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Nancy Grace
Victim Impact Statements from Travis`s Brother and Sister
Aired May 16, 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)
STEVEN ALEXANDER, TRAVIS`S BROTHER: My name is Steven Alexander.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER, TRAVIS`S SISTER: My name is Samantha Alexander.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: Travis was my big brother.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: I am one of Travis`s younger sisters.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I woke up to the sound of my wife crying.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: ... my brother`s death...
STEVEN ALEXANDER: Steven, Travis is dead.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: My heart sank to my stomach.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: ... brutally ripped out of this world.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: Samantha, Travis is dead.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: ... screaming, crying, asking why.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: My eyes were filled with tears to where I could barely see.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: How much did he suffer? How much (INAUDIBLE) What was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed?
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: ... the pain, the agony, the screams (INAUDIBLE) that Travis must have felt.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I thought my brother was bullet-proof.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: ... images of our poor brother`s throat slit from ear to ear!
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I have nightmares about somebody coming after me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: ... images of Travis`s body slumped dead in the shower.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I`ve had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days (INAUDIBLE)
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: We can never get him back!
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I don`t want to have to see my brother`s murderer anymore.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: We would give anything to have him back.
STEVEN ALEXANDER: When I want to talk to or see my brother, I have to go to a three-and-a-half-foot, eight-foot-long and six-foot-deep hole in the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
After a Phoenix jury brings home a murder one guilty verdict, the jury is then forced to hear horrific details of Travis`s final moments as he stares into his own bathroom mirror to see himself dying, stabbed, shot, slashed to death by Jodi Arias. The jury says the murder is especially cruel.
Bombshell tonight. Jodi Arias turns on the tears as gut-wrenching testimony, Travis`s brother and sister breaking down as they are forced to relive Travis`s brutal murder, their lives ripped apart in just two minutes by lover Jodi Arias, Arias set to take the stand to ask the jury for mercy.
After giving a tell-all interview just moments after she is convicted of murder one, as late as last night, Arias tweeting from jail, Hey, peeps, my T-shirts are in, 15 bucks apiece, free shipping, unless you`re in Canada. That was last night.
As Jodi Arias`s defense team wants off the case, Arias still convinced she will outsmart the prosecutor, the judge and the jury.
We are live, camped out at the Phoenix courthouse and taking your calls.
Straight out to Jean Casarez, HLN legal correspondent. Jean, what happened?
JEAN CASAREZ, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Nancy, it was very, very difficult to sit in the courtroom and to listen to these two people relive what their lives have been like since 2008 and to talk about Travis and the life he wasn`t going to be able to lead. They weren`t reading their statements, Nancy, and you said it. They were living that statement that they gave today.
As I sat on the prosecution`s side, everyone had their heads bowed. They had Kleenex. I mean, it was so emotional. On the defense side, I did not see that emotion. With the jury, I thought for sure I would see tears because there`s just something that is uncontrollable when you`re hearing this. I did not see any tears from the jury.
But here`s what I did see. With a predominantly male jury, as Steven Alexander, the male figurehead of the Alexander family -- as he was speaking and pouring his heart out, I saw male jurors could not maintain eye contact with him. They were scared, I think, to invade his privacy and just look at him as he was spilling his guts out.
But what I saw -- they would -- they would take fast looks, and then look away, and then look again and look away. And when Steven Alexander finished and he walked back to his seat, that`s when the male jurors looked at him and followed him all the way back.
And I`ve got to tell you about Samantha. When Samantha finished her statement, she had to walk pretty close to the defense table, and she looked with daggers at Jodi Arias. And then she had to pass toward the defense side. And I believe the daggers again were going to the woman that has her -- Donavan, who has her Twitter site up. I don`t think it was for Jodi`s mother, I think it was for the friend of Jodi. And then Samantha sat down in her seat.
GRACE: You know, Jean, the way you just described that was exactly the way it happened. And I don`t -- expect to see the male jurors breaking down and crying. Think about your husband Jean. I know him well. Think about all the male figures in your life. Very rarely -- and this is just the way they are, not judging -- you don`t see them break down and cry.
But if you notice, when something is particularly horrible or sad or emotional, they`ll look away. They`ll break eye contact. That is exactly what these male jurors did.
