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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Fight Erupts Outside Courtroom of Baby Elaina`s Mom; Search for Baby Elaina; Jodi Arias Trial
Aired June 20, 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: Tempers flare while the search for baby Elaina Steinfurth intensifies tonight. The baby`s mom, Angela, charged with child endangerment, appears before a judge today, and fireworks erupt between the warring families right outside court as a fight breaks out.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY "T.J." STEINFURTH JR.: Her and her boyfriend were fighting because of the way he was treating my children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him away from me. I`ve got a restraining order against him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a restraining order on him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They searched here, I think, a total of four or five times.
MARY SCHIEWE, ANGELA STEINFURTH`S HALF-SISTER: I overheard her saying stuff to other people that Elaina had a black eye, a broken nose, and a lump on her head.
STEINFURTH: She would snatch my oldest daughter by her arm, yank her, smack her on the mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn`t go running out the back door by himself. He didn`t go running out the back door with a baby. It was him and I looking in the pool and the garage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Baby Elaina vanished more than two weeks ago. Mommy says she put the little girl down for a nap and when Daddy came to get her during a custody exchange, the baby had mysteriously vanished into thin air. An 18-month-old child just learning to walk vanishes in the middle of the day while staying at Angela`s ex-boyfriend`s house, with more than half a dozen people inside the home? It doesn`t make sense.
Today, Toledo cops asked a judge to delay the mom`s hearing, and then drama erupts outside the courthouse when Elaina`s dad, Terry Steinfurth Jr., T.J., battles it out with his estranged father-in-law. Check this out, from the "Toledo Free Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SCHIEWE, STEPFATHER OF ANGELA: Quiet, let him open up his mouth and he`ll go to jail.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED).
STEINFURTH: Keep it down. You`re being recorded. Get him away from me. I`ve got a restraining order against him!
R. SCHIEWE: You already getting a restraining order for terroristic threats. He had his mouth going when we first came in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All this happening as a neighbor comes forward with a potential secret, telling the local newspaper he saw Angela and her ex- boyfriend, Steven King, leave the house in the dead of night for 15 minutes just hours before the baby was reported missing. He also says that a few days before the disappearance Angela told him her estranged husband isn`t getting her kid. Is there a connection?
Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to my exclusive guest, Kenny Smith. You are a friend of both Elaina`s parents. You`re a friend of Angela, the mom, and Terry Jr., called T.J., the dad.
First of all, congrats, sir. I understand you broke up this fight. Tell us what they were fighting about, how this all unfolded, and what you saw.
KENNY SMITH, FRIEND OF ELAINA`S PARENTS (via phone): Well, he was talking to somebody. I don`t know who he was, honestly. And T.J. had overheard it, thought he said something wrong and said something to him, and that`s how it erupted.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How long have these two families, the mother and the father of this innocent 18-month-old child who`s now missing, how long have these two families been at war, Kenny?
SMITH: Honestly, I`m not sure. I`m really not.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I mean, it looked like they wanted to punch each other out. How did you calm them down?
SMITH: I just basically walked over to them and told them, you know, it`s really not about fighting right now. It`s about finding this baby. That should be everyone`s No. 1 priority right now, is this baby being found.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Angie Gomez, WNWO reporter, you have new information that relates to this fight. Because at one point the guy in the red, which is the mother of the missing baby`s step-dad says something about, "I got a restraining order against you." What do you know?
ANGIE GOMEZ, REPORTER, WNWO (via phone): Jane, we looked into court records for both Terry Steinfurth Jr. and the father, Richard Schiewe, that had this exchange outside of court earlier today. And we found that both of them do have protection orders against each other. In fact, it specifically says that the protection order was issued because of stalking.
And what we learned -- we thought that these protection orders may have been issued in the last few weeks when baby Elaina suddenly went missing, however, we found that these protection orders were issued back in January of this year. So it looks like the family has been at odds for some time now.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. Incredible new information. So what that is telling me is that we`ve got a Hatfield and McCoy situation between the daddy of the missing baby and the mommy.
