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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Jodi Arias Jury Still Deliberating Her Fate

Aired May 07, 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: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live from outside the Maricopa County Courthouse here in Phoenix, Arizona. And I can tell you, in the last several hours, the mood has shifted dramatically. I have been here for the duration.

And take a look around. This morning, there was a sense of anticipation. The mood amongst the folks here. The overwhelming majority of them in favor of convicting Jodi Arias of murder one, saying a verdict is going to come in any second now. That was the sense.

And then, as hour after hour wore on, the mood changed. Now we`re going into 13 hours of deliberation. And you can see, it`s gotten a little somber here. And everybody is wondering what the heck is going on inside that jury room?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has he been threatened by anyone recently?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he has.

KIRK NURMI, JODI`S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is the crime of manslaughter and nothing more.

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: Travis Victor Alexander was slaughtered by this woman.

SANDRA ARIAS, JODI`S MOTHER: Jodi is a very intelligent person.

JODI ARIAS, MURDER DEFENDANT (singing): I didn`t hear you breathe.

MARTINEZ: She killed him three times over.

NURMI: Out of control, sudden heat of passion.

MARTINEZ: She planned to come and kill Mr. Alexander with a .25 caliber.

J. ARIAS (speaking): No jury is going to convict me.

(singing): Oh, night divine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I am very, very honored and delighted to be here tonight with a very special guest. Elisha Schabel, a dear, dear friend of the victim, Travis Alexander.

We thank you so much for joining us. And we are going to hear many stories from Elisha tonight about her good friend Travis Alexander, his generosity towards her in particular and also what happened with Jodi Arias at the memorial service for Travis Alexander. Jodi Arias` bizarre behavior. So that`s in just a second.

But first, we`ve got exclusive brand-new information just in from our producer, Selin Darkalstanian.

Selin, I understand you`ve spoken with members of Travis Alexander`s family or a member of Travis Alexander`s family. What are you learning tonight?

SELIN DARKALSTANIAN, HLN PRODUCER: Yes, Jane, I spoke to someone very close to the family who`s been in court every day. And basically, the mood is the two families -- the families are split up in two remote locations. They`re waiting. They`re pacing. They`re nervous. Their palms are sweaty. They are just very anxious. They`re trying to keep busy. But they`re cooped up in these houses, and now they`re not here at the courthouse. They`re waiting at their remote locations and waiting until they get a call from Juan Martinez. Juan Martinez is going to call them. And as soon as they get his call, they are going to all drive in.

So, they are just waiting by their phones and waiting for that phone call from Juan. And you have to remember: some of them have young kids. They`re a very big family. There are eight siblings. And so eight of those siblings have husbands, wives, children. So they`re just trying to keep busy. They have the TVs on in the house, watching HLN. They`re looking at their phones, and they`re just trying to pass the time until they get the call.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: They put their entire lives on hold for this trial, and now this waiting game has to be excruciating. It`s nerve-wracking for us reporters. I was talking earlier about how I was afraid to go get lunch all day, because every time I walked across the street, something told me inside, I think there`s going to be a verdict and I`d come back here hoping that there would be and then nothing.

So let me go to Jean Casarez. And you have just come out of the fifth floor, you come down to the fifth floor where these deliberations are going on. What have you heard?

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, TRUTV`S "IN SESSION": They are deliberating continuously throughout the day. You know, yesterday we definitely saw there was a lunch hour, because eight of them went out.

Now today, there -- a security guard -- deputy took out, then three out, then an hour and a half later, five out. But that doesn`t seem like a regular lunch hour, right?

And I`ll tell you something, I can`t tell you across the board, but I see some jurors that are just defiant. The facial expression that they have as they walk. There`s one female juror who, she looks like Jodi`s mother, a spitting image of Jodi Arias`s mother. She`s walking like this. This as she goes to the elevator. Defiant.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, is it possible that jurors have split up into factions? Because I was getting e-mails all day. OK, five jurors have gone out with some guards. Three jurors have gone out, and they`ve come back with soda. And it almost seems like they were going out in clusters.

