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Nancy Grace
The Jodi Arias Verdict
Aired May 10, 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)
JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED OF MURDER: ... saw that there was blood on my hands.
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: You`re the person who actually slit Travis Alexander`s throat from here to here.
ARIAS: Yes!
MARTINEZ: That you`re the individual that stabbed him in the upper torso.
ARIAS: Yes!
They were my actions and it`s my responsibility.
(INAUDIBLE) your makeup, Jodi girl.
Smile and say cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jury will (INAUDIBLE) That`s not for me to decide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to count one, first degree murder, guilty.
ARIAS: (INAUDIBLE) the ultimate judge (INAUDIBLE)
Definitely innocent of pre-planning the murder (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First degree murder, guilty.
ARIAS: I`m the only person that will ever be able to say what happened that day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: When I first heard the verdict of guilty, there was not celebration or jubilation in my heart or around me. I could hear everyone behind me, literally thousands of people surrounding the courthouse, cheering. I could hear helicopters overhead. But in the courtroom, I also could hear in my ear it was dead silent just before that verdict was read.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The State of Arizona versus Jodi Ann Arias, verdict, count one. We the jury, duly empanelled and sworn, in the above entitled action, upon our oaths, do find the defendant as to count one, first degree murder, guilty. Five jurors find premeditated. Zero find felony murder. Seven find both premeditated and felony. Signed, foreperson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this your true verdict, so say you one and all?
JURY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number one, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number two, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number three, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number four, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number six, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number seven, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number nine, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 12, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 13, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 14, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 16, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 18, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: There was an audible outcry in the courtroom. And I had steeled myself for another tot mom, Casey Anthony, type verdict of not guilty because I was stunned that the jury was out for three entire days deliberating.
When it was announced, murder one, guilty, I almost couldn`t take it in because in so many high-profile cases, somehow everything goes sideways and justice somehow evaporates. Seems like you are so close to at this time, and it somehow gets away.
And that`s what we were all feeling that was going to happen in the Arias case. Didn`t know why, but all indicators were that there was a mistrial brewing, a hung jury, or even worse, a not guilty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First degree murder, guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When those words were called out in the courtroom, inside, I felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of relief that although we can never, ever bring Travis Alexander back, we can never mend the broken hearts of his family, at least we can bring Jodi Arias to justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY BECKSTEAD, ALEXANDER FAMILY ATTORNEY: We represent the Travis Alexander surviving siblings, including Samantha (ph), Gary (ph), Dennis (ph), Tanesha (ph), Hillary (ph), Stephen (ph) and Allie (ph). They are in agreement with the jury`s verdict of guilt.
They would like to thank deputy county attorney Juan Martinez and Detective Steve Flores for their hard work and professionalism in this case. They appreciate the outpouring of support they have received from the public.
My firm will be filing a wrongful -- civil wrongful death suit against the defendant in the near future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is Jodi?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any comments?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turn it off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is she on suicide watch?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No comments. Don`t even try. Thanks, guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When you finish the closing arguments to a jury after a long, drawn-out case where you have really been going at it in court, like hand- to-hand mutual combat with the defense every single minute of every single day, and you finish that closing argument and the jury goes out, they get the evidence and the deliberation clock begins, it`s a relief because at that moment, the sleepless nights are done.
The mornings of getting up at 3:00 and 4:00 AM to make sure your witness is there and prepared and all your exhibits are straight -- it`s done. You have done all you can do to bring about justice. You have done it all. You`ve worked your fingers to the bone. You are emotionally and physically spent. Your mind is mush.
And then the waiting begins. It`s an excruciating time, but yet it`s out of your hands at that point. There`s nothing you can do. It`s in the hands of the jury. So at that point, while you`re on pins and needles waiting on that verdict, there`s nothing more you can do.
Up until that moment that you hand a case over to the jury, there`s still more you can do. You can make the last objection, the final argument, ask that one more question, put in that one last exhibit. Once that`s done, it`s over for the lawyers. It`s a waiting game then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: This individual, the defendant, Jodi Ann Arias, killed Travis Alexander. And even after stabbing him over and over, again and even after slashing his throat from ear to ear, and then even after taking a gun and shooting him in the face, she will not let him rest in peace.
