One errant juror hung the Jodi Arias trial in the second sentencing trial today. Apparently she, like the foreperson in the first trial, refused to deliberate with her fellow jurors and came in to “deliberations” with a decided mind.
This sentencing phase was presented with one theme: blame the victim. Hoping that they get just one juror to believe that the victim, Travis Alexander, deserved to be slaughtered. This holdout chose to believe the lies presented by the defense team for her own personal reasons, clearly based on her own history. How she even ended up on that jury is a mystery to most of us watching. How she was allowed to remain, although reported for refusing to deliberate by her fellow jurors is more unsettling.
I applaud the 11 who saw this case clearly and I will be writing an open letter to them tomorrow. To the errant outlaw who wasted everyone’s time and our taxpayer money with her stubborn weakness, I have some words as well.
But I need to sleep on it.
Justice sometimes comes in forms we don’t expect.
Healing is always possible.
My thoughts and heart to Travis’ family and loved ones tonight after a very very long road.
two innocents 
There can’t be any possibility of life with parole — she couldn’t possibly do that to the Alexanders!
Thank You our Kathy . . .
I was waiting for this post though I already knew how you felt because I follow you on ‘Twitter’. With an unsettled Heart, I will wait for your next post. You can always put my thoughts into words with so much more finesse than I’m capable of. God Bless your gift of words.
Signing off feeling ‘Soulsad’
♥ Paula ♥
First thought when I heard Beth state that the “hold out” had DV issues in her past, that this woman kept bringing into deliberations fictional material from the “Life Time Movie” and refused to deliberate yet could not respond to what type of crime would qualify for the death penalty…her issues were, on some level, personal and not based in reality.
I’d like to know what her personal letter, the one she wouldn’t share with the other jurists, contained. I wonder if the public will be privy to the content. I wonder if some law applied to JSS determination not to replace her with an alternate jurist. No one was privy to her thoughts as she left without saying good-bye.
She will be the topic of great debate about the death penalty and future jurists with agendas. Liars, in other words. It happens and is bound to happen just as Zervakos did – he wasn’t grounded in logic either. Her name is out there now – I’m quite certain she’ll be hearing from some people.
Justice was denied. If there is a sweetness to this bitterness, it’s that Arias will be in general population. It is a place that she will not be able to turn her back – I find that quite fitting if not ominous. Dark. As you said “Justice sometimes comes in forms we don’t expect.” I couldn’t agree more. Women are not above heinous acts, especially in prison…what have they got to lose? Including Arias.
That private note will be released to the public as all juror questions will be.
I am so frustrated with this trial anmnd All of the wrongs that Travis and his Family have endured and continue to endure. How this person was allowed to remain on the jury baffles the mind. In the end, she will be in prison, never to harm another soul with her sick malicious actions. Enjoy your afterlife Jodi! It’s a bitch where you’re headed!
Sleeping on it is a good idea I think. Consider this: a death penalty verdict could have lead to 20 more years of appeals, one of the main reasons I think it should be abandoned permanently. As shown by this case, capital punishment is not applied fairly. I’m sure you’ve read the speculations. “If she was Joe Arias, he would be on death row, and Leroy Arias, already in the ground.”
This retrial on the sentencing cost 3 million plus, and repeated the result of the last one, making it a total waste of taxpayers money. The death penalty is far more expensive (automatic appeals) than life without parole, and in this case a life in prison away from the cameras and attention she loves leaves Jodi to fade away and wither in a cage unseen by the public. With no possibility of parole, the family could actually put it behind them and begin to move on. Otherwise they would just have to keep fighting her at each appeal, and reliving the loss over and over. There are many instances of that extended stress leading to divorces and increased health problems for victim’s families.
We’ll know in a month or so.
I do not understand why Judge Stephens did not release the hold out juror and replace her with an alternate. The 11 jurors told Judge Stephens about the #17’s strong bias, directly bringing into their deliberations The Jodi Arias fictional movie, her refusal to dialogue or deliberate along with her inability to give *any* example of when the death penalty would be appropriate. Why would Judge Stephens allow this miscarriage of justice to occur when it was fully within her power to release #17 and assign an alternate. I hold her 100% culpable and accountable.
Judge Delucchi, who presided over the Scott Peterson trial (as you know 1st hand!) released 2 jurors during deliberations. One was the
physician/attorney foreman who refused to allow a vote or the jury to deliberate and a woman who did her own investigation on the internet and then told the rest of the jury, who then reported her to the judge and he bounced her. She was replaced by Strawberry Shortcake, who turned out to be an excellent and thoughtful juror.
