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Nancy Grace
Jodi Arias Trial Week 15 Highlights
Aired April 12, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: You actually are biased in favor of the defendant, aren`t you.
ALYCE LAVIOLETTE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERT: Do I believe the evidence that supports domestic violence, yes. I think "biased" is an incorrect word, Mr. Martinez.
MARTINEZ: No, that is the correct word. Isn`t it true that you are biased in favor of the defendant? Yes or no.
LAVIOLETTE: I don`t believe I`m biased.
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, do you remember that the first thing that you did upon meeting the defendant when you went to visit her was that you apologized to her?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, I did.
MARTINEZ: And you apologized to her because you had read some of the items that were involved in this case, hadn`t you.
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And you had already formed an opinion with regard to those items that you had read, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: No, I hadn`t.
MARTINEZ: Well, it`s fair to say, though, that apologizing to somebody, when it`s the first thing that you do, sort of seems like there`s sympathy on your behalf for whatever it is that is going on with them, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Apologizing to someone for reading their most private thoughts and things that they thought they would never have in public is also a way to establish rapport so that somebody is really able to talk to you. And that`s what I wanted. I wanted her to be able to talk to me.
MARTINEZ: But you actually meant the apology, though, didn`t you?
LAVIOLETTE: Of course, I meant the apology.
MARTINEZ: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: During week 15, we saw, as predicted, prosecutor Martinez slicing up the defense`s second shrink on the stand, Alyce LaViolette.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: What you`re saying is that by just looking at a text message, ma`am, you can tell what an individual many years ago was feeling -- just by looking at a text message. This is what you`re telling us, right?
LAVIOLETTE: What I`m telling you is that I`m looking in many, many text messages, many, many communications. That`s what I had to go on. And when that is consistent, I feel like that is a pretty straightforward sort of situation.
MARTINEZ: Ultimately, what you`re saying is that you are a human lie detector, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Gosh, I didn`t think I was saying that, Mr. Martinez.
MARTINEZ: And what you`re doing is, perhaps in your office or wherever, is you`re looking at this and you`re saying, I`m going to pass judgment on what is going on in this particular conversation without talking to anybody that`s involved, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I think you`re mischaracterizing me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did they have anything to gain or lose by the outcome of the trial? And specifically, he was asking LaViolette, did she ever consider Arias tailored her statements to LaViolette to save her skin, that that`s why she gave LaViolette the story she did, because she had something very dear to lose, very dear to gain?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVIOLETTE: I never said no secondary gain or secondary gain. I looked at all of the material and believed Ms. Arias confessed to the crime.
MARTINEZ: Judge, she`s not being responsive to the question (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is a life or death gamble. Of course, LaViolette said no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVIOLETTE: I considered it in my decision, Mr. Martinez.
MARTINEZ: So you did consider the issue of secondary gain and decided that there was no problem with that particular issue in this case.
LAVIOLETTE: I decided that there was domestic violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Martinez repeatedly pounded and pounded and pounded the point that LaViolette never confirmed, corroborated anything that Arias told her. She never really even tried to. That`s a big problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, is it true that just because the prosecutor is angry at you -- is that going to make you change your answer with regard to whether or not this is a battering situation?
LAVIOLETTE: No. Certainly not.
MARTINEZ: So the fact that the prosecutor may or may not or you may perceive him as being angry, that really has nothing to do with your evaluation, does it.
LAVIOLETTE: No, but it certainly is...
MARTINEZ: Yes or no?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When you are buying Arias`s story of-self defense and that she`s a battered woman, hook, line and sinker, at least investigate it. At least try to find out the truth before you get in front of a jury and come up with a story like that about a murder victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: Does it have anything to do with your evaluation? And Judge, this is a yes or no answer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. She`s trying to answer the questions. Some of these questions cannot be answered by yes or no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. LaViolette, can you answer that question yes or no?