But now instead of a gun, instead of a knife, she uses lies. And she uses these lies in court when she testified to stage the scene for you, just like she staged a scene for the police after she killed Mr. Alexander.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I think the moment the verdict was read in court was an incredible release for Travis Alexander`s family. I have seen them and spoken to them in the courthouse, and they are always on the verge of just breaking down. Sometimes they`re sitting stoically. Sometimes they`re crying. Sometimes they`re holding back tears. They always have a look of anguish on their faces.
That`s what this trial has been like for Travis`s family. It`s bad enough to have your loved one die at an early age. It`s worse when they die at the hands of a murderer like Jodi Arias. And then to top it all off, they have to hear all about the murder.
They have to look at crime scene photos. They have to look at their brother with his head nearly slashed off in court. They have to look at that bathroom sink where he stood and his blood literally gushed out of him.
I know I will never forget those photos, as long as I live, especially that photo of that bloody sink where he stood and looked in the mirror and literally saw himself dying. I`ll never forget it. Can you imagine if that were your brother or your son? Can you imagine what they`ve gone through? I can`t.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: When the verdict was read in court, Arias had an almost stoic reaction. As the verdict continued, her nose got red, her eyes watered. She looked at the jurors almost beseechingly, almost as if she had some type of mind power over them.
Each time one of them was polled -- the jurors are polled individually, asked individually, so as to ensure there was no coercion in the jury deliberation rooms, Was this your verdict? Is this now your verdict? Each one answered yes, and each time, she would look at them as if somehow, she could control them or make them go, No, it`s not my verdict. I want to deliberate some more. I disagree.
Then, regardless of how she looked in front of the jury, we know -- I don`t know the jury knows or not -- she got up out of that seat and went and plopped straight down in front of lights and cameras and began to trash everybody from Juan Martinez, the prosecutor, to me, to Travis Alexander`s family and Travis Alexander himself, making a snide comment that his family could remember Travis however they chose to. In other words, they didn`t know what a horrible person he was. Only she knew he was a monster. That`s a lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still think about Travis?
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In what way?
ARIAS: There`s a lot of regret because I was really hoping to get a plea and avoid talking about all of the things that came out about him. If we had been able to avoid trial, we could have avoided just the murkier aspects of his life that he kept hidden.
And these aren`t just things that came from my mouth. They`re his own words, his own e-mails, his own text messages, the activities that he was up to, photographs that show that, as well. And none of that ever would have come to light. It would have just been forgotten and he would be memorialized as not perfect by any means, but somebody who was known to adhere to his morals and the principles that he espoused.
But now the curtain has been drawn, and you can see the hypocrisy and everything that was there. And I regret that because I know that even though he was living the life of a hypocrite, that`s not how he wanted to be perceived. And I think inside, he really didn`t want to really live that kind of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people had real issues with the pedophilia when that was brought up. How do you respond to that?
ARIAS: Well, again, I mean, he`s fantasizing about having sex with a 12-year-old on the tape. That`s pedophile by definition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s an interview from KSAZ just minutes after Arias found guilty of murder one. Arias trashed the prosecutor. Somehow, it was his fault, I guess, that she`s convicted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had some clashes with Juan Martinez. You kind of went after him on Twitter a little bit. What are your thoughts on Juan?
ARIAS: Prior to trial, I respected Juan as a very capable attorney, even though he`s done some very shady things in my case, as far as hiding evidence and failing to disclose certain things, hoping it would just go away. In the end, what does it matter? It didn`t help my case. His accusation that I was seeking fame is absurd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Juan (ph) you also went after there.
ARIAS: Yes. I just found it very highly hypocritical that he would point to me and call me the epitome of a liar when he has lied over and over on record in court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s an interview from KSAZ. But what really matters is that in a moment where she should be begging for forgiveness from this jury, from this judge, from God in heaven, she took that opportunity to trash Travis Alexander, dead in the grave, under the dirt, in a box, his neck slashed open. She took that opportunity to call him a hypocrite.
And don`t worry, that gives the prosecutor the opportunity to play her ill-planned TV interview back to the jury come sentencing phase, if it gets that far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: This is the last photo print of Mr. Alexander while he`s still living and before anything bad has happened to him. Quite a legacy for him, isn`t it? He is sitting there. Not only is he defenseless, he does not have a gun, he does not have a knife, he does not have any weapon whatsoever. Not only does he not have that, he doesn`t have any clothing on.