I agree Nancy….it was such a easy thing for the Judge to do and wouldn’t have these questions and drama that is unfolding now…so sad for the Alexanders…
I don’t see how this could ever happen, the potential for abuse in situations such as jurors deliberations and swapping jurors is far too great. I do not know what the solution would be in a case like this where one juror will not participate in deliberations. Maybe that is just the luck of the draw and we just let go and let God. Or karma if you prefer, so far I think it has worked pretty well.
I have cared very much if she gets Life. I don’t believe she should have *any* opportunity to take college courses or have a job or more privileges. I want 23 hour per day solitary. I want no face to face visits or 6 times a year weekend picnics where family can bring her favorite foods that she misses and likes. I want visits only conducted through glass, food eaten in her solitary cell. If there were a penalty that allowed that without eventually *maybe* getting the needle then that would satisfy me BUT we DON’T currently have that option. I want all the crapola with Twitter and T shirt selling and incorporated art selling scams and eyeglass auctions to immediately stop. I want the death penalty because she truly is deserving of it. I can’t tell you how freaked out and really shocked I was to see her purposefully giving Samantha the throat slit gesture after Samantha’s VIS during the 1st trial. I had to watch it several times because I just had such difficulty in believing what I was seeing. SOOOO manipulative and totally EVIL. There is not even a smidgen of contrition in her soulless shell. I’d like this jury to see the video of her throat slit gesture to Samantha. Mickee D caught it and there is absolutely NO doubt how intentional that gesture is. She is true EVIL personified! Jodi doesn’t ever apologize or show remorse. She seems to equate an apology as admitting responsibility–as if it were an acceptable replacement. If she could be handed down a life sentence with no possibility for parole, and serve in max custody full time for her entire sentence that would be A GIFT.
There are “hobby and craft” services available for inmates, depending on their “Phase” classification. UURRGHH, it appears that inmates who participate in the hobby/craft activities are afforded the opportunity to SELL their work through the Arizona Prison Arts And Trades Outlet! The more I dig into the prison system services for non-death row inmates, the more it appears that JA may end up having a lot more access to the things that drive her ego. I’m in no way implying that incarcerated women shouldn’t have access to education, work, exercise and other activities that may help them serve out their sentences while gaining valuable skills that may help them when they are released – it’s just that if JA is given what I would consider the ultimate and unwarranted gift of life, it sickens me to think of her furthering her monetized “artistic” ventures and having these opportunities that Travis will never have.
Thank you, Kathy. I thought I was OK as long as the jury was the ones making the choice, but this day has really beat me up. Mostly, I do not understand why that juror was not replaced for not being willing to take part in discussions or share her reasoning. I am angry at our jury selection system and the lack of respect in trials. I know you will write something that puts my feelings into better words. I wait for that.
My only consolation is that JA will have a lifetime of hell and never have a single ounce freedom. Any less can not be tolerated. Sheriff Joe put the kibosh to any further media speaking, bless his heart.
My heart aches so for the family of Travis.
So many whys? Why was she ever considered a good pick for this jury. Why was she not replaced? Lots of evidence to prove she should have been! Listened to some of juror #4 on NG tonight and he was so devastated by this outcome. I feel as sry for those 11 as I do for Travis’s friends and family.
Is JSS making all her decisions worrying about if they’ll be grounds for an appeal?
Great video by Mikee Daniels – a few upsides to today’s non-verdict.
💙💔
I’ve been waiting for this day since day one of the trial. I wanted it over for the family regardless of the outcome. To now know that they have to wait, yet again, blows my mind. I was overcome during the announcement yesterday as I could hear Travis’s family in what must have been absolute agony, one that I pray I never experience. There is no silver lining, no sense at all to be made of the verdict, or lack thereof. I too was hoping for a sentence of death. I read your post Kathy about your sweet sister, and am catching up with all the news about your precious Alfonse. Being a middle child myself, I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through and I applaud your bravery. Reading about all you went through with the trial of the monsters that took your sister away from you has brought questions to my mind about the Arias verdict. Is this really the worst thing that could’ve happened? Had she been sentenced to death, would that have been better for the Alexander family, or would it have forces them to have to deal with it for years to come through appeals, hearings, etc.? I don’t know the answer. I can only hope that April 13 brings a sentence of life in prison with no parole, and that maybe the family can be done with the killer, at least in a physical sense. They will not have to worry about parole hearings etc., and can maybe have a semblance of life. I agree with Kathy that a death sentence in essence would have kept the killer in the limelight and spotlight, which is really what she craves. As let down as we all were yesterday, as much as we all feel that she deserves to die for her actions, and that she doesn’t deserve any privileges in prison, we also need to remember the victim and try to put the future of his killer out of the forethought of our minds. I watched and read everything I could last night looking for an answer as to where it all went so wrong. I realized after hours that I had been focusing more on JA than o had Travis and his dear family and I was ashamed of myself. I hope the weeks and months and years to come will bring some solace to his family that they did him proud and fought so hard for him. I hope we can all move forward from this and begin heal. Justice was not served we say, but we can honor the entire Alexander family by remembering them and Travis and doing good in our lives and helping other people, and never again focus on his killer or what is to become of her. God bless you all!