LAVIOLETTE: I`m not sure at this point what the question is because when someone is approaching in that way, it`s very hard to listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection (INAUDIBLE) going beyond (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Restate your question.
MARTINEZ: Just because somebody has a demeanor that you perceive to be anger, is that going to sway your opinion as to what you think in this case?
LAVIOLETTE: No, it isn`t.
MARTINEZ: Is it going to change anything about your evaluation based on the way the questions are asked?
LAVIOLETTE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Martinez also had a very clever maneuver with LaViolette. Sadly, the jury did not see this. He played, he replayed for LaViolette a portion of the police interrogation of Arias`s family, including her father. And during that interrogation, we learned from her father`s own mouth that he considers Arias to be manipulative, deceptive and a liar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: When she was in 8th grade, she got busted for growing marijuana with her Tupperware, putting it on top of the roof. We found it and called the sheriff department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As a matter of fact, he points out that he knows she has been lying to her parents, to her mother and father, since she was about 14, maybe sooner, but he knows 14, when she was busted for growing pot, secretively growing pot in their home. And he said ever since that point, he knew for a fact that she lied to her parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After that, she was so -- she was kind of like -- something turned in her head that we were nosy parents and we were going to -- we were going to search everything she had, so she hid everything from us and always has since then.
Never -- she`s never been honest with us since then (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So this is a pattern that Arias has had since she was a very young girl, is since childhood, she`s been deceiving, manipulative and lying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why have you looked at Ms. Arias multiple times during the cross-examination with the prosecutor when there were breaks and sidebars to meet eyes with Jodi and give her a small, warm smile?"
LAVIOLETTE: I have done that on occasion just to acknowledge her, but I`ve actually tried to avoid looking at Ms. Arias.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Because of possible consequences, do you feel it is possible that Jodi could be exaggerating abuse events?"
LAVIOLETTE: I think anything`s possible. When I look at the kind of escalation that I`ve seen with Mr. Alexander, and when I listen to what his friends, the Hugheses, have said, it is very difficult for me to believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another bombshell this week, but you have to take it in context with what we have already learned. While Arias was preparing for trial with LaViolette, her second shrink, she told LaViolette that she had cut her finger slicing apples. She blamed the death (ph) cuts on her own hands on apples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: With regard to this issue of the defendant`s truthfulness, one of the thing that you learned as part of your investigation was that the defendant said that after the murder, she had cuts on her hands because she had cut them on apples, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And did you also hear, for example, other stories (INAUDIBLE) that she had cut them -- her hands on apples, while she was cutting apples. Did you hear anything else about that?
LAVIOLETTE: About the cuts?
MARTINEZ: About the cuts on her hand, how they came about?
LAVIOLETTE: I don`t recall hearing any other story than the cuts on the hands from the apple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is about the fifth story she`s told about the cuts on her hand that coincidentally were first spotted after she stabbed Travis Alexander to death with her right hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: And so that`s one of the things that you believed when you were talking to the defendant, that the cuts that she suffered during this killing were as a result of her cutting apples, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I didn`t believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She blamed it on glass. She blamed it on a cat. She`s blamed it on so many different things. Now she blames it on apples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: You remember that you told me in our interview that you didn`t ask certain questions of the defendant because you were old- fashioned and you were embarrassed.
LAVIOLETTE: Oh, sexual questions?
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, isn`t it true that you told me that you were old- fashioned, yes or no?
LAVIOLETTE: There were sexual questions I did not ask because they do not come easy to me to ask. Yes, that`s true.
MARTINEZ: It was much more strong than that. You indicated that you were old-fashioned, yes or no?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, I`m old-fashioned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another very disturbing fact came out with LaViolette`s cross- examination. You know, have you ever gone to a doctor and they said, You know what? You don`t have to take the clothes off. I`m old-fashioned. I`ll just ask you a few questions. No, of course, you haven`t.