CASAREZ: Or was it just "Who wants to go out and get a soda?" "I do." "Who needs a smoke break?" "I do." So maybe it`s just inadvertent. Not clusters of cliques but just inadvertent.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s fascinating stuff. And they are deliberating now, right now. We`ve got the clock. We`re going to keep the clock. We are on verdict watch. I am here for the duration. And I`ve got to just show you one thing, and then we`re going to debate what`s going on.

Look at this. Two ladies have shown up, and they have signs. And one says "Arizona Justice for Travis and His Family, Loving, Caring Friends. Travis you are in our hearts."

The other one says, "Defense had it all wrong. They were not defending Snow White. They were defending Pinocchio."

A little -- it`s not a humorous situation; it`s a very tragic situation. But it`s -- it`s a point. It`s a little humor, perhaps, to make a point.

A lot of people thought this was a slam dunk for the prosecution. That prosecutor Juan Martinez is very, very masterful. Closing argument about premeditation brought it home and made the sale for premeditation. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: This particular case there are two types of premeditation, the one where she thought about it since May. The end of May 2008, she made the preparations.

And the other premeditation when she was at the house. He was killed in three different ways. A stab wound to the heart would have killed him. The 00 obviously the slitting of the throat would have killed him, and the shot to the face would have killed him. That, all of it did not happen in one instance. It took a period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just under 13 hours of deliberations. What is going on in the jury room? Let`s debate it with our expert legal panel. Straight out, and we`re going to start with Jon Leiberman.

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Jane, I`ve got to tell you: nothing about this trial has been fast. So why do we expect this to be fast? And it doesn`t mean anything. You know, the 11 hours, the 12 hours, that`s not a lot of time.

We as a group have been debating this ad nauseum for years now. This group now has only been discussing this for 11 hours. And we know that this is a very conscientious jury. They asked 220 plus questions of Jodi Arias when she was on the stand. Many of them were the same type of question.

This jury is doing their job. It doesn`t mean, as many on Twitter and Facebook are speculating, that Jodi Arias is going to walk out of court any time soon a free woman. It means the jury is doing their job.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you raised a point. And I want to debate it. But first, let me play some of those juror questions, which seemed to raise a lot of skepticism about Jodi Arias`s story. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE SHERRY STEPHENS, PRESIDING OVER TRIAL: "Did Mr. Martinez cause you to shake during his questioning? Is this the same reaction you have when someone yells or raises their voice? Can you provide an estimate of how many time this is happened during the current trial?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Evangeline Gomez, there was a sense that this jury would come back fast, because they had asked so many questions, hundreds of questions during the case that they had gotten their questions answered.

EVANGELINE GOMEZ, ATTORNEY: Jane, the problem is we don`t know if those questions came from one or two jurors or many different jurors. It could have been just one juror who`s asking all these question, or two. And frankly, that`s not enough, given the size of the jury.

Now, we can`t just -- we can`t assume that, because of a verdict comes in early or it comes in late it may be pro-prosecution, it may be for the defense. I think Jon was absolutely correct. This is a jury, who from the beginning has been sitting there listening intently, and they want to get this right. They have a very stressful solution that they have to come up with, and they want to be right.

ROSE: Yes, but...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to jump in with Jordan Rose. Jordan, you`re an Arizona attorney. You had thought that this was going to be very fast. We all know the story about how prosecutor Juan Martinez won a conviction for murder and the jury deliberate only 15 minutes in another case. What do you make of this?

ROSE: Well, what we do know is that they don`t all, obviously...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Are you there?

ROSE: ... automatically and immediately agree. They don`t agree. And if they agreed, at this exact moment, we would have had a verdict by now.

And so, I do -- you know, you can`t get too nervous because, like everyone said, gosh, this thing has been going on for four months. They haven`t talked to each other until today, yesterday, the day before. And so it`s really not that much time. But it does make you nervous, and it does make you believe that they don`t agree right now. And that can`t be good.

BRIAN SILBER, ATTORNEY: Respectfully...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian Silber.