And as he sits there, he doesn`t have any dignity, either. She`s taken that away from him. If anybody is defenseless in this case, it isn`t the defendant, it is Travis Alexander as he sits like that in that shower with his killer standing there, dressed in pants, presumably a top on, because there`s no indication that she didn`t have a top on, with his camera.
And she starts snapping this. Part of the story of hers that you would have to believe is that this is also an inadvertent photograph, that this is also an accidental photograph. But take a look, if you will, at the acuity and the sharpness of this photograph. There`s nothing accidental about this. Somebody held the photograph -- or the camera firmly. The defendant held it firmly as she pressed the button and took this photograph, the last live photograph of Mr. Alexander.
And while she had that in that position where he is in the inferior position to her -- he`s down, she`s standing up -- she can approach him. And she can approach him as he`s sitting there. And she did. No doubt about that.
This is not a case of whether or not there was an attack here, whether or not it wasn`t her. It`s her. And it`s him. And it`s the man that she has just had sex with, and this individual that she has planned to kill all the way from May 28th of 2008, days, even though the premeditation statute only requires a certain amount of time. It doesn`t require days, doesn`t require planning, it requires thinking.
And so she`s been thinking about it a long time because she came very prepared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The constitution protects you from the power of the state, prosecutors, police, investigators. The Constitution cannot protect you from yourself and your relentless gabbing. That what`s was Jodi Arias`s own doing her 18 days on the stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You gave an interview with "Inside Edition." Do you remember seeing that tape?
ARIAS: Yes, I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And in that tape, you said that no jury would convict you, something to that effect. Do you remember saying that? You remember saying that?
ARIAS: Yes, I did say that. I made that statement in September 2008, I believe it was. And at the time, I had plans to commit suicide, so I was extremely confident that no jury would convict me because I didn`t expect any of you to be here. I didn`t expect to be here, so I could have easily said no jury would acquit me, either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And she still hasn`t learned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you focusing on the court, or are you focusing on what could be the worst outcome for you?
ARIAS: Well, the worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner rather than later. Longevity runs in my family, and I don`t want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. You know, I`m pretty healthy. I don`t smoke. And I would probably live a long time. So that`s not something I`m looking forward to.
I said years ago that I`d rather than get death than life, that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I`d rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you`re saying you actually prefer the getting death penalty to being in prison for life.
ARIAS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s an interview from KSAZ just minutes after Arias found guilty of murder one.
I firmly believe Jodi Arias never thought she would be found guilty. I mean, we see her. She`s caught on tape in an interview saying, No jury will ever convict me, mark my words. And she was not saying that because she planned suicide, as she now claims, as she claimed to the jury on the stand when questioned about that interview.
Look at her demeanor. She says it in a way, Mark my words, no jury`s ever going to convict me. It`s not that she`s contemplating suicide. It`s that she thinks that she can lie her way to a not guilty.
Well, that didn`t happen. And I really believe that this is the first time Jodi Arias has ever been held accountable for her actions -- slashing tires, peeping Tom, confronting people, other ladies that Travis may have been dating or interested in. This behavior goes way, way, way, way, way back all the way, we know of, until she was in her preteens, her tweens, like 13, 14 years old, growing pot in her home.
She didn`t have to answer to that. She`s never had to be accountable for her actions, ever. And in this world, in our society, there are rules, rules that sets us apart from the animals out in the jungle. We have rules that protect those that are weaker or less powerful or less cunning than others, to protect us from people like Jodi Arias. What stands between us and them is our society that has laws, laws that held Arias accountable for murder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: (INAUDIBLE) arguments, no anger issues that I can remember.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... stab wound to the heart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His throat was slit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His body was dragged to the shower, and he`s shot in the head along the way.
ARIAS: As far as making comparison of physical injuries, him versus mine...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) neck wound from ear to ear. His face was dark purple, almost black. The rest of the body was a very pale white. And he was kind of crammed in the bottom of a shower stall.
ARIAS: I don`t even hurt spiders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Do you agree that you came away rather unscathed?"
ARIAS: Yes, I would have to say that`s a relatively accurate assessment.
I`m all for the 10 Commandments, Thou shall not kill.
MARTINEZ: The first hit, if you will, was to the heart area. And he was talking around. He was grabbing the knife. He was trying to defend himself.