In this case, a cornerstone of the self-defense in battered women theory is that Travis Alexander allegedly sexually degraded Jodi Arias in many ways, but in one way forcing her into anal sex repeatedly. But LaViolette, the defense`s seemingly strongest witness, said she didn`t want to really push Arias on that or question her about anal sex because she was, quote, "old-fashioned" and really didn`t want to bring it up. That`s very disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: And because you`re old-fashioned, that restricted you in asking the defendant certain questions involving the sexual aspect of her and Mr. Alexander`s relationship, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I read about them.
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, I know you want to tell me that you read about them, but isn`t it true that you did not ask about them, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I asked about them after I had spoken with you, after our interview in November. There was a sex tape. I did ask her questions.
MARTINEZ: I`m not asking about the sex tape, ma`am. I`m asking...
LAVIOLETTE: There were questions I did not ask during -- that I had not asked when you and I had our interview. And there were questions I asked after that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Toward the end of week 15, we literally hear from Travis beyond the grave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: There was also a text messaging conversation involving that...
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: ... whatever it is that they talked about, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And May 26th of 2008 is two days before May 28th of 2008, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: Correct.
MARTINEZ: And during this conversation they have -- exhibit number 450 -- Mr. Alexander indicates certain things about her. He indicates that "You are a sociopath."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
MARTINEZ: It is written, "You are a sociopath," correct?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And it is also written there, "You only cry for yourself."
LAVIOLETTE: Correct.
MARTINEZ: There`s no reason to believe that he wasn`t telling the truth there, is there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled.
LAVIOLETTE: They`re having an argument.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: His text messages and e-mails are read in open court. And in those, I`m sure the jury was stunned to hear him say to Arias, "You are the worst thing that has happened to me. I want you to know how evil I think you are. You are manipulative, deceptive and evil, a sociopath."
Those are the words he wrote before his death to Jodi Arias, and they were read out loud in court. Clearly, he was afraid of Arias.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: You know what a clinical interview (ph) is, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Of course I know what a clinical interview is.
MARTINEZ: All right, then we seem to be having problems with that.
LAVIOLETTE: Mr. Martinez, are you angry at me?
(LAUGHTER)
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, is that relevant to you? Is that important to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please refrain from laughing in the courtroom.
MARTINEZ: Is that important to you, whether or not the prosecutor is angry at you with regard to your evaluation? Does that make any difference to your evaluation, whether or not the prosecutor is angry? Yes or no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He showed up and was telling us that he had broken up with Jodi.
LAVIOLETTE: Stalkers frighten people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He went to his car and all four tires had been slashed.
MARTINEZ: "Get away from me" is a response to stalking, isn`t it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then he said, Don`t be surprised if I don`t show up one of these Sundays, you find me dead somewhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We also learned this week, week 15, that he told others he was actually afraid of Jodi Arias.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: One of the things that came up was that the defendant was Mr. Alexander`s stalker, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And with regard to that conversation, the events involving the stalking were discussed. Yes or no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, LaViolette chooses to ignore all of those factors and continue to believe Arias`s story, with absolutely no confirmation or corroboration when she has in black and white in front of her the e-mails and texts Travis sent about what he really thought of Arias.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: Previously, when you were asked about by Ms. Wilmott (ph) about that, you said, I see no evidence whatsoever about stalking. Do you remember saying that?
LAVIOLETTE: I still don`t.
MARTINEZ: I understand. So you still don`t see that even though they are referenced in that message, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I don`t see that based on Mr. Travis`s (SIC) behavior toward -- towards Ms. Arias. Stalking is a different ballgame, and it`s a pattern of behavior and it`s a pattern that usually creates fear in the person that`s being stalked. And so I don`t see that with Mr. Alexander as he continues to connect with Ms. Arias.
MARTINEZ: Isn`t it true that Mr. -- when you just said "fear" -- isn`t it true that Mr. Alexander was extremely fearful of the defendant based on what was said in that conversation?