I want you to see what we saw in court today. Let`s go in the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: My name is Steven Alexander. Travis was my big brother. I was sleeping in after working a 12-hour graveyard shift (INAUDIBLE) I woke up to the sound of my wife crying, walking up the stairs. I will never forget what she said -- Samantha, I cannot tell him, you have to.
My wife handed the phone to me. It was my sister, Samantha. She was crying hysterically. She told me, Steven, Travis is dead. I thought I was dreaming. She didn`t really have any details at the time. So I just gave the phone back to my wife. A few moments later, we found out he was killed.
I remember walking out my back door screaming, crying at the sky, asking why. And I sank down into a corner and I cried some more.
A while later, my commander called with the same news. I kept my composure, but in my head, I was reliving the same exact moment all over again. As soon as we hung up, I broke down again.
I thought my brother was bullet-proof. I thought he was stronger than anything, he couldn`t be cut down or knocked down. He was in two motorcycle crashes and walked away unharmed. He wrecked several cars and nothing happened to him. He rolled a snowmobile, and again not a scratch. He was unbreakable.
Who on earth would want to do this to him? For what reasons? He wanted to move forward in life, to better himself and only to help others. Why him? Unfortunately, I won`t ever get the answers to most of my questions about my brother`s death, questions like, how much did he suffer? How much did he scream? What was he saying? What was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed? What was his final thought in his head?
The last time I saw my brother was Christmas of 2007. We had a really good time. A lot of our family was there. We played a bunch of family games. One in particular was the "American Idol" game. Travis kept beating everybody. The only way I could actually beat him was by singing a Kelly Clarkson song in a girl voice so I could hit all the notes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, you see where we`re showing you Arias crying, really turning on the waterworks during these victim impact statements. But look, she was the same way in court yesterday and last night.
Here`s her tweet. "If you pre-order my T-shirt, shipping began Monday. Thanks, everybody." And then you go to JodiAriasisinnocent.com, and when you get to the Web site, it tells you they`re 15 bucks a T-shirt, but you can get free shipping unless you, sadly, live in Canada. Then you`re going to be hit up for $5 more.
So the jury says her multiple stabbing and slicing and stabbing him so forcefully in the skull, she leaves divots in his skull, like out on a golf course. She cracks his skull with a knife three times. She hears "especially cruel" in court yesterday, and that`s what she tweets last night? What`s she going to tweet tonight?
Let`s go back in the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: To this day, my mind paints a picture of what happened the night Travis was taken, even though I try not to let it. Upon standing in the same exact spot where this horrific tragedy happened, when we had to go to Travis`s house after the investigators were done, I felt the same sickening feeling -- my ears ringing, burning stomach, my eyes were filled with tears to where I could barely see, the thoughts of what Travis must have went through that day, the pain, the agony, the screams and fear that Travis must have felt when he was brutally being taken.
We have been at this trial every day since it started. We have heard every detail about the crime and the injuries Travis suffered. I am a police officer, and some of these photos are more gruesome...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Why is Jodi Arias crying now? I mean, she did this. This is all out of her own hands. Does she believe she`s finally being held accountable?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: ... with the images of our poor brother`s throat slit from ear to ear. Our lives are stained with the image of Travis`s body slumped dead in the shower.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: We have paid the ultimate price, losing Travis. Each and every one of us have looked to Travis for support and words of guidance during times like this. None of us ever thought that he would never -- that he wouldn`t be here when we needed him the most.
To think that someone so loving, so caring, so giving could be taken from us, given the already tragic lives that we have lived, but to have Travis taken so barbarically is beyond any words we can find to describe our horrific loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I don`t know how they even have the fortitude to stand up and speak out about what they have been through, suffering financially, coming from California, being at that trial every single day to represent Travis, their brother.
I want to take you straight back in the courtroom. I want you to hear what we heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: He got to meet my daughter and hold her for the first time. He said she was the most beautiful little girl he`s ever seen. I never would have thought that would be the last time that I would see him.
The nature of my brother`s murder has had a major impact on me. It`s even invaded my dreams. I have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. When I wake up, I cannot establish what is real, what is a dream.
I`ve even gone through the house searching through rooms, shaking my family to wake them up to make sure that they are alive. My wife has woken me up out of nightmares because I was screaming in my sleep.
It may sound childish, but I cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore. I`ve had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days all alone.
