crime to take this to trial, that something should have been done, because it is the most open-and-shut case we have ever seen.
JON LIEBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is; in my mind, it is. I mean the lies are infuriating. The tears are infuriating. Luckily, this detective played it so right and when he said that he was the one speaking for Travis, that is just so right.
And he unraveled Jodi. He allowed Jodi, actually, to unravel herself.
Jodi said things today like, "I`ve had plenty of boyfriends, and they`re all still alive." I mean, who says that?
She says at one point to the detective, "Tell me how I`m acting guilty." She makes it up as she goes along, and it`s absolutely infuriating.
And then the Verizon phone tech was on the stand today, and he testified, essentially, that it appears that, after Jodi killed Travis, she hacked into his voicemail to check his voicemail.
I mean everything about this case is just so infuriating, and I think the jury is now seeing the liar -- seeing Jodi for the liar that she is.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Deb Strickler, criminal defense attorney, you`ve got a tough job. She hacks into his voicemail after killing him. She leaves him these phony voicemails after killing him to try to create an alibi?
DEB STRICKLER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nothing that happened today helps her case. So my guess is the reason why we`re all watching this trial and why we`re having this trial is because the prosecution, just like Casey Anthony, did not take the death penalty off the table. So they`re having to try the case, because they are going after the death penalty.
And I think they`re going to have a hard time proving only one aggravating circumstance in order to achieve the jury awarding a death penalty. Do I think a second-degree or a third-degree or even first- degree? Yes, but I don`t think they`re going to achieve getting a death penalty in this case. It isn`t enough. There`s more mitigating that will negate the aggravating circumstances of this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Ten seconds. Jon Lieberman, do you think she`s going to get the death penalty?
LIEBERMAN: I think she can avoid the death penalty, by -- get this -- taking the stand and trying to show these jurors that she`s semi-human. I think she has to take the stand to try and avoid the death penalty.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. On the other side...
LIEBERMAN: Even though they`re going to rip her apart.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... an extraordinary guest, David Hughes. This is an exclusive interview. He is the man who introduced Jodi Alexander [SIC] to her victim, Travis. Jodi Arias, my apologies. Jodi Arias to Travis Alexander, and actually introduced them at a convention at Las Vegas, watched them click. And also he can tell us about what she was like before she met Travis Alexander.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I`m asking is for you to be honest with me. I know you were there.
ARIAS: Are you sure those pictures aren`t from another time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Positive. Absolutely positive.
ARIAS: The last time I had any kind of sexual contact with Travis was in April.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I tell you about the camera? That camera was damaged. Someone put it in a washing machine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your foot, Jodi. These are your pants. Now it`s off-color, because we had to enhance it, and the color kind of changes a little bit, but that`s Travis.
ARIAS: This is his bathroom. That is not my foot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Another lie. Joining me now, in an exclusive interview, Dr. David Hughes, the very man who introduced Jodi to Travis, the woman that we have been seeing in these same shockers (ph).
First of all, I want to thank you for joining us, but my first question, you worked with her. You knew her before anybody ever knew Jodi Arias. Looking at her incredible ability to lie in the face of all evidence, can you give us an insight? Did she ever exhibit any tendencies that would give you an inkling that she would able to lie this effectively?
DAVID HUGHES, INTRODUCED JODI TO TRAVIS: Well, we knew that she -- as we got to know her better, we knew that she was a chameleon. She would adapt to any type of environment or situation she needed to.
And -- and so another thing is that we never really got to know Jodi Arias. I -- I actually worked with her in Legal Shield. She was part of my team. And she would -- I would take a few business calls, but I didn`t know her on a personal level until we met for the first time in person at the Las Vegas convention.
And so when I met her in person, I was like, "Hey, listen, it was great to meet you." And then I thought, well, hey, Travis is a single guy, and I know he`s always looking around for -- you know, for a cute girl to date, and so I introduced them. And I said, "Hey, I told Travis you`ve got to meet this gal," and he goes, "Well, introduce me." And so I introduced him. And then the relationship grew very quickly.