LAVIOLETTE: I don`t get that based on what I`m looking at. Once again, Mr. Martinez, you`re asking me to look at something that`s isolated, as opposed to looking at the context of what we`re talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In a very, very clever move by Martinez, he takes the shrink, Alyce LaViolette`s, rules. It`s like a little test, numbered, a series of examples or adjectives. And if you fit into all of these criteria, you`re a batterer or a stalker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: You see the word "stalking" anywhere in that column? Yes or no.
LAVIOLETTE: No.
MARTINEZ: The only place that the word "stalking" appears is under the column "terrorism," correct?
LAVIOLETTE: Correct. And I define it.
MARTINEZ: And ma`am, one of the things that you told us about the term "stalking" yesterday was that terrorism -- or not terrorism but stalking involves a frightened response on behalf of the person who`s being stalked. Do you remember telling us that?
LAVIOLETTE: A frightened behavior.
MARTINEZ: Pardon?
LAVIOLETTE: Frightened behavior.
MARTINEZ: Did you use the word "frightened" in regard to defining the term "stalking"?
LAVIOLETTE: I used "frightened," but it needs to be demonstrated in the behavior of the person. People who are stalked generally take action about being stalked, Mr. Martinez, and I saw no action taken.
MARTINEZ: What you`re saying is that you are -- even though you indicated at the start of this exchange that in that Megan Townsley (ph) instant message, you indicated that, yes, you saw that Mr. Alexander -- and the term that was used was "extremely afraid."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "We have heard multiple times from the defense the terms `survivor` and `victim` used together. Is it possible for the survivor to be the perpetrator?"
LAVIOLETTE: It`s very possible for somebody to lash back. In fact, there`s a term for it. Michael Johnson (ph) uses -- it`s called "violent resistance." So that when someone has been a victim of domestic violence, they sometimes hit back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He turned the tables on her and he found examples for every one of them. Every criteria is filled for Jodi Arias, not for Travis Alexander, basically making her admit on the stand -- and it was a fight to the finish. He had to pull a every word from LaViolette. But in the end, the jury could see that Jodi Arias fit the same criteria she had tried to peg onto Travis Alexander. And by LaViolette`s own definition, Arias is made out to be a batterer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "After all the lies you have told, why should we believe you now?"
JODI ARIAS, CHARGED WITH MURDER: Lying isn`t typically something I just do. I`m not going to say that I`ve never told a lie in my life before this incident, but the lies that I`ve told in this case are -- can be tied directly back to either protecting Travis`s reputation or my involvement in his death in any way because I was very ashamed of the death. And also, I wanted to edify Travis in a good way. I didn`t want to de-edify him or say hateful things about him, especially now that he had passed away. And I also didn`t want that to be construed as motive, for example, if he was violent with me.
LAVIOLETTE: How do I know everything she told me was true? I don`t. I don`t know everything she told me was true. I know that I have enough backup with the information that I got that was collateral to what Ms. Arias said to believe that she is telling me the truth about most things.
And once again, that she lied after the killing of Mr. Alexander does not -- does not make her a liar. It makes her an afraid (ph) human being, like most human beings who have done something that is foreign to them and they have a hard time facing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With regard to her truthfulness, the lies or the lack of truthfulness, the lies that she told, when did those start happening?
LAVIOLETTE: After Mr. Alexander was killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And given the fact that she lied about killing Mr. Alexander, right?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And did she lie about whether or not she was even there?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, she did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then did she change her story and have another lie about two people, two intruders that supposedly killed Mr. Alexander?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, she did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Given all of these lies that she told after June 4th of 2008, do they define her for you? Do they cause you problems in her believability?
LAVIOLETTE: No, they don`t.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is that?