SILBER: Respectfully, I disagree with Jordan. We can`t infer these things about this jury. The only thing we know about them at this point is they do not have a strong opinion one way or the other. They are in the middle right now.

And I think, personally, based on my trial experience, having done this more than 100 times, I think they`re going through the different degrees of murder and applying the facts to the law and figuring out amongst each other where they stand.

And guess what? If 90 percent of people believe that Jodi Arias should be convicted of first-degree murder, that means there is at least one person on this jury panel that does not. So they`ve got a lot to talk about, and I think this is going to go on all week.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, on the other side, we have so many interesting guests tonight. We`re going to talk to a man who was a juror in a murder one case involving a woman who lied. A lot of similarities to Jodi Arias. We`re going to talk to him about what happened in his jury room. Stay right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS ALEXANDER, MURDER VICTIM (via phone): I was going to tie you to a tree and put it in you -- all the way.

J. ARIAS (via phone): Oh, my gosh. That is so debasing. I like it. I`m game for, like, almost everything you come up with. But you really are a wellspring of ideas. You are, like, quite the source.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here`s your shoes. Why don`t you go ahead and put those on? Stop right there and just turn around. Put your hands behind your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Thirteen hours practically on the nose the jury has been deliberating. We are on the ground floor; they are upstairs on the fifth floor. And Jodi Arias is in the basement. That`s where she`s kept. We`re going to talk about that in a little bit.

But we`re very delighted to have Elisha Schabel with us, a very special guest, a former roommate and dear friend of Travis Alexander`s.

And you have talked about his spirit and his generosity. Tell us what you experienced firsthand.

ELISHA SCHABEL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Well, he took me in in 2005 for about a month. I was in between -- in between places to live. And he helped me get a job. He took me to work. He picked me up from work and during -- when I wasn`t working, helping me with PrePaid Legal Services. He was always trying to help me succeed and help me be kind of my highest and best self, which is what he wanted for all of his friends.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you have a book that you are holding in your hand. This is a book that says "The Miracle of Forgiveness." And Travis gave this book to you. What does it illustrate in your mind?

SCHABEL: Travis was -- you know, he was a reader. Readers are leaders. And, you know, he had a vast library of books. And so when I was there, to borrow his books, he would read and you know, he`s like said, "You can just have that." I borrowed it for so long, he`s like, "I have multiple copies of several different books."

And it just -- to me, you know, it`s kind of eerie. I love having it. Because, you know, his fingers, you know, were in this book. He dog-eared lots of pages. And you know, one of them, a chapter was abandonment of sin. He was a very repentant person. He knew right from wrong. And it showed to me that he -- he wanted to become a better person every single day. He wanted to make his weaknesses become strengths.

And in my mind, you know, Jodi took those weaknesses and exploited his weaknesses, instead of helping him make them strengths. Well, we know what happened. And so it just goes to show that he wasn`t perfect, but he was trying.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, believe it or not, as this whole process unfolds, this tragedy unfolds, Jodi has been tweeting through a friend, believe it or not, which is quite extraordinary and certainly very, very controversial. But of course, she kind of hinted at some odd behavior during her interrogation tapes, to put it mildly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. ARIAS: Can it be done without a trial? Does there have to be a trial?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s something that you can discuss with the prosecutor. I`m on the phone with him pretty much every day giving him updates.

J. ARIAS: What`s his name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His name is Juan Martinez. He`s the No. 1 prosecutor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Here are some tweets of Jodi Arias in recent days. It`s really quite shocking.

Here`s one: "Commissary, many of the items I didn`t receive were for indigent girls less fortunate than me. I, thankfully, have a mini surplus of food."

Here`s another tweet from Jodi Arias: "I wanted so much to avoid trial, but the state forced it. My only other option was suicide and," comma, "well," dot dot dot, "and I would have signed a plea deal years ago to avoid this disaster. But I was refused a plea as the state and family refused to settle."

Now Dave Hall, you are another dear friend of Travis Alexander. These are brazen tweets at a very inappropriate time. What do you make of it? What -- what do you -- how do you feel when you hear her tweeting about the family refusing to settle?