And as we continued to learn more about Jodi as Jodi, we just didn`t know much about her personal life. Like, she just didn`t reveal a lot of that information, and -- but we always felt weird, like there was always, you know -- well, I will say this, that she -- she knows that she has a way with men.
And that`s why I believe that she will take the stand. I think that she wants to take the stand, because she feels like she can go and, you know, convince a male on that jury to say, "I think -- I think what she`s saying is true" or to put a question in their mind.
But women, on the other hand for the most part, they -- they see right through. And my wife and my brother`s wife, they just knew that there was something weird about her right from the get-go.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And apparently, she did something strange when you were all hanging out at one of Travis` friends, Dave Hall`s house. Tell us about what she did that made you really wonder about her.
HUGHES: Well, I think it`s interesting that the defense is saying that she, you know, that Travis was the one that was so obsessive and manipulating, whereas, it was -- she`s the one that was like that. And I think more evidence just like in today is going to come out that will show that.
But, you know, at Mr. Hall`s house, we were sitting there and she was very affectionate with him, overly affectionate, in front of a bunch of other people. And she`s fondling his ears and rubbing his hair. And he just kind of like, you know, kind of waving his, you know, like a gnat. It was kind of bugging her at the time. And she would kind of back off a little bit. But it was -- it was to the point that it was just not natural, and it was strange and everyone noticed it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to the phone lines, and Betty, maybe there`s something you have to ask that the doctor, Dr. David Hughes, who has joined us -- we`re so happy to have him on -- can answer. Betty, Virginia, your question or thought?
CALLER: Good evening, Jane.
Hello, Doctor.
I have a comment and a question. My comment is first, this domestic claim really ticks me off for the women that are true victims of abuse. That really ticks me off.
And the question is, since she`s such a talker, do you think she has shot her mouth off in prison to anybody, since she has been in prison for almost four years?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that is a truly excellent question. I want to go to Beth Karas. You`ve been covering this from the start. The detective hones in over and over again: "Why? I know you did it, Jodi, but why? I can`t live with myself until I find out why." Has she revealed any true hidden motive to anyone?
BETH KARAS, TRUTV`S "IN SESSION": Not that we`re aware of, except we do think that she did tell the experts, who are expected to testify in this case for the defense. They`re not supposed to say what Jodi told them, but some of it might come in somehow through the backdoor. But she supposedly told them exactly how she killed Travis Alexander.
Now, I`m not aware of anybody in the jail finding out from her. I think the prosecution would have those witnesses on the list, if there was somebody who was credible who claims Jodi Arias confessed to them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s the missing piece of the puzzle. We`re going to continue with Dr. Hughes and our other panel of experts. It`s been established she killed him. There`s still a mystery, a giant question mark, why? Why did she do it?
More on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: The evidence is very compelling, but none of it proves that I committed a murder.
MARIE HALL, TRAVIS ALEXANDER`S FRIEND: He had dated somebody earlier that year. She had slashed her [SIC] tires. She had followed us on the first date that we went on. She had broken into his e-mail accounts, his bank accounts. She would sneak into his house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely some of the best evidence I`ve ever had in a case. And I`ve convicted a few people on less than this.
ARIAS: So I`m as good as done?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not up to me. But eventually, those photos will come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s interrogation by Detective Steve Flores, but it sounds like a therapy session with a psychiatrist and a patient. Good detective work is like therapy. These detectives are all about getting that person to the emotional truth where they break down.
And I want to bring Dr. Judy Ho, clinical psychiatrist out of Los Angeles. As you watch this and it goes on and on for hours, it is like he`s trying to get her to admit what he knows, which is very similar to therapy, where the doctor usually knows what`s wrong with the patient. But the emotional catharsis, of course, is when the patient figures it out themselves.
DR. JUDY HO, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: That`s right. And what`s happening right now with Jodi is she has stepped across the line in terms of the level of manipulation that she`s used. She`s pretending right now that she is still this innocent person, and she keeps changing her story over and over and over again.
And what`s going to happen with a jury, and we know this from social psychology research, that attractive women do tend to get lighter sentences. Jurors tend to sympathize with them. But as soon as any level of manipulation is picked up or any sense of lying or using their looks, you know, to take advantage of other people, when that happens, they get even heavier sentences.