LAVIOLETTE: Because if Ms. Arias was a really good liar, she would have planned a really good lie, and she didn`t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: There was in my mind a major turning point during week 15. We have heard it all. We have seen it all in this case. And now after two weeks on the stand, finally, under cross-examination, Alyce LaViolette reveals -- it`s in her notes and this is something the defense never brought up, but Martinez caught it -- that Arias told her as they were prepping for trial that she shot Travis Alexander in the closet -- the closet!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVIOLETTE: He goes into the shower and wants her to take pictures of him because he`s been working out and he`s kind of proud of the way his body is looking. And she drops the camera. And he gets very upset because she drops the camera and says that a kindergartner can take better pictures, or a 5-year-old could do this better, and apparently comes out of the shower, body slams her. She falls to the ground. She wiggles away and runs into the closet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s highly significant. That is critical! That`s an entirely new story from everything she`s ever told, from the story they told the jury in opening statement! It`s different from the reenactment that Jodi Arias gave, that got down off the stand in front of that jury. It`s different. That`s not the way she said it happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: Show me the posture of Mr. Alexander immediately before he went rushed (INAUDIBLE) you.
ARIAS: As he was...
MARTINEZ: No, no, just show me. That is what I`m asking you to do, not talk, show me. Show me the linebacker pose.
ARIAS: He got down...
MARTINEZ: Well, show me. Show me the linebacker pose. That`s what I`m asking for you to do.
ARIAS: He went like that (INAUDIBLE) grabbed my waist.
MARTINEZ: Just like that, correct?
ARIAS: Pretty much.
MARTINEZ: And he grabbed your waist, right?
ARIAS: I can`t say it`s just like that, but that`s what I...
MARTINEZ: No, just -- I want without talking, just show me the pose.
ARIAS: He got down like that.
MARTINEZ: Like that?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: All right. Go ahead and have a seat, then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And more important, I guess they forgot the gunshot shell is in the bathroom, not the closet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVIOLETTE: ... gets the gun that he has in the closet. And he comes after her again and is coming at her like a football player. And she does not believe the gun is loaded, but she points it at him and shoots. And after that, she really doesn`t remember anything until she gets to Hoover Dam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another moment in trial that really stands out to me -- this is week 15. Throughout all of this, when Arias was describing going in and out of a fog and she couldn`t remember anything, she doesn`t know what happened to the gun, she doesn`t know what happened to the knife, they`re somewhere in the desert, she`s not sure, she`s not sure, she doesn`t know where the knife came from.
Uh-oh! In the cross-examination of Alyce LaViolette, Martinez brings out very calculatedly, Didn`t Arias tell you in the preparation for this trial that the knife was on the bedside table?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: Part of that same conversation, there was a discussion involving the knife, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: Correct.
MARTINEZ: Well, isn`t it true that she told you that the knife was used to cut the ropes after he did oral sex on her, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: That he used it to cut the rope, and they had sex while she was tied to the bed.
MARTINEZ: And that knife was left on the nightstand, right?
LAVIOLETTE: I`m not sure where it was.
MARTINEZ: Take a look at exhibit 618, read it and see if that refers (INAUDIBLE) where the knife was left, per her account. Isn`t it true that she told you that the knife was left on the nightstand?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That changes a lot. It changes the scenario because if she had been acting in self-defense, she wouldn`t have had access to that knife on the bedside table. That shows she either came into the bathroom with the knife or had the opportunity to go get it after Travis had already been shot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Another eerie scenario was painted for the jury in court, week 15. It conjures up a disturbing scene, where LaViolette was questioned -- speaking of stalking, they tried to make Alexander look like he was the stalker. But LaViolette had to confront the fact that Arias admits that she was peeping Tom into Travis`s apartment, his home, and catches him unhooking another girl`s bra, sitting on the sofa. She`s staring in on intimate moments he`s having with another woman. That qualifies as stalking, in my book. But not in LaViolette`s.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: The defendant moves to Mesa, Arizona. Wouldn`t that be at least an indication or a starting point for this stalking behavior?
LAVIOLETTE: No.
MARTINEZ: No? OK. So you see that as appropriate, that after the breakup and after the fact that there are two separate states (ph), that she moves to Arizona? You see no problem with it from a stalking perspective, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: I see no end to the relationship in any communication between Mr. Alexander and Ms. Arias that discourages her from moving, nor that acts like the relationship is over. And in fact...