And you just heard a neighbor said that the mommy said -- and the child disappeared on her watch, while she was looking after the child. She says the child had been napping. Now we understand that these two sides hated each other. And the mom said, "He`s never getting that kid."
I want to go to another very special guest we have tonight. He goes by the name of Frank. And he is the gentleman who took the surveillance video of the mother, Angela, Angela Steinfurth with her child, the child that is now missing, the day before the child disappeared.
Frank, thank you for joining us. And there is the video on your front porch, I understand. You have a lot to say. Basically, there`s a lot of critics of this lady here. I can tell you that there are reports the new "Toledo Free Press" says that several people in the area say they saw Angela slap her 18-month-old, scream at her 18-month-old. They claim Angela would shout "you little `B` word" at her 4-year-old and slap her across the face and leave baby Elaina all alone for hours at a time.
You were her friend. What do you say, Frank?
"FRANK," FRIEND OF ELAINA`S PARENTS: That is not true. From what I`ve seen, both T.J. and Angela were good parents. You know, I`ve never seen T.J. misabuse [SIC] these children nor Angela. She was a very good mother, you know.
I feel everybody is already making her into this monster to where she`s guilty before she even goes into the courtroom. I lived beside them for, you know, about eight months, never seen them have an issue with their children. Yes, if they yelled at them, it`s because maybe they were running towards the road or pouring pop on their purse or cell phone or something. But they was never abused verbally or physically that I`ve seen since they lived beside us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Frank, I know you`ve got a lot to say, but let me just play what the father, Terry Steinfurth Jr., said about why he broke up with Angela, and he said it`s because of her treatment of the kids. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN ANCHOR: What did you do when you saw these bruises and this behavior?
STEINFURTH: There were several arguments about it. I was trying to get ahold of someone at CSB. I never had a chance to make contact.
The week before she went -- Elaina went missing, Angela actually gave me the girls to live with me; because she said that she couldn`t care for them because she was getting thrown out of her boyfriend`s house because her and her boyfriend were fighting because of the way he was treating my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. There you have it. Terry, Frank, says, "I broke up with this woman because of how she treated the kids," and now this little angel is gone on her watch. Your response?
FRANK: Well, I mean, I can`t speak for what happens behind closed doors. All I can speak is what I see when they live beside us out on the porch, you know, coming and going from the house, and that is, they were both very good parents to the children.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you had -- you had something to tell us about Angela, because people are like, look, she claims she woke up and the child had a black eye and a bloody nose and a bump on her head and claimed that it all happened while she was sleeping, which people find doubtful. And then they say why didn`t she go to a hospital?
You talked to her after the child went missing. What was her explanation?
FRANK: Well, yes, I got a chance to talk to her. And that was -- when we was [SIC] on the front porch, I mean, I was basically confronting her straight up: What`s going on?
She was opening up, telling me everything she basically knew. I mean, of course, did relay that to the police immediately.
But I mean, I have other questions, too, you know. Like the King family. I mean, I actually spoke to the mother of the boyfriend the same day that the child went missing, because right after I spoke with her, I immediately went home, started printing these missing fliers, which I have one right here, to where the ink was actually running low. And then I`m reading in the paper that she did see the child, change the diaper. If this -- family...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What did she tell you? What did she tell you?
FRANK: Well, when we spoke at her house, the day the child went missing, she said she never physically seen the child. She said she heard her cry, she thought, but she never physically laid eyes on her.
I`m hearing in the paper now she changed her diaper. Well, if she changed her diaper, she obviously seen the physical damage done to this baby. Why is she not being questioned or charged for not reporting it to the hospital or the police department, as well?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, first of all, let me say this. The police have said that Steven King, the ex-boyfriend of this woman, whose house she was crashing at with her kids -- and it was actually the mother`s house, the woman you talked about. They`re not suspects; they`re not persons of interest.
There`s a huge cast of characters in this mystery. Let`s lay it out for you, viewers, so you can understand whatever he`s talking about. When the baby vanished she was living with her mom, Angela, this woman, and her mom`s ex-boyfriend, Steven King, not the author, at Steven`s mother house. Her name is Julie.