And so what`s happening right now is, you know, Jodi is really digging her own grave here. I mean, she`s really kind of made a whole mess of the thing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, again, I`ve never seen more evidence in any case I`ve ever covered. Who has a killing caught on camera that`s not a surveillance camera?
During interrogation, cops confront Jodi, about the naked photos taken right before Travis is killed, after they had sex, even pointing out that she was wearing pigtails, possibly some kind of role playing. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s pictures of you laying on the bed in pigtails.
ARIAS: Pigtails?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
I`ve got pictures of you that I`ve blown up, and you`ve got that little mole right there. It`s the same one. It`s you. It`s obvious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The lies are extraordinary and, yes, he confronts her with this photo. And she`s obviously shocked, because she thought she got rid of those photos when she stuck the camera in the washing machine and washed a bunch of crime-scene bedding with the camera. But thanks to modern technology, the photos were recaptured.
Beth Karas, of all the extraordinary things that we saw in court, the second day of interrogation, when she`s in the orange jailhouse suit and she starts telling this crazy ninja story, take us through that.
KARAS: You know, it looked as though she might actually break, that he was close to breaking her. She starts sobbing, and then she says, "I didn`t see him get killed. I heard it." And that was the beginning of the tale of two intruders, a man and a woman. The woman wanted to kill Jodi, but the man said, "No, that`s not what we came here for."
And she talks about how Travis was shot first, and he was holding his head, and he was moaning. And then he was stabbed and he was bleeding all over the place. And you have to believe that she`s thinking back, now that we know she admitted doing it herself, reliving it. And now I`m wondering, maybe she did shoot him in the head first and not stab him. I don`t know.
But that he was bleeding all over the place and he was moaning. And "I could see, he wasn`t conscious, but he was still alive." And I`m thinking, "Wow, is this what was really happening as she was killing him?"
But then she says that the man, these two intruders, let her go, that "I`ll give you one chance, but if you ever, ever, ever tell anyone what happened" -- and he knew her address on her card, 1,000 miles away in Yreka, California -- he intimated that she or her family would be in danger. So she took off, and that`s when the tape ended. It will pick up tomorrow.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And it`s just all out of whole cloth, but every good liar takes the truth and weaves it into their lies. So was she taking her killing of Travis and kind of just superimposing two ninjas on top of it?
We`re just getting started. We are looking at another explosive day in court. Nancy Grace at 8 talks to a close friend and father figure to Travis Alexander. She`s got complete trial coverage. That`s at the top of the hour. And we`ve got a whole lot more for you, including more of the interrogation tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man.
She knocked the blessings out of him by being a bullet in his head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESTEBAN FLORES, DETECTIVE: Jodi, we`re not playing games here. That gun was in your possession.
I was trying to get the truth from Miss Arias.
You do have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say may be used against you in the court of law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the palm of the left hand, with his wound to the heart he should have been able to get his hands up in an attempt to defend himself.
FLORES: You have the right to the presence of an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you have the right to have an attorney appointed for you.
Do you understand these rights?
JODI ARIAS, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, new secrets and lies exposed in court today as we watch Jodi Arias tell lie after lie after lie after lie about her lack of involvement in the murder of ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Of course, she ultimately said "Yes I did it," and claimed self-defense. But watch as she breaks down when she`s confronted with mountains of evidence that she was there with Travis that night, that she had sex with him. That she took naked photos and that he took naked photo of her and she took naked photos of him and that then she killed him.
Listen to her sob when the detective -- Detective Flores who`s done an extraordinary job in this interrogation confronts her with a mountain of evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: This is absolutely some of the most evidence I have ever had in a case and I have convicted a few people on less than this.
ARIAS: Well, so I`m as good as done.
FLORES: This is enough for me to convict. But eventually those photos are going to come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Want to go to our very special guest, author David Hughes -- this is an exclusive interview. He is the gentleman who introduced Jodi Arias to Travis Alexander at a Las Vegas convention. We know that you`re not a psychic, that you can`t predict the future. Who could? But in light of all this, do you ever wonder, "Oh my gosh, I wish I had never introduced the two of them?" Do you ever feel any kind of irrational guilt?