I don`t want these nightmares anymore. I don`t want to have to see my brother`s murderer anymore. I don`t want to hear his name dragged through the mud anymore.
I`ve been hospitalized several times for ulcers and came very near to death. I`ve been on several different anti-depressants. Unfortunately, none of them really worked. I wasn`t able to be the husband my wife deserves. I distanced myself from everybody. My wife and I -- ultimately, we separated two years ago and we -- for a period of two times, for two years. My poor little girl had to be passed back and forth every week.
And now, yet again, I have to be away from my wife and my child. It has been over four months now. I go home to California during the weekends. Every time I have to come back to Arizona, I see my little girl cry and beg me not to go. I miss them very much, and I cannot wait for this to end so that we can all get back to our lives.
Travis used to write out his day on a flash card. The last one he wrote said to call Steven. I never got that call. He had been concerned about my health and wanted to fly me to his house and help me quit smoking. I never got to go.
Now when I want to talk or see my brother, I have to go to a three- and-a-half-foot, eight-foot-long and six-foot-deep hole in the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER: My ears ringing, burning stomach, my eyes were filled with tears to where I could barely see with thoughts of what Travis must have went through that day, the pain, the agony, the screams and fear that Travis must have felt when he was brutally being taken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are seeing just what went down in the courtroom in front of a packed audience. The courtroom was quiet as Travis Alexander`s brother and sister break down in front of the jury, letting go of what they have held in since he was brutally murdered.
Let`s go back into the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I know Travis hoped to change one life (ph). He never would have thought he could change the world. People across the globe have been influenced by him. Travis believed every single one of us was created to be successful. We all have different lives and trials. We just have to get there.
Travis has a legacy. It is up to us to make sure it survives. You were born to be great. It is your destiny. The difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is the character of the individual walking the path.
Travis coined that philosophy. Those are Travis`s words. That is the way my brother lived his life. That is the way he wanted to continue to live. That is how he wanted us to live. He will never get to do that because he was so brutally ripped out of this world, my world. Hopefully, one day I can make him proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: It has been over four months now. I go home to California during the weekends. Every time I have to come back to Arizona, I see my little girl cry and beg me not to go. I miss them very much, and I cannot wait for this to end so that we can all get back to our lives.
Travis used to write out his day on a flash card. The last one he wrote said to call Steven. I never got that call. He had been concerned about my health and wanted to fly me to his house and help me quit smoking. I never got to go.
Now when I want to talk or see my brother, I have to go to a three- and-a-half-foot, eight-foot-long and six-foot-deep hole in the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are seeing the testimony that just has gone down in the courtroom, the Phoenix courtroom, where Jodi Arias is now asking a jury to spare her life. This is Travis Alexander`s brother and sister as they break down in front of the jury describing their lives since his brutal murder.
Unleash the lawyers joining me tonight. Defense Attorney Daniel Horowitz has defended many death penalty cases. Also with me New York Law School professor, the author of "The Death of Punishment," Robert Blecker.
To both of you gentlemen, thank you for being with us.
Robert Blecker, you support the death penalty. In a nut shell, why?
ROBERT BLECKER, NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL PROFESSOR, DEATH PENALTY PROPONENT: Because some people deserve to die and those who do we have an obligation to execute.
GRACE: Horowitz, I know you`re at the other end of the spectrum, weigh in.
DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, we`re not an eye-for- eye society, and many great religious leaders oppose the death penalty of all kinds. Here, Jodi Arias has done a horrific thing, and her -- and the Alexander family really has honored Travis by what they said today. But she is not the worst of the worst. The guy in Ohio who imprisoned women for a decade --
GRACE: Please put him up.
HOROWITZ: -- and killed children --
GRACE: Did I ask you about anybody else? I`m talking to you about Arias. Arias.
HOROWITZ: Sure --
GRACE: I mean, for Pete`s sake --
(CROSSTALK)
HOROWITZ: You want to focus on one case like this --
GRACE: Compared to Hitler? I mean, you could compare her to Jim Jones, you can compare it to a lot of people, and many people would say they`re worse.
HOROWITZ: That`s right. That`s your job as a (INAUDIBLE) person.
GRACE: But what I`m talking to you about is --
HOROWITZ: Nancy --
GRACE: -- the death penalty in the abstract. Do you believe in offering a jury the alternative of the death penalty? That is my question.