Now, tonight that homeowner, Julie King, is speaking out, defending her son, Steven. Steven apparently has gotten death threats and been under fire, because some people say he left the house for about 30 minutes right around the time baby Elaina disappeared.
Here`s what Julie, the woman who owns the house where the child disappeared from, says about her son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE KING, MOTHER OF STEVEN KING: He was gone for probably about a half an hour, I would say. Steven and I, both of us, went running out the back door. And I was just afraid by some chance that maybe she had gotten out the back door into the pool. And I told Steven to go down the alley to look. Maybe she had gotten out the gate.
He didn`t go running out the back door by himself. He didn`t go running out the back door with a baby. It was him and I looking in the pool and the garage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we have another very special guest tonight. Marcia Clark, the famous former prosecutor and author of "Killer Ambition".
You`ve been listening to this, Marcia. Everybody has got a slightly different version of events. But there`s a child who is missing, and nobody can say how that child got out of the house.
MARCIA CLARK, FORMER PROSECUTOR/AUTHOR: Yes. You know, Jane, what I do know is that, from all that I`ve heard and all that I`ve read on this case and seen what you had tonight, which was really excellent, excellent information, it seems very clear to me that someone has taken the baby out of the house. I do not believe the baby walked away on its own or escaped or disappeared on its own.
And I think the mother is covering for whoever that is. And based on also the reports of both the mother and the boyfriend going out the night, hours before the baby disappeared, going out between 12 and 1 a.m. and being gone for 10 to 15 minutes and then going back. Something -- somebody did something to this baby.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you 100 percent. We have a bunch of pieces, but the puzzle hasn`t been formed into a portrait. We`ve got more brand-new information on the other side. We`re also going to be talking in a second to Ginger Smith, Elaina Steinfurth, the missing baby`s, adult cousin. Stay right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEINFURTH: He would snatch my oldest daughter by her arm, yank her, drag her around, smack her in the mouth.
M. SCHIEWE: I told her right away, if you seen [SIC] a black eye or blood coming out of your child`s nose, no matter what the situation is, you take that baby to the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s guilty of not taking care of that baby like she should have. She should have took the baby to the hospital. She should have been truthful and done. She shouldn`t even have been in the house from the get-go. She doesn`t know where the baby is at. But she knew what happened to the baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s a lot unfolding in this case. New developments. We`ll break it down for you.
June 1, one day before baby Elaina vanishes, she`s seen with her mom in surveillance video that we`ll show you. The person who released it, Frank, our special guest tonight. You`ve been seeing him and hearing from him, and he`ll come back in a second.
He said the mom told him the morning of Elaina`s disappearance, June 2, she woke up to find the child with a black eye, a bloody nose and a bump on the head.
Later around noon Elaina`s dad comes to pick up his two kids in a custody exchange. Mom hands over the 4-year-old daughter; refuses to give him Elaina. First she says she doesn`t want to wake the napping baby. Then she says, oh, by giving the child I`ll never see her again.
Finally she agrees to get the baby. Minutes later she comes out, running out of the house: "The baby`s gone! The baby`s gone!"
Well, now we`re learning from a local newspaper that the night before all that happened, a neighbor saw Angela, the mom, and her ex-boyfriend, Steven King, leave the house between midnight and 1 in the morning, driving a van similar to the one we`re about to show you. And they were gone for 15 minutes. That`s just about 12 hours before Angela claims to have found the baby missing.
Not many places open at 1 a.m. They were only gone for 15 minutes. But it`s a free country. Police have said that Steven is not a suspect. We told you investigators have repeatedly searched a nearby river. A diaper the same brand and size as little Elaina wears was found in the water less than a mile away from the home. In that 15 minutes would it be possible to get to the river and back?
So I want to bring in Ginger Smith, Elaina Steinfurth`s -- the missing baby`s adult cousin.