ARIAS: I would be shaking in my boots right now if I had to answer to God for such a heinous crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I was in the courtroom for closing arguments. And they were all so very, very different, but I especially noticed in the final closing argument, Martinez had a completely different affect. He was soft-spoken, quiet. He was just talking quietly to the jury about the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: In order for her to prevail in this case, in order for you to believe her -- because it actually comes down to whether or not you believe her. If you believe her, then certainly, you can apply the jury instructions. But it comes down to whether or not you believe her. The other evidence, all of the other evidence that`s out there, contradicts her. So you have to go against all of the evidence that`s out there, turn your back on all of that and say, I believe her. Therefore, I`m going to find in her favor. (INAUDIBLE) to you that in light of everything, that`s not something that you should do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: There were no wild gesticulations. He wasn`t pounding the table. He was not pointing his finger. He was reaching them one by one as he talked to them. And I watched him calmly explaining why this is not a murder two case, this is not a voluntary manslaughter case, this is not a case of self-defense, and hitting the key points of evidence to support why what he said was true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: And first degree murder can be committed in one of two ways. Obviously, you noticed that there are no -- there`s not two charges of first degree murder. There is only one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I saw alliances in that jury. I mean, I know what the experts say, you can`t tell by looking. But I -- should I believe them or my lying eyes? Because I could see jurors leaning together, clumped, sitting three here, four here, one here, two here on the front and back row. You could see that alliances had been formed.
I didn`t know what they meant. I could guess, but I knew that some of those jurors had connected to each other, which is a good thing. And I saw the lawyers trying to make progress with them, connect with the jurors. But in the end, it wasn`t the lawyers, it was Arias herself that brought about this murder one conviction. It was those 18 days on the stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: I asked you a question, that you were offended, and you said offended is a good word, right? That`s what you said, right?
ARIAS: I think so. Yes.
MARTINEZ: So -- well, you think so means you don`t know, right?
ARIAS: I don`t know.
MARTINEZ: Well, this just happened. How is it that you are not remembering what you`re saying?
ARIAS: Because you`re making my brain scramble.
MARTINEZ: I`m again making your brain scramble. So in this particular case, the problem is not you, it`s the questions being posed by the prosecutor, right?
ARIAS: No, not the question.
MARTINEZ: Yes or no. Yes or no.
ARIAS: I was saying no, and you interrupted me.
MARTINEZ: So in this case, you`re looking to point the finger at somebody else again, right?
ARIAS: No, it`s my fault.
MARTINEZ: Well, you`re saying it`s the prosecutor that`s asking you the questions, and that`s created a problem for you, right?
ARIAS: That`s not what I said.
MARTINEZ: Well, you said, It`s the way you`re posing the questions. You just said that, right?
ARIAS: I don`t know.
MARTINEZ: You don`t know what you just said, ma`am?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, argumentative, your honor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled.
ARIAS: I don`t know.
MARTINEZ: Didn`t it just happen?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: So how is it that if it just happened, you can`t even remember what you just said?
ARIAS: I think I`m more focused on your posture and your tone and your anger, so it`s hard to process the question.
MARTINEZ: So the answer is it`s again the prosecutor`s fault because you perceive him to be angry, right?
ARIAS: It`s not your fault.
MARTINEZ: What happens when the camera comes to rest in this position? What happens next?
ARIAS: Travis snapped.
MARTINEZ: When you say, Travis snapped, he manifested something. What did he do?
ARIAS: He got very angry. He stood up, stepped out of the shower, all the while calling me...
MARTINEZ: Screaming at you, bad stuff, right, cursing at you, right?
ARIAS: I remember the "F" word. I don`t know how much cursing there was.
MARTINEZ: And the "F" word being what? You can say it. You`ve said it in text messages. Go ahead.
ARIAS: He said (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MARTINEZ: He said (EXPLETIVE DELETED) what?
ARIAS: That I`m (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MARTINEZ: OK. He said you were a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) idiot. And he`s standing up when he says this, right?
ARIAS: As he was standing up, or whatever. I don`t know the exact position he was in when those words were...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF: We got information yesterday, last night, that a subject said he was going to bomb the court, kill the cops, and it would be at 1:00 o`clock today. And through some good detective work by my deputies, we tracked that person, through utilizing Twitter and Facebook, to this motel.