I’ve read your blogs about your sister Cindy and your brother and I agree with most posters here that you are one strong woman. I don’t know how you go through each day and I applaud you for being a fighter and keeping that low life Michael Apelt on death row even though I know it must’ve taken so much out of you to fight.
I too have had to fight the justice system and it is so wrong and the victims are just treated so wrongly. I was married to a man that for the first 15 years of our marriage was good. Then he got involved with drugs and the next 10 years would be the hardest years of my life. I wound up having to move in with my mother however she lived on our property so it was in close proximity to him (It was very difficult). I left him in April of 2010 and in August of 2011 he got arrested for manufacturing meth and had a gun charge. Now during the time I left and the time he was arrested he made my life a living hell. He followed me and would break into our house (my mom would be away staying some with my brother in KY) and I would be at work. I made so many calls to the local law enforcement people in the little town I live in to no avail. After months of being harassed and bullied by him when he got arrested I thought finally I can have some peace. He was out in a matter of hours and I just couldn’t understand why. It seemed that after he was arrested and released that he was harassing me even more than before and I called the law and they just wouldn’t do anything. I found out through friends why. He was helping law enforcement and ATF by turning over on the big dogs. He was involved with the Mexican Drug Cartel….( I was blown away…and hurt by the system that should have been protecting me as a law abiding citizen). I had started divorce proceeding against him and this made it even harder because he would get worse about following me, calling me, and breaking in to my house (so much so that I sent my mom to stay with my brother for around 6 months to make sure she would be safe). He would flatten my tires and was making things so hard for me. On the day that the divorce was to be finalized the judge that ruled on it noticed that he was stalking me and granted me my divorce and had him removed from the courthouse and wanted me to get a restraining order on him. I promptly filled out all the paperwork and another judge denied it…Again I was blown away. I called the judge that gave me my divorce and he went to the hearing and it was overturned…I feel that if not had been for that wonderful judge who had insight and could see what was going on I would never had gotten my RO…after the RO he got worse and I would call the police and they would tell me to get pictures (I couldn’t make them understand that he wouldn’t pose …?) and after numerous calls I was just at the end of rope. I had a good friend that researched and found out that my rights had been violated and he went with me to see the DA and we took statues that showed that the police should have done more but we were thinking it was because he was working with the “feds”. After almost getting arrested for just blatantly telling them we were headed to the bar association to make a complaint they finally told me they would look into my case. Within the hour they picked up my husband and arrested him for violating the RO and stalking. Finally I felt safe again. He pled guilty to the drug charges and for helping the feds he is serving only 5 years instead of the mandatory 10 year sentence. He was sentenced in November 2011 and he is coming up this November to be released on probation…In all the time he has been incarcerated I’ve not had one problem….now I fear that he will get out and it all starts again. But like you I WILL fight. I will get another RO and I will do whatever is necessary to keep him away from me. My mother passed away with cancer in May of 2013 so I do not have her to worry about. I just wish there was more justice for victims and that the criminals didn’t get such special treatment. I know you know how that feels Kathy and I love the way you write and I feel a special connection to you…because we have had to fight for justice. I know this was long and I left out a lot of things that were just too hard to put into words. It is a shame the system is for the criminals and not the innocents… I’ve had such peace for a long time and I surely do not look forward to more trying times ahead but I know I will stand and fight and you have given me the courage by reading about you taking on and writing your impact statement and it gave me a sense that yes it is hard but we will stand and fight. My thoughts are with you daily and I look forward to your book. Take care Kathy and so glad you have found your true love…I am afraid to have a serious relationship…but that is another story all together…..
And there really is a WHOLE world outside!!