You`ve been at the command center. As you hear all of this developing. As you hear about this claim from a neighbor that Angela and the ex-boyfriend left the house in the middle of the night, hour before the child is reported missing, what sense are you getting about what really happened to this child?
GINGER SMITH, BABY ELAINA`S COUSIN (via phone): You know, again, like I said, I don`t like to speculate. I don`t really know. But we do now know that a neighbor said he seen this. I just wish, you know, that he would have came [SIC] forward a little bit sooner so that we could, you know, maybe have pinpointed it down better. But I`m not sure.
I still in my heart believe Angela does know where that baby is at. You know, that`s what this is all about. All we want is Elaina back, you know. And of course, we`ve got a neighbor to speak out. So now, you know, if people could just get it out there, anything you see, anything you heard, call it in. You know, any little tip is going to help us. I mean, if it`s a good tip, but unfortunately it was -- you know, what? We`re now at 17 or 18 days.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you want to hear this? The newspaper talked to this neighbor on Tuesday, and he said that he hadn`t said anything yet about this to the FBI or the police. Why on earth was he not interviewed a long time ago? He`s the neighbor, for gosh sakes.
Go ahead.
G. SMITH: That`s another thing we don`t understand. They came out, and we watched him. We see them go to houses. But you know, it was pick their house. This house, this house. It wasn`t door-to-door. It wasn`t door-to-door. And if this neighbor had been questioned a long time ago, we probably would have known things a lot sooner. Maybe we could be a lot further than we are at now.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this. Mom Angela told her stepdad that she knows what happened to baby Elaina, but she doesn`t know where the baby is. That`s a cryptic comment. Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. SCHIEWE: The story is, she knows what happened to the baby. She was afraid because people threatened if you say anything you`re next. That`s what she told me first day from the jail. She doesn`t know where the baby is, is what she told me, but she does know what happened to the baby and who took the baby out of the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Frank, you are a friend of Angela`s, the baby`s mother. She is now behind bars charged with child endangerment. How is it possible that you can say to her own stepdad, I know what happened to the baby but I don`t know where the baby is. And I was threatened. Cops, by the way, have said that she keeps changing her story and this is a red herring.
FRANK: Well, I think she may know something. What`s going on a little bit. I don`t think she had anything directly to do with disappearance of the child. She loved her child too much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Frank, if she loved her child so much, why didn`t she take the baby to the doctor or the doctor when the child had a black eye and a bloody nose and a bump on her head?
FRANK: Well she told -- I mean, I know that no one is a doctor here, but she told me that she asked the boyfriend to overlook the child and that the child was, they said, would be fine. My question is how did it happen to begin with? But you know, I`d like...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did she really tell you that she woke up and the child was all battered? I mean, did you buy that?
FRANK: Yes, she said she woke up -- woke up and the baby already had a black eye and a little bit of dried blood on the nose and a bump on the head. My question is, Saturday when she was sitting at my house calling everybody and the brother asking for help, pleading and begging, arguing, no one wanted to help her at all. Her father said she was staying at his house, but the reason she didn`t stay at his house is because she`s a smoker and she wanted to...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, oh you`re kidding me! You put your child in a dangerous situation, your two children, because you want to smoke...
FRANK: She was...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... which is also putting your children in a dangerous situation.
According on the dad, she was supposed to take the kids to her dad`s. Those was -- those were the terms of the custody arrangement. And instead, she goes to her ex-boyfriend`s house, with whom she has a bad relationship, which she`d already complained about to her husband, her estranged husband. And she stays there because he lets her smoke? Are you kidding me, Frank?
FRANK: Her relationship with her boyfriend and, you know, she didn`t want to impose on the father.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, please. You know what, I`m sorry, but it sounds like you`re rationalizing, justifying and minimizing, which is codependency.
But I appreciate you coming on and talking and standing up for your friend. I mean I give you credit for your courage.
FRANK: I mean, she`s wrong in what she`s done, and her part in this. I mean, I feel she knows something. But I don`t feel that she`s guilty of this all by herself. Somebody in that house had dealings with this, as well. I just don`t see how she could pull something like this off by herself, as everybody is accusing her. There`s just no possible way without somebody in that house, as many people, would not see something. And not report it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, Frank.