And this morning, we surrounded the hotel. He didn`t want to come out. In fact, we made a call. He said he`s not coming out. He`s going to shoot the cops. But we did apprehend him. We`re still talking to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In order to facilitate this kind of grouping of injuries, this would have to occur very, very quickly. You would have to have the individual in kind of a subdued position. He had to be stationary and contained in one spot to get that tight of a cluster. So it`s, like, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.
When he was struck here, the doctor makes note of the fact that these are kind of obliquely struck. In other words, they`re more like glancing blows, if you will, and they just kind of bounce off of the scalp. But they hit with enough impact to actually split the scalp open.
The two injuries that Dr. Horne (ph) refers to with the most significance are both the right jugular vein and the right carotid artery, which are major blood supplies. And the knife went, or the sharp injury, sharp force injury, went deep enough to compromise both of those vessels and cut across his windpipe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I absolutely never heard of a defendant conducting a TV interview just literally minutes after being convicted of murder one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a sense of where the public feeling is about you, whether you`re liked or not liked? I mean...
ARIAS: I get the sense that there is great division on both sides, but I believe the majority is against me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your thoughts on that?
ARIAS: A psychologist once explained to me that society has this need to persecute people. They get some sort of gratification from it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have an idea of how many people are interested?
ARIAS: I hear things. But I have no access to the news, the Internet, that sort of thing, no direct access.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kinds of things do you hear?
ARIAS: I do get the newspaper, so that`s been one portal where I`ve learned things. A lot of inmates, they want to come up and shake my hand. They want to give me a hug. They want my autograph. I`m not going to sign anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, I`ve given those defense attorneys plenty of H-E-L-L, but I can guarantee you this. They are not idiots. And look at the job they`ve got, you know, what they have to work with. They`re trying to give her the best defense they can given the facts that they`ve got, given Arias herself. You know, it`s their job to defend her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is important to talk about what this case is not about. It`s not about Snow White. It`s not even about any of the seven dwarfs. It`s not about bad haircuts. And it`s not about the sexual orientation of any of the witnesses. 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...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that doesn`t matter. Your liking her or not liking her does not objectively assess the evidence. And you know what, ladies and gentlemen? It`s not even about her sitting before the cameras of "Inside Edition" and saying that no jury will convict her. It`s not about that. It`s about the evidence. What happened? What happened between what we see in exhibit 159 and what we see in exhibit 162?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Under our constitution, somebody`s got to defend her, and they took the job. You know her lawyers did not want her to get back up in front of a TV screen. Absolutely not. In fact, there were reports of heated words between Arias and her lawyers immediately following the verdict. I can only guess that she was pointing the finger at them, that it was their fault she was convicted. She`s already saying there`s evidence she wanted to get in, but it couldn`t get in.
You know? She`s going to blame her lawyers and everybody else because Arias cannot accept that she committed murder and now she`s being held accountable. She danced to the music, and now she`s got to pay the piper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if you had to do this all over again, you`re in the desert, you notice that you`ve got blood on your hands, how do you handle it?
ARIAS: I would turn around and drive to the Mesa police department.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what would you think would happen to you then?
ARIAS: I don`t know, but it would have been the right thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you`re telling me that if you had done things differently -- do you regret how you went about doing things after Travis was killed, after you killed Travis?
ARIAS: Yes. I think that I was just freaked out. Well, I know I was freaked out. I didn`t know what to do. I knew that I couldn`t just carry on as normal, but I tried to do that. I tried to act that part until -- you know, until everything came down on me.
Just the way everything happened, I think that if I`d been honest from the beginning, I`d be in a different place, and so would everyone else. And because of what I`ve done, a lot of people will hurt for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say you do get a long sentence. How are you going to spend your life?
ARIAS: I haven`t decided yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you guys allow Jodi Arias to talk yesterday, even though her lawyers didn`t really want her to talk? Why did you guys allow her to talk?
ARPAIO: Very simple. I think everybody here knows I have an open door policy. Any time you want to talk to an inmate, you usually get in there, if the inmate wants to talk to you. But anytime you want to go in there, go on in. Every day, the media`s talking to inmates. It`s nothing unusual. So when she says she wants to talk to a certain reporter and she signs all the paperwork, what am I supposed to do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In her pre-conviction (ph) -- in the first five minutes after she was convicted of murder one -- interview, she said she would prefer death over life behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you focusing on the court, or are you focusing on what could be the worst outcome for you?