DAVE HALL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Well, isn`t that sweet of Jodi to be the Robin Hood and take care of all of the indigent prisoners out there and try to spin a P.R. message that she`s their savior and taking care of them?

She says she would have taken a plea deal years ago, but now it`s the family`s fault. You know, it`s never her fault. It`s the family`s fault. But they`re the bad people that are making this happen.

How about this, Jodi? How about you just tell the truth a few years ago and we never would have been in this case? Why didn`t you just -- after you made a mistake, go turn yourself in and admit what you did, and start telling the truth from day one instead of dragging Travis`s family through all of this stuff and lying about every piece of this trial? It`s disgusting what she`s doing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The family has been through hell.

HALL: Yes, they have and back.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And now it is really another stage of hell. This waiting game is hell. It`s -- it`s really unbelievable, this case. It really defies description. The idea that somebody is sending out tweets, passing judgment on the family of the victim after everything that`s happened.

A short break. More on the other side. We are on verdict watch. You have the countdown clock here. You are going to hear everything as we hear it from outside the Maricopa County Courthouse here in Phoenix, Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. ARIAS: No jury is going to convict me.

Listen, if I`m found guilty, I don`t have a life.

STEPHENS: "Why did you send his grandmother flowers?"

ARIAS: In retrospect, it probably wasn`t a good idea.

There`s no reason to be upset about this. I would like to think I could be the bigger person. I don`t know that I would be big enough to stand before the person who did this and say I forgive you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHENS: "Hypothetically, if a person suffered PTSD because of a bear attack while hiking, would you throw out their PDS test if they lied and said it was a tiger? Would the person be answering the question the same regardless of whether called the animal a bear or a tiger?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: A somber waiting game here outside the courthouse. Jodi Arias in the basement of this courthouse. And on the fifth floor, the jurors deliberating. They are 13 hours and 11 minutes. That`s how long they`ve been deliberating.

And I want to talk to another special guest, Ron Van Dusen (ph). You`re a former juror. You live in this area. You served on a murder one case. It involved a female defendant. You were a juror. Tell us what happened in terms of the conflict inside the jury room.

RON VAN DUSEN (ph), FORMER JUROR: When we went in for deliberations, we selected a foreperson. Then we went around the table, and we each privately put down on a piece of paper whether we felt the person was guilty or innocent or not guilty. Eleven of us voted guilty, and there was one that voted not guilty.

At that point, we asked who was the one that was voting not guilty. And a woman said it was her and that she felt that no one was going to intimidate her to change her mind and that she wanted to see every piece of evidence, every video of interrogation, all the pictures, every piece of information from the trial before she would make her decision.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. And so this is a very similar case, because the defendant in that case, who was ultimately convicted -- and you told me this story about this woman that was such a conflict, 11 saying, "We should convict her." This one woman holding out, she started calling in sick. And eventually you had to go to the clerk.

But there was video. There was video played of her, this other defendant, in the interrogation room much as there was video of Jodi Arias in the interrogation room. And in both cases, the women were lying. So that`s another similarity between the case that you had and the Jodi Arias case.

So I think we have that sound of the Jodi Arias interrogation. Because I want to get your thoughts on that and -- and, in other words, when you were dealing with this one hold-out juror, she wanted to see it all. She wanted to see the interrogation tape. She wanted to see all of this stuff.

And the reason we`re talking to Ron is that this may be similar to what`s going on in the Jodi Arias jury room. OK? So, let`s listen to Jodi Arias in the interrogation tapes, and then talk about how that could have impacted this jury in a similar way that the interrogation tapes impacted your tapes that you were a juror on. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were they going after Travis? For what reason? You tell me this but you give me to reason.

J. ARIAS: They didn`t discuss much. They just argued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About what?

J. ARIAS: About whether or not to kill me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For what reason?

J. ARIAS: Because I`m a witness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A witness of what?

J. ARIAS: Him. Of Travis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of Travis`s murder.

J. ARIAS: Yes. But I didn`t really witness it or see much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, your case involved another woman, Heather Miller, who also lied to the interrogators. And because of this one hold-out juror, did you have to watch some of the videos again?