FRANK: So with that being said...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on one second. Yes. Let`s take a quick break, and we`re going to be back with more. We appreciate you helping us try to solve this mystery.
(begin video clip)
KING: Didn`t go running out the back door by himself. He didn`t go running out the back door with a baby. It was him and I looking in the pool and the garage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. SCHIEWE: Quiet, let him open up his mouth and he`ll go to jail.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED).
STEINFURTH: Keep it down. You`re being recorded. Get him away from me. I`ve got a restraining order against him!
R. SCHIEWE: You already getting a restraining order for terroristic threats. He had his mouth going when we first came in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: That was a fight outside court this morning. Angela, the mother of this precious missing 18-month-old baby Elaina was in court for a court appearance, and the two sides, the father`s side and the mother`s side, were there and they got into it, and they accused each other of having taken restraining orders against each other.
I want to go to Becky. You are the father`s girlfriend. Can you give us the backstory of why there`s such bad blood between T.J., your boyfriend, the father of this child, and the mother`s family?
"BECKY," BOYFRIEND OF TERRY STEINFURTH JR. (via phone): She has been keeping the kids from T.J. For what reason I don`t know. Just to be vindictive towards him. There`s always been bad blood for some reason. He`s never liked T.J. He`s always had something against him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And do you think that this child became a pawn in a battle between two warring families, essentially?
BECK: Yes, I believe so. Previous to the girls coming and living with us, she kept the girls for us for three weeks. And she wanted to do something that we were allowed to visit with the girls.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Marcia Clark, a former prosecutor, first owl all they hold a court hearing. They can only charge them with child endangerment at this point. And then they suddenly postpone it. Do you see anything happening behind bars? Because we`ve heard from the cops saying, well, she keeps changing her story.
CLARK: Well, the police can`t talk to her. I assume she has a lawyer now. I saw a layer with her in court. They can`t talk to her unless the lawyer is present and he waives the right to remain silent.
So I don`t see anything happening with a cop behind bars. If she talks to another cell mate or another prisoner that`s nearby, that prisoner`s statement about what she said could be used against her if she, for example, confesses, which has been known to happen. But we haven`t heard that yet.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Angie Gonzalez, very quickly, I heard something about the prosecutors or somebody talking to some cell mates of hers.
GONZALEZ: Yes, earlier we got word that they were possibly speaking to three cell mates. Now, officials have not confirmed this to us, saying that it was an open investigation. We are getting lots of tips on what may have happened.
And we also got a tip earlier today that the cadaver dog that was brought in last week to search the vehicle that little Elaina was picked up in, along with her mother and sister, that it had gotten -- the cadaver dog had gotten a hit off of that vehicle. Authorities were not able to confirm this for us, as well.
But they did say that the cadaver dog was used in both the search of the homes that were looked over, including the one that you showed video of yesterday and the vehicle. This is a story unfolding as we speak. We have almost all of the mayor players on right now together.
Lilts solve it for the sake of this precious, selfless, voiceless, 18- month-old who has become a pawn in an adult battle, it would appear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis was one of the nicest and kindest men I.D. ever met. He was the type of guy you just wanted to be around.
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: She slit his throat as a rewarding for being a good man.
Would you agree that you`re the person who actually slit Mr. Alexander`s throat from ear to ear?
JODI ARIAS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quiet. Let him open up his mouth and he`ll go to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, just keep it down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: A fight erupts outside court as the world tries to find out what happened to Baby Elaina. Her mother Angela is now behind bars charged with child endangerment. She says yes, she woke up and the baby had a black eye and a bloody nose and a bump on her head. But she claims she doesn`t know where the baby is; that the child disappeared from where she was napping inside her ex-boyfriend`s home when the baby`s daddy came to pick up the child during a custody exchange.