ARIAS: Well, the worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner than later. Longevity runs in my family, and I don`t want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. You know, I`m pretty healthy. I don`t smoke. And I would probably live a long time. So that`s not something I`m looking forward to.
I said years ago that I`d rather get death than life, and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I`d rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you`re saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to being in prison for life.
ARIAS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know what? If that were true, why did she spend 18 days up on the stand fighting for her own life? Why not just go ahead and plead to the death penalty and be done with it? Because that`s not what she wants. If this is her twisted form of reverse psychology, here`s a news flash. For reverse psychology to work, your target is not supposed to know you`re faking them out, all right? So that`s not going to work on this jury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: You said, I`m innocent, no jury will convict me, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: Whereas when you started this direct examination, your testimony, you said, The reason I said that no jury would convict me was because I planned to kill myself, right?
ARIAS: I said I planned to be dead, yes.
MARTINEZ: Because you planned to commit suicide, right?
ARIAS: That`s correct.
MARTINEZ: Those are two different stories, aren`t they.
ARIAS: No. On the stand I explained why I didn`t say suicide as opposed to the alternative because there was an officer sitting a few feet behind me. And if I had said that, they would have hauled me off to a padded room, stripped me naked, and I would have lived there until whenever.
MARTINEZ: So what you`re saying even today, that when you say that you`re innocent, that means to you that there`s an officer sitting next to you and you didn`t want him to know that you were going to commit suicide, right? That`s what you`re saying?
ARIAS: When I made that statement?
MARTINEZ: Yes. When you said innocent, that`s what you equate it with.
ARIAS: Well, definitely innocent of...
MARTINEZ: Yes (INAUDIBLE)
ARIAS: ... pre-planning or whatever you`re trying to...
MARTINEZ: No, I`m not asking about that. I`m asking about the statements. Isn`t it true that the statements are different? That`s all I`m asking you.
ARIAS: Yes, they`re different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, Jean, I was -- I heard reports that there were heated exchanges between her and her lawyers. It had to be over not doing this interview.
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, we`ve heard the same thing, and that is what is being talked around the legal community here today.
One thing, though, what I was told, and I can confirm through Sergeant Brandon Jones (ph) of the Maricopa County sheriff`s department -- she is not classified as a 918. In other words, she is not crazy. She is not having hallucinations. She is not hearing voices. And because of that, Nancy, she can have her family visit her, of course, as well as her lawyers.
GRACE: OK, let me get this straight. So she`s managed to get herself transferred out of Estrella to Lower Buckeye, where it`s much cushier for her. So she`s claiming she`s suicidal, so she`s crazy but just a little bit crazy? I thought that was like being pregnant. Either you are or you`re not.
CASAREZ: No, I...
GRACE: You can`t be a little bit pregnant.
CASAREZ: I did not say she`s...
GRACE: You can`t be a little bit crazy.
CASAREZ: I did not say she`s claiming she`s crazy. I confirmed she wasn`t having hallucinations or hearing voices. I mean, how bad is she? That`s what I wanted to know. And the response I got was she is not a 918, which is crazy. And so because of that, her family can visit her.
And I think that`s an important distinction here. They would not tell me if she`s on medication, if she`s been put on medication. But they said there is no minimum, there`s maximum amount of time. The doctors and nurses that are monitoring her make that decision when she goes back to Estrella.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Alexander family, especially the two sisters and the younger brother -- if you could say something to them, what would you like to say to them?
ARIAS: I hope that, now that a verdict has been rendered, that they`re able to find peace, some sense of peace. I don`t think they`ll ever find the peace that they would like, but maybe they -- maybe they`ll be able to have greater peace now, or some semblance of it, and be able to move on with their lives and remember their brother the way they wanted to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you avoid eye contact with Travis`s family while you were in there, or did you make eye contact? And what are your thoughts on them?
ARIAS: I typically avoided eye contact. Travis comes from a family where they all sort of look a lot alike. So when I see their faces, I see Travis and I see the man that abused me, and I don`t want to look at that.
GRACE: Sue Moss, as she gave that interview trashing Travis Alexander, she didn`t seem to have a psychiatric problem then.
SUSAN MOSS, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Absolutely. She didn`t even have time to say boo-hoo before she`s giving an interview? Look, the one thing we all know is that Jodi knows how to kill. If she wanted to kill herself, she would have done it already!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, our thoughts with the Travis Alexander family, as we head into aggravation phase.
END