DAVID HUGHES, AUTHOR: You know I would have never expected anything like this to happen. I don`t think anybody would have. Even though that we knew that there was some weirdness about her, I would have never have expected that that would happen.
But I will tell you the minute we got the news and the minute I got the news that Travis was dead, we all knew instantly it was Jodi.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why?
HUGHES: Because of the way she acts. I mean we knew about her chasing him, following him around when he goes on dates with other girls, slashing his tires, stealing his journals; just doing crazy things -- sneaking into his home. So we knew about those things and so we -- it was just crazy, just crazy behavior.
And so when something happened, when you hear about somebody getting stabbed, at the time we didn`t know how many times but we knew it was multiple times and there was blood everywhere, you know, we just figured this was a crime of passion. It had to be Jodi.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Day two of her police interrogation, she is dressed in an orange jump suit, watch Jodi as she helpfully demonstrates to Detective Flores where she was when she claims, we now know this is a total lie, a complete fabrication -- she claims ninja intruders in masks dressed in black, one man and one woman, burst into the house.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: I think he was shot.
FLORES: Where were you?
ARIAS: This is his shower. I was sitting here. Well, this is shower, I was sitting here -- I was like right here on my knees and his bathtub is right here. And I was just going through the pictures and I heard this loud ring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Honestly, the Oscar goes to Jodi Arias, what a performance. Dr. Judy Ho there are actors in Hollywood who would love to have these skills. When I see her moving around and jumping around and let`s show her doing her stretch while the detective takes a break to watch her, I see somebody who is actively living in a fantasy world. Almost as if anything that enters her brain -- and we see this with other pathological liars -- suddenly something clicks and it becomes their reality.
DR. JUDY HO, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. You know what`s happening, is she really has this sense of actually believing in the web of lies that she`s created. And so the fact that she`s walking around demonstrating what happened with these ninja intruders. And I was here and they were here and I was crouching like this, you know, acting this out with her body, it`s not normal behavior.
You know, when she was -- in the interrogation room by herself, doing the stretches, taking a little nap. This is not what people do when they hear that somebody they were dating was just murdered. If she really didn`t do it, there are different types of behaviors that we would be seeing here.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A quick caller -- Nancy, Vermont -- your question or thought, Nancy?
NANCY, VERMONT (via telephone): Yes, hi, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
NANCY: I love your show.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
NANCY: And the fact that I`m afraid that she is -- Jodi is so cunning and so manipulative that she`s going to just get one juror to, you know, believe her. It`s just disgusting to me.
And I also thought that the fact she even called the police afterwards, and started talking about she heard that somebody was killed and there`s a lot of blood, it`s almost like it`s a trophy for her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, my gosh, that is an incredible word -- a trophy killing. Wow. What an excellent call, Nancy Vermont. On the other side of the break, could one sympathetic juror who sees all the sobbing and suddenly feels sorry for her, be a huge problem for prosecutors?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: What I believe and this is something that comes from my faith and my religion is that it`s commanded of us to forgive people. And I don`t know that I would be big enough to stand before the person who did this and say "I forgive you". I don`t think I`m ready for that by any means, but I think that one day I`ll reach that point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Our caller made an excellent point. All it takes is one sympathetic juror, and all of this crying in court that Jodi Arias has done. And now we see her crying on videotape and the humiliation of the sexy photos, the pornographic photos. Could that sway one juror to feel sorry for her?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: June 4, Arias makes a 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. arrival at Travis Alexander`s home in Mesa Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were on the road at that time?
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 5:31 p.m. Arias attacks and killed Travis Alexander.
ARIAS: I felt so helpless that I wasn`t there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 10:30 p.m. that night, Arias calls her new love interest Ryan Burns.
RYAN BURNS, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: She got tired and so she fell asleep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That wasn`t her only phone call after Travis was killed by her. Who kills somebody and then calls the dead person`s phone, all right, and leaves a voicemail? I`ll give you one guess.