Cops say this mother keeps changing her story, and her behavior has raised red flags. Listen to what Elaina`s paternal grandfather told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY STEINFURTH SR., BABY ELAINA`S GRANDFATHER: I don`t feel that mother is acting like a mother who has lost a child. I don`t see how any mother that has lost a child could show so little emotion as she has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A neighbor interviewed by the "Toledo Free Press" said, quote, "Something wasn`t right about Angela`s initial reaction that she went from crying to smiling in a blink of an eye.
Frank, you are a friend of Angela`s. You gave authorities surveillance video of her holding her child the day before the child vanishes. What do you make of neighbors saying that her reaction does not speak of a mother hysterical over losing her child?
FRANK, FRIEND OF ANGELA: Well, everybody shows emotions differently. I can tell you and say that she`s broke down and cried her eyes out at my house behind closed doors. Every human being --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to ask you this question. Usually when things are this dysfunctional sometimes, and I speak as a recovering alcoholic myself, that there`s alcohol or drugs involved. Do you know if she had a substance abuse problem? You admitted she liked to smoke, which is not good to do around the kids -- but anything else? Did she like to drink a lot or anything else?
FRANK: No. She smoked cigarettes once in a while. I did know of her smoking a joint, marijuana. Other than that, no substance abuse at all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, I`m not going to sit here and debate marijuana use, but is that something that could have endangered her children? We`re hearing these reports that she smacked her kid around, that she was calling her a b word.
FRANK: Well, for a year -- the last two years I`ve known them I can`t say that I`ve seen any of that. Both parents were good parents.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I just want to go to Becky very quickly. You are the girlfriend of the father of this child who came to pick the child up and she wouldn`t give the child over. Then she goes, "Oh my god. The baby is missing." You were actually with these kids up close and personal. Did you see signs of any kind of abuse before? Like cuts, bruises, bumps?
BECKY, T.J. STEINFURTH`S GIRLFRIEND: The girl had come over with bruises, we had asked Angela what had happened. She had just blamed it on Steven`s younger son. We were in contact with CS making a report. There was never a visit to check out the kids or check out the situation. We only let them go back with her for a visitation as they were living with us. And the agreement was she would not take them around Steven`s house or his family. She admitted to us that, you know, there were things going on with the kids that weren`t appropriate.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. I mean, Child Protective Services. That is a big issue. Where were they? Thank you, incredible panel, for your honesty and cooperation in trying to solve this mystery.
We`re all over it. We`ll bring you the very latest as it comes in day after day.
Up next -- Jodi Arias was back in court today. You won`t believe what it sounded like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: I`m going to spend the rest of my life in prison. It will either be shortened or not. If it`s shortened, the people who will hurt the most are my family. I`m asking you please don`t do that to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news: a jury seated in the George Zimmerman trial and we`re learning all six jurors are women. Five of them described as white, one as black and Hispanic origin. There are four alternates. The trial begins Monday at 9:00 a.m. right here on HLN.
Tonight Dr. Drew is speaking with George Zimmerman`s brother. You don`t want to miss that tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern with Dr. Drew on HLN. Then "AFTER DARK", 10:00 p.m. part 2 of Vinnie`s interview with Tracy Martin. The families of both the accused and the victims speak to HLN tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there jealousy?
ARIAS: On my end not so much jealousy, maybe a sense of insecurity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- said Jodi`s bipolar and she needs help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only dressed in her prison garb gash, the stripes but she was also shackled at her hands and her feet.
STEPHEN ALEXANDER, BROTHER OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: I don`t want to have to see my brother`s murder anymore.
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was shocking to everybody and brought gasps from those in the courtroom, that she had shackles on her hands and feet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were fully invested in the trial and we want to continue to see it through until the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight Jodi Arias back in court looking like we`ve never seen her before. Jodi appeared today wearing prison stripes and shackles, surrounded by heavily armed guards. Her appearance sent a very clear message, that the days when she could control her image -- or control anything for that matter -- are over. Now that a jury has convicted her of murder one, she looks the part of a con.
This was our first glimpse at the infamous killer since the penalty phase of her trial ended in a mistrial 28 days ago. The state seeking the death penalty again and the retrial on that life or death phase was supposed to begin on July 18th. But does anything in this case happen the way it`s supposed to? Listen to this.