VAN DUSEN (ph): Yes, once she decided she wanted to see them all, they brought in the videos. And while she sat there watching those, and she held them right up close to her face, the rest of the jurors were just sitting there looking at the ceiling or glaring at her. But we knew she had a right to listen to and watch whatever she wanted to.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Was it exasperating?

VAN DUSEN (ph): Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Because we knew what had happened. We had already heard everything through the trial. And she wanted to listen to everything once again.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean, the question is, is this happening in this case? Because this was in the same complex. It was a female defendant, a female defendant who lied. Also a murder one case. And it wasn`t until this one hold-out juror was actually eliminated and an alternate was replaced that they came up with a conviction. You`ve got to wonder.

And we`re going to debate it with our expert panel on the other side. Thirteen hours and 15 minutes they are deliberating right above us. Sixteen now -- 13 hours and 16 minutes on the fifth floor right above us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely some of the best evidence that I`ve ever had in a case. And I`ve convicted a few people on less than this.

J. ARIAS: Well, so I`m as good as done?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not for me to say. But eventually, those photos will come out. Jodi?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: I am asking you to return the verdict of first degree murder.

KURT NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did you kill Travis Alexander on June 4th, 2008.

JODI ARIAS, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Yes, I did.

He was very nice to me.

You know what I really like is when we were in the bath with the candles and I had the braids.

TRAVIS ALEXANDER, MURDER VICTIM: Oh, I love the braids.

MARTINEZ: Is Jodi Arias guilty of the crime of lying or not? Of course she is.

ARIAS: He said (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill you, bitch.

MARTINEZ: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?

ARIAS: I don`t remember.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean how can somebody do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: A somber and serious crowd here outside the Maricopa County courthouse and the jury has been deliberating for 13 hours and 20 minutes. They are deliberating five floors above us and we are here trying to figure out what they are thinking, what they are doing.

Susan Constantine, you are a jury consultant, one of the top in the nation. What could be going on?

SUSAN CONSTANTINE, JURY CONSULTANT: Well, you know, first of all when they get in the room, we know they have their verdict form. We have the instructions to the jury. They may have taken a first ballot vote. And then they may have said you know what? Here is the defense`s story. Here is the state`s story. Let us thread together our own story. Look at the evidence. Let`s put it together and from that point on start deliberations.

You might have a few jurors that are saying "Hey, you know, I`m not agreeing to that." And then so therefore that`s opening up the box to where they`re going to have more discussions about it. And you know, one of the things that Jean was saying as some of the frustration some of the jurors had may be because we have someone that is resisting.

But here is the thing. Over time, most jurors want to come to some sort of verdict because then what`s going to happen there`s going to be some compromises that will have to be made. We don`t really know at this point, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, we do not know. And we can speculate all we want but as we know, the experts are often wrong. I want to go back to Elisha Schabel (ph). You are a dear friend of Travis Alexander`s. And I want to first play a tape of Jodi Arias denying that she was there and then I want to get your reactions because I understand that you showered in the very shower where Travis Alexander was slaughtered.

So let`s listen first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: I didn`t commit a murder. I didn`t hurt Travis. I would never hurt Travis. I would never harm him physically.

MARTINEZ: Was this self-defense?

JENNIFER WILLMOTT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What would have forced Jodi? It was Travis` continual abuse. And on June 4, 2008, it had reached a point of no return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Elisha, tell us about living with Travis as a friend and actually showering in the shower that he was slaughtered in.

ELISHA SCHABEL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Yes. I lived there about 30 days. That was my shower, that sink was the sink where I got red every day on Sundays every day. We would get ready together. You know, with his fun shaving kit. We would sing songs just to see that -- it`s a nightmare. Five years later, it`s very surreal.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: He was described as a playboy by some of his friends. But then friends said to me, you know what; that`s a Mormon playboy. A Mormon playboy`s very different than a playboy. He was actually, according to his friends, extremely innocent, sweet, like a babe in the woods.