HOROWITZ: Sure, but in this case, she is not the worst of the worst. And you`re judging her by only one act, the worst thing she ever did in her life. You`re not looking at the totality of her life, and whether she`s going to kill again, harm again, what killing has she done before, really heinous, monsters get killed. She did a heinous terrible thing as you heard this family terribly, but it`s not the extreme.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, according to Travis Alexander`s family, this was heinous, and that`s a question to you, Robert Blecker.
HOROWITZ: Yes. Yes. But then --
GRACE: New York Law School professor and author of "The Death of Punishment."
Robert, many people do believe that the death penalty is reserved for particular murders. They see some murders as more heinous than other murders. But when you listen to Travis Alexander`s family describe what they think about this murder it sounds pretty heinous to me. So what is your interpretation of the aggravating factor, especially cruel?
BLECKER: Well, especially cruel has been a very difficult one and it`s been under attack for a long time. The United States Supreme Court has wrestled with it and it`s gone both ways on it. It`s both the core aggravator in my opinion, the most important aggravator and yet it`s the one that`s most subject to abuse. Because it`s easy for a jury to think that every murder is especially cruel. Every murder is especially heinous.
Now you talked about and you`ve given substantial excerpts from Steven Alexander, but there are some excerpts you haven`t given, and when he talks about his brother, about Travis, he quotes Travis saying, I will love more and then I will love you. I will forgive and then I will forgive more. I will be a teacher. And then he concludes as you included that he has a legacy and it`s up to us to make sure that the legacy survives.
If I were the defense I would be playing moral judo and I would be quoting these excerpts from Travis` family and ask -- not Travis` family, I mean, from Steven -- from -- yes, from -- and ask what`s his legacy? If he says I will love, I will teach, would he have in fact asked for the death of the woman that he once loved?
GRACE: Well, that`s brilliant, actually. Robert, that`s a brilliant strategy. But the sad end of that is he will not love and he will not teach.
BLECKER: No, he will not.
GRACE: And he will not go on to have a family, as you gentlemen have been lucky enough to do, and grow on and raise your children and see your life going forward in the way that we all want so very, very much. He will never get to do the things that he said he wanted to do. So I see that as a real double edged sword. If you`re going to bring in what Travis Alexander says he wanted to do in his life he never got to do that.
And another thing, let me ask you about this. How is it, Horowitz, that she starts finally turning on the water works and it was in an hour she`s on Twitter going, hey, peeps, the T-shirts are for sale, $15 each, unless you live in Canada, sorry, $5 shipping. I`m supposed to buy this?
(CROSSTALK)
HOROWITZ: Well, she didn`t start out as a great person and then just murdered somebody for no reason. She is broken from head to toe. But that doesn`t mean that you kill her. Will she kill again, ask that question. She`s in prison the rest of her life other than torment --
GRACE: And guess what?
HOROWITZ: -- the Alexander family which is wrong.
GRACE: Guess what, if she`s put to death --
HOROWITZ: Would she kill again, no.
GRACE: -- she won`t kill again either.
HOROWITZ: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
HOROWITZ: You want to kill everybody, Nancy.
GRACE: No, I don`t. That`s not --
HOROWITZ: You`re making no distinctions.
GRACE: That`s not true.
HOROWITZ: Who would you not kill who`s been a --
GRACE: That`s not true.
HOROWITZ: Name a murderer, Nancy, you would not kill? Name a single murderer where you would give them mercy.
GRACE: Well, if you must know --
HOROWITZ: Sure.
GRACE: If you must know, when my fiance was murdered I was asked by the prosecution if I wanted the death penalty, and I said no. And I --
HOROWITZ: Let me ask you a question about that.
GRACE: The rest of my life to regret --
HOROWITZ: Do you regret that or was it the right thing to do?
GRACE: Regret that answer. And with that we`ll go back into testimony.
HOROWITZ: I think I -- Nancy. I respect you for that. I honor you for that. And I`m not sure whether in the end the Alexander family will be better off.
GRACE: I believe I mentioned to the control room that we`re going into testimony.