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SHERRY STEVENS, PRESIDING JUDGE: We have confirmed with counsel and chambers with the defendant and victim representatives present. In light of information provided during the conference, the court is deferring ruling on the motion to continue, resetting this matter to July 18th at 8:30 a.m. vacating the current trial date of July 18th.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: So that means everybody is going to be back July 18th, and then they will decide when they are going to try her again on the life or death faze. Jodi`s defense team has filed a motion to delay the trial until January -- that`s right -- 2014. The prosecution wants to go ASAP -- pronto.
There she is smiling. This is what I don`t get -- this woman who seems so unconcerned about her predicament.
Jose Miguel, reporter with KPHO, you were in court today. You saw her, tell us what she looked like and perhaps more important what she sounded like as she shuffled into court today -- Jose.
JOSE MIGUEL, REPORTER, KPHO: Jane, I can tell you that it was very interesting to see her walking into court because again, she was wearing that prison garb, which a lot of people had not seen her in before. Remember she always dressed in a librarian-type look during the normal trial days.
Today her walking in, not only could you see that she was a prisoner of the jail, but you could hear it as well. You could hear the clanking of those shackles that she had not only around her wrists but on her feet as well.
It was really interesting because you could see when she walked in she scanned the room. We`re not sure if she saw that her mother was there or for that matter that three of the jurors that convicted her were there as well. But you did see her scanning the room, but more importantly you could hear those chains around her wrists and ankles and it got a lot of gasps from a lot of people.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We have a very special guest tonight. Tara Kelley, juror number 17, who sat through the many months of this trial -- first of all, hats off to you for doing your civic duty, and that must have been very, very difficult. You went back to court today and you ended up locking eyes with Jodi Arias as she appeared in stripes? Tell us about it.
TARA KELLEY, JUROR: Yes, you know, as she was walking in, we did make contact. I was standing up at the time. And so she definitely recognized me, and I don`t think that she was too happy to see me there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why?
KELLEY: Well, I don`t know that Jodi was ever a fan of mine. She would like eyes with me quite a few times during the trial. So to see me there, I don`t know that she was very excited.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What would you say if you were in charge? Would you have her right now face a retrial on the life or death phase or would you let this go onto 2014 as her attorneys want?
KELLEY: Well, I don`t think it will be delayed until 2014. I don`t know what kind of information has come about that the judge was speaking of today. But I can`t see Judge Stevens letting it be delayed that long. I talked to some of Travis` family and friends, and I know that they`re really pushing for the death penalty to go again.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Not only did Jodi show up to court with a brand new look, shackles and prison stripes, she was surrounded by huge armed deputies from the Special Response Team. The guards did not leave Jodi`s side during the hearing. She`s now a convicted murder and this type of escort is standard procedure. When Casey Anthony was acquitted of her daughter Caylee`s murder she was escorted out of jail by armed prison guards.
Tara Kelley as you look at all of this, do you get a sense that justice delayed is justice denied for the family of Travis Alexander? As a person who sat there and listened to the gruesome testimony of this man`s throat being slit ear to ear?
KELLEY: Well, I know that the family is frustrated. Well, as far as the ones I have talked to, his friends and family are frustrated that it`s being delayed again. But I think that that`s been a tactic all year so far with the defense`s strategy. So I don`t know that they`re surprised. I`m sure that they just want this to be over as soon as possible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I want to bring in my expert panel. Let`s debate it. Should prosecutor Juan Martinez get his way? Should this happen ASAP, pronto? Or should the defense get its way so that they get to have months and months until 2014 to prepare for this life or death phase? Starting with Anahita Sedaghatfar for the defense.
ANAHITA SEDAGHATFAR, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Jane, there`s no denying that any delay benefits a criminal defendant. That`s no secret. But in this case I think a delay would actually help both sides, because let`s not forget, they do have to select a new jury. And if we let some time pass, let the tempers calm down, everybody get out of this Jodi mania, it will be much quicker to get a fair, impartial jury. So I think it helps both sides to let things cool down a little bit.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Jordan Rose for the prosecution.