Here you are, you are an attractive woman, he let you sleep in his house. Was he ever in any way, shape or form inappropriate with you?

SCHABEL: Never inappropriate. Flirtatious, yes. That was his nature. And that`s what we loved about him. I mean guys couldn`t handle it because it was a confidence that they just envied I think. But that`s what we loved about Travis. And you know --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But you are there in the same sink, in the same bathroom. And obviously you are roomies, you`re hanging together, but he was never sexually aggressive or inappropriate with you?

SCHABEL: Never, never. And that`s something that is really difficult to hear because he`s so fun-loving and playful. We were -- we became buddies. We were a family. Travis was more than a friend to me. He was family.

And so watching this trial has been very sickening for me. So you can imagine how horrible the family feels. And my thoughts and prayers are constantly with them. They are struggling a lot at this time. And if you can have them in your prayers, that would be amazing.

TravisAlexanderson.com there`s amazing things happening after any proceeds that aren`t there for the family, that aren`t being used during this time as they have been struggling for four months. You can imagine not having work for four months being here to support them. I have struggled watching the trial for the first couple months, financially myself. But any proceeds that they are not using are going to go to the Travis Alexander Legacy Fund. And Chris Hughes, a friend of mine as well is spearheading that one. I think it`s going to do amazing and great things to help continue his legacy.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And helping those less fortunate and he was also an animal lover. Some of the money, I understand, is going to go to help his cause of animals.

SCHABEL: Yes. So his legacy will live on and it`s going to live on through each and every one of us and those of us that have been affected by him to become our best and highest selves.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you know, what`s so incredible hearing that story from you -- here you are a very attractive woman, you are in his house, he does nothing inappropriate. Even though you`re in the bathroom together and then that is the scene of the same horror.

SCHABEL: And there was no shower curtain. There`s times where he joked, "I`m coming in." He was just kidding. He never did. He was just fun-loving and playful. I was like "no".

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But it was all in fun.

SCHABEL: All in fun. Innocent.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Innocent. Yes. I want to go to Sgt. Brandon Jones. We are very delighted to have you on. You are from the Maricopa County Sheriff`s Department. And you are in charge of really the defendant, Jodi Arias going to and from. Where is she right now and what is she doing?

SGT. BRANDON JONES, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT: She`s housed here currently during the day, during the trial and deliberations and she`s doing nothing. She`s waiting. Reading through legal materials possibly, maybe talking to her attorneys.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So she`s one floor below us. She is in the basement.

JONES: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: When you say she`s doing nothing, we have seen her scribbling, we`ve seen her sketching in court. Can she do any of that? Because of course, there`s a lot of controversy over her purportedly selling her artwork online. Is she allowed to be sketching downstairs?

JONES: She doesn`t have access to writing utensils. She`s not allowed to bring anything to the court. So no, she doesn`t have access to any of that stuff other than when her attorneys maybe hand her something.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But she can`t -- she`s not having like arts and crafts down there? She`s just sitting there and pondering her fate?

JONES: Correct.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

JONES: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What about the whole issue of how she changes from her jailhouse clothes, if there`s a verdict? She`s down in the basement. What happens then?

JONES: If there`s a verdict or question or whatever, they bring her up to a different level. She changes out in her civilian attire and goes into the courtroom.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She`ll be wearing one of those pastel shirts with a collar as opposed to the jailhouse stripes that she`s wearing right now. Right now, right below us in the basement, you have Jodi Arias sitting there pondering her fate. She`s doing absolutely nothing. They have not given her pencils, any crayons, any drafting paper, nothing. She`s got possibly her court documents to ponder and that`s it. She has no phone. Of course, somehow she`s managed, at least in jail -- not from here but from jail -- to send out tweets to her friends.

We are going to take a short break. Check out the clock. They are still deliberating -- 13 hours 27 minutes and we`ve got folks, HLN has folks all over, scattered all over.