MARTINEZ: (INAUDIBLE) here.
LAVIOLETTE: ... it`s over verbally, I suppose, but behaviorally, it never has ended.
MARTINEZ: And behaviorally, it hasn`t ended because the person in the blue shirt over there moved over to Mesa, Arizona, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: No, not correct.
MARTINEZ: Well, immediately after that, if the relationship ended in June or July of 2007, didn`t Mr. Alexander manifest an indication that he was done with the relationship in August of 2007?
LAVIOLETTE: No.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTINEZ: Yes or no?
LAVIOLETTE: No. It`s not a yes or no.
MARTINEZ: Isn`t it true that in August of 2007, the defendant went over to Mr. Alexander`s house while he had a guest there? Do you remember that?
LAVIOLETTE: In August?
MARTINEZ: Of 2007, yes.
LAVIOLETTE: Yes. Yes.
MARTINEZ: And isn`t it true that she was uninvited to come over when Mr. Alexander was there with that guest, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. Speculation (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may answer yes or no. Overruled.
LAVIOLETTE: That it`s a yes or no?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
LAVIOLETTE: She came over. They had a back-and-forth relationship.
MARTINEZ: I`m not asking you...
LAVIOLETTE: She had the password...
MARTINEZ: (INAUDIBLE) non-responsive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We keep hearing the term "jury fatigue" thrown around. I don`t know if I buy that. They`re probably way over LaViolette on the stand, but as far as fatigue regarding this case, I`m not fatigued. I`m interested every single day, every single word. And I think the jury is, too. I would say they`re more fed up with certain witnesses than they are fatigued.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: In week 15 of the Jodi Arias murder one trial, a lot was made by prosecutor Juan Martinez of a speech that the defense expert Alyce LaViolette once gave. And in it, she queried, was Snow White a battered woman?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVIOLETTE: I didn`t present (INAUDIBLE) issues of battered women. I presented about gender, and Snow White was the character I used.
MARTINEZ: In that presentation, did you make a decision or did you reach a conclusion or did you address whether or not Snow White was a battered woman, even though you never spoke to anybody involved in the Snow White tale, correct?
LAVIOLETTE: I didn`t speak to the seven dwarves or Snow White. I`m not sure...
MARTINEZ: Yes, that`s the question. Did you speak to anybody involved with this fantastical tale?
LAVIOLETTE: I think that answer would be quite obvious, that I couldn`t speak to Snow White, nor could I speak to the seven dwarves.
MARTINEZ: So would that be no, then?
LAVIOLETTE: OK. That would be no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When I first heard that line of reasoning in one of her speeches, I was stunned because being an abused victim is no laughing matter. It`s certainly like putting perfume on the pig to try and somehow equate the horrific violence that is done behind closed doors in a domestic battery situation to a Grimm`s fairy tale, later a Walt Disney movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: One of the things that you told us with regard to these type evaluations is that 90 percent of all communication is nonverbal, right?
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GRACE: Martinez then used LaViolette`s own words against her. On direct examination, she had stated that about 90 percent of all communications is done nonverbally. Yet she went on and on for days, picking apart text messages and e-mails sent between Travis Alexander and other people, never having once seen the nonverbal cues that go with those text messages and e-mails.
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LAVIOLETTE: Sure, you can take that any way you want.
MARTINEZ: Yes or no. That`s how I want to take it.
LAVIOLETTE: It`s not yes or no.
MARTINEZ: You didn`t testify to that previously in this court?
LAVIOLETTE: I made a statement...
MARTINEZ: Yes or no. Did you testify to that?
LAVIOLETTE: In a verbal conversation, much like you and I are having, I bet people here can read in what`s going on nonverbally between the two of us. And that`s what I was talking about.
