Jury Forman Reveals How Looks Do Matter, Agressive Style Doesn’t Work, and How Travis’ Mental and Emotional Abuse Played In the Decision

 

So many people are upset that the jurors could not reach a conclusion regarding Jodi Arias in terms of whether she lives or dies. In fact many were very upset with the Jury forman William Zervakos  who spoke out about the trial on Good Morning America. But if both the prosecution and  the defense  takes the time to really listen to what he said durting his interview they can learn a lot from his comments and what to do the second time around on July 19th.

1. The jury forman said that he could not wrap his mind around the fact that such a petetite and seemingly attractive  woman such as Jodi could commit such an heinous act. his exact words was that ” it didn’t wash.” In his mind and no doubt in the minds of others,  the way that Jodi looked was incongruent with her actions. The jury needed some logical explanation as to why such a seemlngly attractive woman would do  such a horrible crime.  In listening to the interviews of the three other jurors one mentioned that when she entered the courtroom she kept looking for the defendant as she could not believe it was Jodi. The other two jurors agreed with her.

As research has shown us time and time again, looks do matter, especially when it comes to judging people of criminal acts. If the defense wants to do right by their client, they need to play up her looks. hey need to have Jodi lose the glasses and the stringy greasy hair and the bangs. They need to supply her with some makeup , blush, mascara, and a dab of lip gloss as she goes into the courtroom. They need to not dress her frumpy but rather professional in a jacket with a colorful blouse underneath it. They need to play up the incongruity between her looks and her actions and make her as attractive as possible.

On the other side, the defense needs to adress the issue of her appearance and the incongruity up front. They need to  state that just because Jodi may be attractive, looks only go so far as her ugly actions of slitting Travis from ear to ear are is what really counts as opposed to her physical appearance.

2. The jury forman tried to wrap his mind around why Jodi would kill Travis in such a brutal way and came up with the fact hat he felt Travis emotionally and physically abused Jodi.

The defense needs to play up this emotional and mental abuse of Travis  using Jodi for sex and throwing her away like a used Kleenex, while he was preparing for a trip to Mexico with a woman he wanted to pursue as his wife.  thus destroying her sense of self . They need to say how she dedicated her life to Travis and how he led her on  after she converted to being a Mormon for him and accompanied him on  his quest of ironically traveling to “1000 places before you die. ”  They need to say how she was conscious of Travis’ finances and paid her own way even though she was a struggling waitress , just to be with him even though she could nto afford to do so. They also need stay away from their lame claim of physical abuse and focus on the mental and physical abuse that the forman spoke about.

The prosecution on the other hand needs to bring up Jodi’s lame lies of physical abuse and minimize the mental and emotional abuse.  he needs to say that she moved thousands of miles away from him and  it was her decision to seek him out and how he did not abuse her mentally or emotionally. He just wanted out of their Toxic relationship.

3. While the jury forman  said that the 18 days hurt Jodi ‘ because she was not a good witness”, the reality is that it may have indeed  helped her by the fact that it humanized her to many jury members . Thus it made killing her more difficult a task. This new jury will not  be hearing her testimony for 18 days or even more than one day, so this may not work in Jodi’s favor.

This time around, the defense needs to make sure that Jodi shuts up and doesn’t do her ridiculous slide show which completely contradicted her testimony of being the abused child when she looked so loving and chummy with her family in all of the photos she provided.She needs to NOT plead for her life, simply  based on  her ignorant cousin’s and her mother’s assessment of what she could do to be useful  in prison with programs that are non-existant in the Arizona  Perryville prison and of which she will have no control. Her lawyers need to sit her down a and give her a huge reality check telling her what the reality is of her getting life in prison really means. They should NOT let  Jodi satisfy her need for attention that she craves and be quiet.  Jodi wanted death and should plead for death if she wants it. If she is not allowed to plead for death and really wants it as she initially said she did, then they need to force her to sit down and remain silent. Instead her attorneys need to plead that she should live because even though she was “abused by her family”  she has forgiven them and doesn’t want to hurt them and cause them more pain and emotional agony. Jodi could be coached to say the same thing but she most likely would not heed her lawyers advice and would  go off on tangents in order to get more attention. This  would ultimately seal her fate.

The prosecution needs to share why Jodi would be better off dead. They need to say that if she gets out of prison after a few decades she would only be in her 50’s and would still be able to have relationships  whereby she could do the same thing to someone else whom she perceived  mentally or emotionally abused her. The prosecution also needs to bring up her jailhouse record and fights she was engaged in at Arpaio’s jail, and her complaints at being emotionally and mentally and physically abused. They also need to bring up her testimony about her parents abusing her and how she abused her mother. They need to show the jury that this is a life pattern of hers and that she will continue it.

4. What also made Jodi more compassionate to jurors was the fact that she was being treated harshly by Juan Martinez. It made many jurors feel uncomfortable. So while the public may have received a vicarious thrill that Martinez was serving justice many of the jurors did not  like this approach.So, the jury forman let us know that  Martinez’ agression towards Jodi worked against him.

The defense needs to bring this up and satte how Jodi was verbally bashed by Martinez  on the stand which made her flustered and give inconsistent answers. They need to reiterate what Jodi said and how she couldn’t think when she was being aggressively hammered verbally like Travis did to her.

On the flip side, Martinez needs to address his harshness and saying that lying makes him mad and how Jodi is full of lies and how he is the voice of Travi Alexander and how Travis would be mad that all these lies are being told about him.

So both the prosecution and the defense can present their case more effectively if they follow the jury forman’s comments and use his information to better their positions in presenting their case,

In responding to  this blog I don’t want to hear from anyone who is accusing me of taking sides or defending or not defending Jodi Arias What she di is dispicable and needs to be punished to the full extent of the law . She killed a man in his most vulnerable satte- naked and washing himself in the shower.

I have just  given my best suggestions for BOTH the prosecution AND the defense in order to better present their case and address concerns that a future jury may have, based on the issues brought up by the previous jury forman  and other jurors so that there is no longer a deadlocked jury.