What do we have here? We have something new? Oh, well, we have an incredible, incredible story for you out of Cleveland. We`ll tell you about that in a second as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLMOTT: In his phone call, he talks about his fantasies. His fantasies with Jodi of tying her to a tree and putting it, forgive me, in her (EXPLETIVE DELETED) all the way. Jodi pretends to climax during this phone call. Travis tells her that she sounds like a 12-year-old girl who was having an orgasm for the first time. Then he tells her it`s so hot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on the Jodi Arias trial here in Phoenix, Arizona.

But first, an absolutely incredible story out of Cleveland -- you have to see this. Three young women kidnapped ten years ago and held as prisoners made a daring escape and they are now safe. We`re happy to say they`re not celebrating a reunion with family members who probably thought this day would never come.

Cops arrested three brothers they say held the women hostage for a decade. There are so many unanswered questions in this case.

Stay with us, we are all over it. But more from Phoenix and the verdict watch, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NURMI: It`s not even about whether or not you like Jodi Arias. Nine days out of ten, I don`t like Jodi Arias. But that doesn`t matter. Your liking her or not liking her does not objectively assess the evidence. It`s about the evidence. What happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, we are here outside court, outside the Maricopa County court in Phoenix, Arizona. You could see everybody waiting around on verdict watch. We have some breaking news to tell those folks here waiting on the ground as well as you at home.

Jean Casarez, you have just gotten information on your Blackberry. We`re just turning the camera around -- tell us what it is?

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": We have just learned, the jury is leaving for the day. Right now, they are leaving. There is no verdict. Total deliberation time -- 13.5 hours right now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow, 13.5 hours. So that now surpasses the amount of time, for example, the Casey Anthony jury deliberated, it was just under 11 hours.

Beth Karas, HLN legal correspondent, you have just come out. Where have you come from and what do you know?

BETH KARAS, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: I was just outside the courtroom, waiting for the jury to leave. We knew they were ready to leave, but they didn`t come out of the room for a few minutes. So they`re a few minutes late today. Anyway, they filed out, single file. I could hear laughter and chatter. But once -- and they were with two deputies -- but once they emerged into the hallway where we all were, they were stone faced and sober so we couldn`t tell anything from their expressions.

But they just all walked single file to the elevator, very casually dressed. And I mean nothing else you really can tell from them. I don`t have a confirmation of their start time yet tomorrow -- waiting to hear if it`s 9:00 or 10:00 local time.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did you say (inaudible) that they are divided into factions? Because I seemed to notice that they were taking breaks today. It wasn`t like we are all going to break together for lunch and go eat together. There was like three people going out for a soda, five people going here, some people going out for a smoke and I was starting to think maybe they are in little packs. Humans are pack animals and they have a tendency to form cliques.

KARAS: True. But I didn`t discern any of that. So from my observations, I can`t tell you that there are any cliques. Obviously there`s some dissension. There`s stuff they are talking about. But I have seen juries deliberate for seven days and come back guilty, first degree murder. It doesn`t mean anything. There`s a lot of evidence to go through. You shouldn`t read too much into it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think you`re talking about Scott Peterson, right?

KARAS: Yes, I am.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And we`re going to debate it with the panel. I know they are eager to get in and give their thoughts. It`s an astounding day here because I have to just talk about the tension. The tension -- all of these folks and it`s really hot. It`s really sunny here in Phoenix, Arizona. And all these folks are here just waiting, waiting, waiting, wanting news, wanting news. So I just want everyone to see that it is a somber waiting game.

Now we have found out that this is going to go into another day. What does it mean? We are going to analyze it and debate it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, fireworks in court. Bring it back to the victim. Bring it to the crime scene. We are going to go here to where the protest area is.

Sex, lies, love, dirty little secrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone out there knows something.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We want to continue to do everything we can, everything we possibly can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Domestic violence is not a game. Battered women`s syndrome --

JAYNE WEINTRAUB: She wasn`t lucky enough to have a friend.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Now the defense strategy is two weeks of utter bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, my gosh. Hello, back to planet earth.