SAMANTHA ALEXANDER, TRAVIS ALEXANDER`S SISTER: My name is Samantha Alexander. I am one of Travis` younger sisters. There are eight siblings, four boys, four girls. And this tragedy has forever changed our lives. I am going to do the best to speak on behalf of my family. My family that has been tortured by the loss of our beloved brother and family member.
From a family of eight siblings, we have always been there for each other. Through the good times and the bad. We lost our father on Travis`s 20th birthday and our mother shortly after. And through this trying time in our lives, Travis was the one that got us through the pain and the hardship because he was our strength.
This is a picture of my grandmother. She is the one that raised Travis. My grandmother could not deal with loss. Could not handle the reality of what happened. Travis being taken from us has put her over the edge. And her health eventually went into a downward spiral she never recovered from.
Losing Travis has completely destroyed the overall health of our family. We lived a blessed life with our grandmother. And it was with insurmountable pain when our grandmother died shortly before jury selection of this trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: It was my sister. She was crying hysterically. She told me, Steven, Travis is dead. I thought I was dreaming. She didn`t really have any details at the time. So I just gave the phone back to my wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking you inside the courtroom for gut-wrenching victim impact statements given by the brother and sister of Travis Alexander. We firmly believe that very soon, Jodi Arias will take the stand herself to beg this jury for mercy.
To Dr. Bethany Marshal, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Bethany, what do you make of her demeanor?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, it`s so fascinating to me, Nancy. I think that her crying, her superficial emotionality, it`s a spin, superficial veneer of emotion, that covers a cold, calculated interior and --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, hold on. Bethany, I want you to --
MARSHALL: Yes?
GRACE: Take a listen to what Jean has to say.
Jean, you watched her from about 20 feet throughout the entire day. What did you observe about Arias` demeanor?
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": She seems different to me than during the trial. She just -- I mean, look at her, her demeanor, I mean, her nose was read and I`m not a doctor, but I don`t know if your nose can get red and your face gets red if it`s not real, if you`re not really crying.
She was crying. We don`t know who the tears were for, but she was very emotional throughout the day today. Very emotional.
GRACE: What can you tell me, Alexis, about her own defense lawyers wanting off the trial?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy, her defense attorneys filed a motion after the verdict saying they wanted off this trial. That motion was denied by the judge so they had to continue forward, press forward, and continue to advocate for Jodi Arias.
GRACE: You know, you`ve got to respect them, Jean Casarez, because they don`t have much to work with. You know, they`ve got, Jean -- Jean, they`ve got Arias tweeting at night when she goes back to jail, hey, buy my T-shirts. And then going back in the courtroom the next morning and crying in front of the jury? It`s just -- it`s so disengenuine. Of course, the jury is never going to know it, but we know it.
CASAREZ: Right. And it`s not the first time this has been done, they`re preserving the record for an appeal. And I know in the last argument, and we did not see this motion but they said they felt they could not zealousness advocate for their client anymore.
GRACE: Well, I wonder if they`re just building an appellate record by doing that because no way is a judge going to let them off this late in the game.
To Robert Blecker, Daniel Horowitz -- Robert Blecker, very often lawyers will get to a certain point in the trial and go, I`ve had it, I want off. They can`t get off in the middle of the trial. You can school another lawyer to pick up tomorrow, where they just dropped the bal. They`ve got to go forward.
BLECKER: Yes, but there`s an incentive to switch lawyers because here they`ve argued self-defense, and the jury has essentially called them liars, so now they have to stand up in the penalty phase, and the standard line is we respect your verdict, so often they want to substitute other lawyers from the same team.
They also might be in conflict with their own client, she might want to get up and testify to say kill me, I would prefer to be dead, I would prefer to be liberated immediately, and for most -- capital defense attorney`s point of view, victory consists of one thing and one thing only, and that`s a life verdict rather than a death verdict.
So it may be that they`re fundamentally at odds right now with her -- with their client.
GRACE: Well, I think you`re probably right about that, Robert, because, Daniel Horowitz, you know, she gets the murder one verdict and within an hour she`s plopped down for a tell-all interview in front of the camera, and you know, regardless of what you think about Willmott and Nurmi, whatever anybody think, you know that they tried to stop her from doing that.
I mean, look, they have been given a rotten apple. They`re trying to make an apple pie out of the thing and they`re doing their best, but they can`t control their client.