Listen to this voicemail left by Jodi Arias played in court today. It`s Jodi calling Travis`s phone hours after she has killed him. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: My phone died so I wasn`t getting back to anybody. I drove 100 miles in the wrong direction, over 100 miles thank you very much, so yes. Remember New Mexico it was a lot like that only you weren`t here to prevent me from going into the three digits. So fun, fun. Tell you all about that later.
Also we were talking about, when we were talking about your upcoming travels my way, I was looking at the May calendar, duh, so I`m all confused. But Heather and I are going to see "Othello" on July 1. And we would love for you to accompany us. I don`t know when Team Freedom`s event is though, but you know it`s on the list. So we could do Shakespeare (inaudible), so if you can make you can make it. If not (inaudible) but let me know and I will talk to you soon. Bye.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Talk soon, bye, no. He`s dead. You know, because you killed him. In fact we find out today that Jodi called Travis`s phone four times after he was dead and one of those calls was made nearly a week after his body had been found. At one point Jodi dials into Travis`s voicemail messages for 16 minutes listening to his voicemail messages.
Was this all part of her plan to stage some kind of cover for the murder? Was she trying to create an alibi by leaving those voice mails?
The last photos of Travis alive are 5:32 p.m. on June 4th. Seven hours later, Jodi is calling his phone to leave a voicemail when she knows darn well he is dead.
It`s extraordinary. Dr. David Hughes, you knew Jodi Arias, you introduced her to Travis Alexander. Does it shock you? Does it blow your mind the extent of her duplicity?
HUGHES: You know, I listen to those recordings and it just, yes, it blows me away, the lies that she would tell. And I think it`s just -- you know she -- yes, I just can`t believe it. It`s just unbelievable that she would say those kind of things and have one story after another story and change it and with all of the evidence that was laid out today, she still was trying to stick to her story. Just amazing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go to the phone line -- Pat, Georgia, your question or thought -- Pat, Georgia?
PAT, GEORGIA (via telephone): Hi, Jane, I think that we`re watching a true psychopath and I wonder if there`s ever been any incident in her past of people dying or being killed, you know, that something that she may have been involved with because anybody that can slaughter somebody like that and powder their nose --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I could tell you that we have heard references, Jean Casarez to expert examinations -- obviously the defense hires psychologists to make a psychiatric determination. We have -- she has a completely clear record, that`s what`s so perplexing about this case, she doesn`t have a long rap sheet, right?
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": No, she had some other relationships. I think they were pretty normal -- normal just in every way. She does say, which is interesting when she`s talking to Detective Flores, that at one point she kicked a dog. And she talks about how the dog was doing things she didn`t like, and she kicked it.
She also said that she had a breakdown after a relationship ended, but those could be telltale signs of what can grow and foster and get worse.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sure. Cruelty to animals is often a precursor to violent crimes against humans -- we all know that.
CASAREZ: Yes. That` right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s been in studies.
All right. On the other side of the break, we`re going to have our legal and investigative experts battle it out -- the impact of the sex photos on the jury and one juror is all it takes to feel sorry for her, her sobbing in court. We`ll analyze it on the other side.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believed it was unusual that small items worth money or money for instance, the change was not taken. I also thought it was strange that only one of the firearms was stolen from the cabinet.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, our exclusive guest, Dr. David Hughes, you saw when Jodi stayed at his brother, Chris`s house. We`re trying to get insight into the extremely bizarre behavior of this accused murderess who admits she killed but says it was in self-defense.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: Jodi, this is over. This is absolutely over. You need to tell me the truth.
ARIAS: Listen, the truth is I did not hurt Travis.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Detective Flores grills her. Anybody else would probably be shaking. And she -- you know what she does? Look at this. They go out to get a little rest or coffee or to watch her. And she does this crazy, weird, like, yoga stretch. Jon Leiberman, what the heck? Why did detectives leave her so they could observe her?
JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, well, they always do. I mean they want to see how a suspect is going to act if they`re going to be relaxed, if they`re going to be uptight, some fall asleep in the interrogation room, and they got exactly what they wanted. They got these images. They see how relaxed she is.