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Wait a second -- no, no, no, by all accounts --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s going to be quite a stunner. So make sure stick with us on this show 7:00 p.m. Eastern, we`ll bring you the very latest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day. Send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane. Batman, what a beauty you are. And we have Michelangelo and Leonardo. They are just works of art -- beautiful, beautiful. Allie, BJ and Lima, you rock. We love you.

We are showing all these pets in honor of Travis Alexander who had his own little dog Napoleon and loved animals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: They were just photos that we took. That we deleted with the intention of -- and that wasn`t a one-time incident. There were many times where, you know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took pictures?

ARIAS: Yes, pictures, whatever and any kind of media, and it was deleted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The deliberation clock has stopped at 13.5 hours. The jury, just now we`ve learned moments ago, going home for the night. Dave Hall, a dear friend of the victim, Travis Alexander, are you anxious or concerned?

DAVE HALL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: We`re all anxious. I can`t imagine what the family is like, another sleepless night, wondering what the verdict`s going to be. But ultimately her judge, she has not appeared before, that`s when the real verdict is going to come in.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Elisha another dear friend of Travis Alexander, the victim. You went to Travis`s memorial service. And you said Jodi Arias, the defendant here, was very bizarre.

SCHABEL: Yes, she came directly up to me and had all these questions. She`s, like, you`re Elisha. You`re a wedding photographer. Travis talked so much about you and about your photography and said I had a lot to learn from you. I would love to work with you in the future. And I`m going, excuse me?

I had the strongest impression that she did it. And I didn`t know why I got that impression because I had never met her before. I didn`t know any of the chatter about her personality before because Travis and I lost contact when I was married. We weren`t that close anymore.

So I watched her very closely. She acted very bizarre. And looking back now, hindsight being 20/20, it seems as almost she was stalking me, knew everything, more about me than I knew about her because I think the women in his life, she really wanted to know about, to make sure that we weren`t a threat to her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m sure she was threatened by you for sure. I want to bring in our debate panel. And I`ve got to say, Jon Lieberman, now we`re going home. This is three days, the end of day three. Obviously, it wasn`t a full day each day, but 13.5 hours is considerable.

LEIBERMAN: Yes, but Jane, this isn`t a made-for-TV movie. This is real life, and these jurors are taking their job extremely seriously. Look, a lot of people are angry. We`re angry with Jodi`s lies. We`re angry with her lack of remorse.

But the reality is I`m actually heartened by the fact that it appears this jury is not being swayed by anger toward Jodi. They`re taking the facts. And I believe the facts lie squarely on the side of the prosecution and justice for Travis. And I think there`s nothing to be concerned about here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ten seconds, Evangeline Gomez.

EVANGELINE GOMEZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there`s always tomorrow. Look, this jury is going to make sure that they get this decision right. These facts were not as cut and dry and as black and white as the prosecution made them out to be. And that`s why you have a jury that`s taking some time. They realize it`s not A and B. It`s much more complex.

LEIBERMAN: There are a lot of lies to go through.

GOMEZ: And because of the complexity this is going to take a lot of time.

BRIAN SILBER: Look, there`s no doubt that this is --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side we`re going to continue this debate. Stay right there. It`s very passionate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. They`ve deliberated 13.5 hours, they`ve gone home for the day. And they`re going to be back tomorrow 10:00 Phoenix time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern. And we were just panning the crowd here and you called out something. What did you say and why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said "Justice for Travis." you know, my family`s been watching this trial. I`ve been watching it. We live in the community. And it`s clear what happened here. And you know, it`s horrific to think of what happened to that person.

I`m a nurse. I don`t know Travis. I don`t know his family. But I would like to tell them that we are supporting them, and we support the American justice system. And we support -- we`re Americans.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And your folks here are applauding that and continue on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re Americans and we deserve -- we all deserve justice for Travis. He didn`t deserve to die like that. He didn`t deserve to die at all. She slaughtered him. And I think that it`s only fair that he gets justice. His family gets justice, and we put this to rest and they can move on.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Does everybody here in this crowd agree?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Justice for Travis, yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s the sentiment here, justice for Travis.

Nancy next.

END