Killer Girlfriend: The Jodi Arias Story (14 page)

“Would you decide to tell the truth if you never got arrested?” another juror asked.

Jodi paused briefly, thinking to herself.

“I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.”

It was May 2 as Martinez delivered his dramatic closing arguments. He spent an entire
day savaging Jodi as a manipulative liar who will do whatever it takes to save herself
and demonize Travis.

He alternated between his trademark boisterous rants and a soft-spoken, cordial approach
that hadn’t been seen from the hard-nosed prosecutor throughout the trial. He slammed
his hand down on the table for effect then switched to a whisper-like tone. He sounded
like a preacher giving a Sunday sermon — powerful pauses interspersed with dramatic
inflections and evocative imagery to connect with the jury.

“It’s like a field of lies that has sprouted up around her as she sat on the witness
stand,” Martinez said of Arias’ 18 days of testimony. “Every time she spat something
out, another lie.”

Jodi maintained a steely demeanor for the first half of the day, constantly scribbling
notes with her pencil and occasionally gently shaking her head. Then she folded under
the heavy emotions brought on by photos from the scene of the killing that Martinez
displayed for the jury late in the afternoon. She broke down in tears and constantly
looked down or away to avoid seeing the images of Travis’ bloody and mutilated corpse.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the front row of the gallery reserved for Travis’ family.
They sobbed, reached for tissues and looked on in horror as they relived that terrible
June day one more time.

The next day, the defense sought to turn the tables by casting Jodi again as the
victim and Travis the aggressor. They had plenty of evidence from emails, phone calls
and text messages.

Nurmi began his argument with the words: “fear, love, sex, lies and dirty little
secrets.” That’s what this case is all about, he said. He repeated the phrase several
times, underlining for the jury that Travis was nowhere near a saint in his treatment
of women, including Jodi.

Nurmi then employed a bold tactic by saying: “It’s not about whether or not you like
Jodi Arias. Nine days out of 10, I don’t like Jodi Arias.”

The prosecution objected, prompting Nurmi to move to another element of the case.

He went on to attack the prosecution’s contention that Jodi committed first-degree
murder, asking a series of questions aloud to the jury: Why would she rent a car and
create such a paper trail if she was indeed engaged in a covert, murderous act? Why
would she bother staging a burglary at her grandparents’ house if she could have just
taken the .25-caliber gun herself? Why would she put a license plate on her car upside
down knowing that such an act would be a sure-fire way to get pulled over by police
and caught? Why wouldn’t she just kill Travis the minute she walked in the door of
his house if she indeed was a calculated, cold-blooded killer?

The arguments were crafted with one primary thought in mind: Save her life, avoid
a first-degree murder conviction.

Nurmi also sought to draw attention away from Jodi’s lies: “Nowhere, nowhere in your
jury instructions are you asked to convict Jodi Arias of lying.”

In the end, nothing about the case against Jodi was completely clear-cut. Jurors
heard so many confusing and conflicting stories. The prosecution claimed Jodi fumed
with jealousy, yet she told no one anything that would have indicated she felt that
way.

Jodi, in turn, claimed Travis was a violent man, had sexual desires for young boys
and owned the very gun she used to kill him. However, just as with the jealousy factor
in the prosecution’s case, there was no evidence to prove any of Jodi’s accusations.

The only account that remained clear throughout — the only point of clarity in the
case — is that Jodi killed Travis.

The crux of a conviction came down simply to intent. Was this indeed self-defense
as Jodi describes? Or a clear case of cold, premeditated murder that deserved no less
punishment than what she delivered on Travis? Death.

If the jury believed it was premeditated, then Jodi would be guilty of first-degree
murder and face either the death penalty or life in prison. If they believed she didn’t
plan it, but just snapped in the heat of the moment, a crime of passion, she would
be guilty of second-degree murder and could face a sentence of anywhere from 10 to
25 years in prison.

If the panel believed it was manslaughter carried out with mere recklessness but
without intent on killing, Jodi faced from seven to 21 years in prison.

And in the extraordinarily rare case that the jury believed everything she said right
down to her claim of self-defense, Jodi would be acquitted and walk away a free woman.

On May 3, a hush overtook the courtroom as the judge read the jury the instructions
on deliberations. Jodi closed her eyes, clinched her hand in a fist and covered her
face. Travis’ family was overwhelmed with emotion, clearly drained after sitting through
so much gut-wrenching testimony.

Then, eight men and four women retreated to the jury room one by one as they would
struggle to come to grips with the dearth of evidence and Jodi’s ever-changing version
of events.

After all the tears, after all the lies, after all the steamy sexual escapades, it
was time to begin deliberating the fate of Jodi Arias.

Her life was in the jury’s hands.

What do you think about the Jodi Arias trial?
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