JORDAN ROSE, ATTORNEY: We have to respect the wishes of the surviving victims, the Alexander family. They want this done, and they want this done quickly. This defense team has had many years to put together a case, and if the issue is finding someone to testify in Jodi`s favor for her character, then they`ve had plenty of time to do that.
Why isn`t the mother up the there? Why does she not have a friend in the world? That should tell us something. Her character is flawed.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Don`t blame the messenger. But the motion that the defense filed said that people have been threatened when they thought of testifying so they need a cool down period, Brian Silber, do you think it`s a cop-out?
BRIAN SILBER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. I could even tell you just coming on as a guest on this show, I have gotten my fair share of hateful phone calls and I`m not even a litigant or an attorney for any of these parties.
SEDAGHATFAR: I can relate to that. I can relate to that. It`s so true.
SILBER: You know? Here`s the truth. And I think Jordan really hits on something that`s very important. The victim`s justice is really tantamount here. And that`s exactly why this defense team needs to be given every chance to defend the case properly. And the reason is you want a good conviction.
The worst thing for this victim`s family would be to get the death penalty, to find an appeal that says our judge made a mistake because she didn`t get give us a chance to properly prepare and then we have to come down again.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Have you read the Franz Kafka novel, "The Trial" where it just goes on and on and on and on and nothing ever happens. We also don`t want to have a Kafka-esque nightmare.
SILBER: But Jane this is a death case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side, we`re going to get a very important opinion, the opinion of Marcia Clark, who went through perhaps the most high profile trial in anyone`s memory. Stay right there.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Arias taking medication to treat this terrible PTSD disorder?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a woman with low self esteem.
ARIAS: Oh my gosh. That is so debasing. I like it.
Before they book me, can I clean myself up a little bit?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t say goodbye?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well --
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s the lifetime movie on the Jodi Arias case called "Dirty Little Secret" premiers this Saturday night at 8:00 p.m.
Marcia Clark, will this movie, which is apparently very explicit with violence, taint the jury pool?
MARCIA CLARK, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You know, probably not, Jane. At this point, there`s been so much other stuff out there. I mean, we`ve been talking about this case for, what, years now? And most intensively during the trial. So I don`t know what this movie could add that most people haven`t had the chance to watch and did watch on your show, for example. So I think we`re past the point -- we`re at that saturation point where it doesn`t matter. I don`t know that --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, you`re raising a good point. Go ahead.
CLARK: -- yes, I mean what more harm can be done?
But that said, Jane, you know, I`m wondering whether Juan Martinez will ultimately seek the death penalty. You know, he doesn`t have to do that. And she can be sentenced to life without parole. And I don`t know that it is such a bad idea to do that.
Here`s one reason why. I understand that the family would like to see the death penalty invoked here and I sympathize. On the other hand, when a death penalty verdict is handed down, the appeals go on forever. She can appeal through the state courts and then she can appeal through all the federal courts and take it all the way up to the Supreme Court and it is an endless litany of appeals and it goes on for a very long time.
And that`s very hard on the family that there`s a sense of no closure, there`s a sense of no end to it all. And at every bend and turn, there is a fear that some error may be found. If she is not sentenced to death, it won`t be as endless of a role in the appellate process. It will end much sooner.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you, Marcia. On the other side, we`re going to talk to Dave Hall, a friend of the victim, Travis Alexander. Stay right there.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Travis` friend, Dave Hall. What do you think?
DAVE HALL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: About the trial being delayed?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`ve always questioned Nurmi and Willmott`s capability of being attorneys. They have had five years to prepare to this. There`s no reason they need any more time. To say that crack head Patty has been threatened and they need a cooling down period, every one of Travis` family and friends have had horrible things said about them on the Internet and we would go through it again to defend Travis` honor.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, I have to say that there`s no evidence of -- the person you referred to being a crack head. But I understand your frustration, Dave Hall.
Nancy Grace, next.
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