HOROWITZ: Right, and that is basically what they`re telling the judge, they`re trying to set up some sort of appeal. They`re willing to basically throw themselves on their own swords just to protect their client from getting executed down the line. Mark Geragos did it with Scott Peterson, and that -- it`s honorable.
GRACE: OK. You know what, just hold out on the honorable thing about defending murderers.
HOROWITZ: Right.
GRACE: That`s a whole another can of worms.
To you, Dr. Bethany Marshal, I want to go back to you about her demeanor, all the crime suddenly, you know what I think? I think that she`s finally realizing somebody is holding her accountable. She`s having to listen to the impact of her actions.
MARSHALL: Nancy, she does feel, but she feels in a thin kind of way. Yes, she is up against the boundary at this point, people are holding her accountable, but I don`t think it`s even that. I think being with Alexander`s siblings, it`s like she feels herself to be a part of the family, a part of the drama, a part of the sadness.
And she`s really not integrating it into what she`s done. It`s like if you go into a very sad movie and somebody dies and you cry, and you`re involved in the drama of it all but as soon as you walk out of the movie theater, your phone rings, you pick up the phone, you`re in a whole another world as if -- as if that movie is out of your mind. You cared but you didn`t really care that deeply.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN ALEXANDER: I have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. When I wake up, I cannot establish what is real, what is a dream. I`ve even gone through the house, searching through rooms, shaking my family to wake them up to make sure that they are alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Travis Alexander`s own brother speaks to the jury.
Pam Larsen is with us tonight. A dear friend of Travis Alexander in court today.
Pam, did you observe any emotion on the part of jury?
PAM LARSEN, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Nancy, I did. I was sitting where they practically had to walk right by me to go out of the room and many, many had tears in their eyes. Some trying to shield the tears. And I know that they`re probably not supposed to show that emotion. But it was there. How could it not be? That was the most gut-wrenching thing I`ve been through. They did an amazing job, but it was heart-wrenching.
GRACE: What part of today`s court session struck you the most, Pam?
LARSEN: Their statements. Their statements of their loss, of their love for their brother, of the brutality that he was murdered. You know, in talking about how Travis, all he wanted to do was touch one life. And he has touched thousands, now. He had no idea the impact he would have on the world.
Everybody that knew Travis loved Travis. You couldn`t not. You`d walk into a room and you were his friend. That`s how Travis was.
GRACE: With me is a very dear friend of Travis Alexander, Pam Larsen.
Pam, what brings you to the courthouse? To the courtroom? Why do you want to be in there?
LARSEN: For Travis. For his family. You know, Juan Martinez is awesome. He`s speaking for Travis. But we`re there, you know, for his family and for Travis to know the love that we have for him. We always did. We always will. It`s never going to stop.
GRACE: Pam, even now --
LARSEN: We just don`t get to hug him.
GRACE: Even though you`re out of the courtroom, you`re still so visibly distraught. Why?
LARSEN: You know, that family has been through so much. And every time they have to go through this thing, and they have to describe what Travis went through and, and everything, and, you know, it`s just -- it doesn`t matter where you are. All I have to do is, I mean, you played the things from the court again. And it was just heart wrenching.
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GRACE: We remember American hero, Army Private 1st Class, Benjamin Chisholm, 24, Fort Worth, Texas. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, War on Terrorism medal, parents Glen and Linda, stepparents Carma and Carl. Seven sisters, three brothers, widow Amber, daughter Lillian.
Benjamin Chisholm, American hero.
And now back to the Jodi Arias trial. Out to you, Matt Zarrell. Is it true that the defense is actually going to use Jodi Arias as being an artist, a talented artist as some mitigation? Are they referring to her tracing this magazine ad and selling them as art on eBay?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: Yes, Nancy. They even said that -- the defense said in opening statement that they will show the jury some of Arias` artwork. And interestingly enough, in Martinez`s state`s opening statement he noted that Arias is talented. She had the talent to take photos of Travis in the shower, kill him and then delete the photos from the camera.
GRACE: That was a very, very dangerous thing to bring up. Her art. Because her photography is really the art that most people are associated with.
Everyone, we are live at the courthouse bringing the latest on the Jodi Arias courtroom. And I want to thank you for joining us tonight. Our prayers with the family of Travis Alexander.
Court is done for the day. But Dr. Drew is up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, goodnight, friend.
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