And you know what; I just think there`s absolutely no reasonable doubt in this case because there`s no evidence at all to support self-defense. And there`s actually a lot of evidence to support that she premeditated the murder of Travis Alexander.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That is so bizarre. I mean I just lean back in my chair for a second. I would never consider being on the air and leaning back like that. She`s being accused of murder, and she`s doing a yoga stretch. It`s crazy.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s talk, Meg Strickler, about the -- criminal defense attorney -- about sex photos. Because as a caller mentioned, all it takes is one sympathetic juror, possibly a female juror, the jury is overwhelmingly male, to look at these photos and say oh, she`s being exploited. I feel sorry for her. She`s also sobbing in court constantly. Is that -- is this sort of a Hail Mary pass, hoping for that one juror?
MEG STRICKLER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You always want help for the one juror. You hope you reach one juror when you`re a defense attorney and said, you know what; listen to this case, listen to some of these facts. And understand these pictures with this day of technology -- most people would never let those pictures ever be taken. So the fact that they were taken, it bolsters in theory her self-defense argument, they`re having sex, all these things are happening, they take pictures. And understand those pictures could be used by the defense when they present their case. And there will be a slightly different spin than you`re hearing right now.
Remember, the defense has not done anything yet. We`re only hearing the prosecution`s version right now.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes. Imagine what story they`re going to weave with all of this material. It`s like putting together a collage. Who knows what they`ll come up with?
Dr. Judy Ho, clinical psychologist, I don`t know if we can go back to that stretch because something about that stretch just captures my imagination. And it really encapsulates how insane this case is and why the public is fascinated with it. What do you make of this woman stretching like this when she`s accused of murder and her life is on the line?
HO: You know, earlier somebody had mentioned that she`s a bit of a psychopath. Even that there`s no history, that this is how she`s behaving. And what we know about psychopaths is that their brain activity is extremely low in very stressful situations, such as being interrogated for murder. And I feel like the bodily reflection of that, you know, her stretching, relaxing her body more is sending more signals to her brain that everything is ok. You know, there`s something going on there. And I think what`s happening, too, is that she is really a narcissist. Because she really thinks that all --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And speaking of narcissism, Doctor, look at her looking at herself in court. She studies herself. That`s her in court looking at the video of herself and she`s fascinated. Oh, when it`s autopsy photos, no. But if it`s her, no matter what`s going on, she wants to see the whole thing, take it all in. You are absolutely right.
HO: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A malignant narcissist, that`s one phrase I`ve heard. There`s so many, borderline -- so many diagnoses seem to fit this woman.
On the other side -- Dr. Hughes and his story about Jodi.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell whether or not the person is standing or not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, he looks like he`s sitting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This time period of 5:22 up until 5:30, there`s many pictures taken of Mr. Alexander in the shower, right?
FLORES: Correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: Why is your palm print in blood?
ARIAS: How can that be my palm print?
FLORES: Because you were there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Back with our exclusive guests. We`re so happy to have with us tonight, Dr. David Hughes. He introduced Jodi Arias to Travis Alexander. Of course, he had no idea what was going to happen. Who could predict this insanity?
David -- and thank you for letting me call you David, Doctor -- what was the story when Jodi stayed at your brother Chris`s house?
HUGHES: Well, Jodi and Travis had showed up at his house in southern California. And my brother Chris and his wife, Sky, had invited Travis up to an upper bedroom to have a conversation with him and Jodi was downstairs. And so they were just telling them how they don`t like the relationship, that he needs to break up with her, and that he does not want -- or that they did not want him to bring Jodi back into their home ever again.
And so this conversation went on for several minutes. And Jodi was standing outside of the doorway listening to every word. And when she walked in, the face -- she walked in, opened up the door, and she said, "Is everything all right?" And the look that she had, if you had any doubts that she could commit what she committed on that night, those doubts would have been gone because the look was just -- I mean it was just an evil look.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable foreshadowing. Thank you, Doctor. I`m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances.
We are all over this case. We`re going to bring you the testimony tomorrow. Expect more stunners. And we have more extraordinary interviews.
Nancy Grace is next with more, too.
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