MARTINEZ: Ma`am, I`m not interested in what you may be feeling with regard to the prosecutor. I`m asking whether or not you made the statement that in a clinical interview, 90 percent of the communication is nonverbal. Did you make that statement?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes.
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GRACE: Another thing that I thought was fascinating, if you think back on Martinez`s strategy during Alyce LaViolette`s direct testimony, we kept saying, Why isn`t he objecting? Why isn`t he just sitting there? He might as well have just put his feet up and opened a newspaper during LaViolette`s direct examination. And now we see why.
It is irritating the jury no end when the defense is constantly up and down and up and down and up and down like a Jack-in-the-box, objecting over and over and over, getting it overruled, over and over and over and over. It`s very irritating to this jury. Martinez did not do that on LaViolette`s direct testimony. He just let it all in and he gave her enough rope to trip her up.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you were interviewing with Ms. Arias, you were asked questions about whether or not you suggested answers to her. Do you remember that?
LAVIOLETTE: Correct. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that your assessment is based off of some false information, then, because you were somehow able to give her the right answers to give you?
LAVIOLETTE: No, I don`t.
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GRACE: This week, week 15, was the first time this jury has listened to testimony -- there have been court proceedings with the jury on a Friday -- that clearly shows the judge is trying to move the case along.
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MARTINEZ: You were asked by the jurors how many times you had testified on behalf of a -- of a man in criminal court. Do you remember that question?
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, I do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. Asked and answered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled.
MARTINEZ: And remember that you said one or two times, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. Asked and answered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
MARTINEZ: Well, you told us about this individual that -- that we`ve just been talking about, this police officer. You did not testify in front of a criminal court, did you?
LAVIOLETTE: No, I didn`t.
MARTINEZ: So you misrepresented something to the jury, didn`t you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection. Mischaracterizes her testimony.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled.
LAVIOLETTE: I was...
MARTINEZ: Yes or no?
LAVIOLETTE: I did not testify. I wrote a report in his behalf to go to criminal court.
MARTINEZ: That`s different than testifying in court, isn`t it.
LAVIOLETTE: Yes, it`s different than testifying in court.
MARTINEZ: That`s the one time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Do you consider someone who says `No jury will ever convict me` to be a person with low self-esteem?"
ARIAS: No jury is going to convict me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
ARIAS: Because I`m innocent. And you can mark my words on that one. No jury will convict me.
LAVIOLETTE: It sounds like a really foolish statement to me. I don`t know what to say about self-esteem, but it doesn`t seem like a good statement to make, that`s for sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "How can you say that Jodi and Travis`s relationship was domestic abuse when there is no proof other than name- calling on paper and Jodi`s word?"
LAVIOLETTE: There is -- it`s the degree of name-calling. It`s the degree of putdown. It`s the level of escalation. And it`s the words of his two closest friends and -- and his relationships with other women that aren`t close. So it`s not just from Jodi`s words.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You stated that regarding anger, it is more common for someone to have a burst of anger than calm down. Is it possible that Travis`s rants seem longer because they are being viewed in text form?"
LAVIOLETTE: Actually, they go on over a period, I believe, of two to three hours, which is pretty long, and then followed up with the other...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Lack of foundation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "On the one side, we have demeaning multiple verbal slurs, a slap, a shove, a chokehold and a lunge perpetrated on Jodi. On the other, we have a gunshot to the head, a 4-inch-deep slit throat and close to 30 stab wounds delivered by Jodi to Travis. Is not the perpetrator of the greatest domestic violence Jodi?"
LAVIOLETTE: I think what happened to Mr. Alexander is horrific.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Relevance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
LAVIOLETTE: I think that self-defense...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Beyond the scope of the question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m going to sustain the objection. The question is, "Is not the perpetrator of the greatest domestic violence Jodi?"
LAVIOLETTE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The jurors surely want to get to the end of the trial. They want to reach a verdict. And by adding this other day, this extra day of work, it shows the judge means business. She wants a verdict.
END
