03-12-2015, 12:45 PM
Jen Wood interviewed the foreman of the Jodi Arias retrial and I think his explanation of the last day tells us what Juror No. 17 was thinking.
After reading this I have changed my mind and don't believe Juror No. 17 got on the jury to hang it. I am convinced even more that Juror No. 17 suffers from Battered Woman's Syndrome and couldn't separate herself from Jodi Arias. Because she was abused as a child and a domestic violence victim, Juror No. 17 believed Jodi Arias was and so she saw herself in Jodi Arias and couldn't kill herself.
This is why she is hiding out and can't stand up for her beliefs. In my opinion, Juror No. 17 should never have been on the jury because she didn't have the psychological makeup to see through Jodi Arias lies like the other jurors. She relived the trauma that Jodi made up. I think she would have had a breakdown and wouldn't have been able to hold out against the rest of the jurors if her husband, a convicted felon, hadn't supported her to not vote for the death penalty. I believe he would be against the death penalty.
The other jurors were objective and could see Jodi Arias was lying and that the premeditation and cruelty outweighed the mitigating factors but she couldn't. The fact that she had a strong stomach for the autopsy pictures shows she has seen violence and has deadened her feelings while the others have not.
I've taken excerpts from the article to show how Juror 17 saw things differently than the other jurors because of Battered Woman's Syndrome:
We again tried to dig for reasons as to why Juror 17 was voting for Life.
We asked about the child abuse mitigating factor she agreed with and Juror 17 shared her own personal story.
Juror 17 began to write on the white paper that hung on our walls, she began to put her pros and cons on each mitigating factor. 17 struggled but began to write things down.
The Borderline Personality Disorder #8 and #9 the psychological makeup impairing Jodi’s ability to cope with the tumultuous relationship she had with Mr. Alexander was big for Juror 17. She just couldn’t separate these two factors from each other.
I gave her positive feedback for making efforts in hopes it would encourage her.
One juror suggested we now start discussing the Aggravating circumstances and we made a paper and attached it to the wall. Juror 17 was engaged and fully participating by putting things down on the paper such as receipts, dates, and pretty much all the pre med evidence. She was really good with all the dates. We had great discussion as a jury and continued to look through journals and texts starting with 4 weeks before the murder and 1 week after the murder. We then cleared the whole table off; just imagine this large table that seats 12 or more people. We put out the crime scene photos and autopsy photos in time stamped order all over the table.
Juror 17 was engaged at this point, she had a strong stomach for the photos. Most of us at this point were very tired and not sleeping. The autopsy photos were very hard to look at. They were deeply moving and I had to look away at times. I had lost 5 pounds alone just during these deliberations. We once again discussed how Jodi made phone calls just hours after murdering Travis and even went to see Ryan Burns.
Most of us felt Jodi had to get rid of Travis Alexander so she could move on. Juror 17 agreed with this theory as a motive.
I felt positive 17 was coming around that the jurors would be unanimous after all. We read the journals a month before the murder and Jodi mentioned a pattern of Travis’s rudeness. She stated that her parents were never proud of her accomplishments and Travis had a firey anger. Prior to this Jodi’s journals didn’t mention anything negative about her parents. She had stated her childhood was ideal and something she wished she could go back too. We noticed this last month was used by her experts to show what Jodi called a pattern regarding Travis’s behavior.
We felt Jodi Arias was setting up her journals for the murder of Travis Alexander. I felt stronger and stronger for death at this point.
Juror 17 had stated to us earlier in some cases she would support the death penalty. She acted like she fully understood the pre meditation of the murder, the photos. I asked the trauma nurse to explain to 17 what kind of force it would take to stab Travis like she did and nearly decapitate him. The nurse explained how hard it is to cut someone’s throat like she did and it would take a lot of force. We asked 17 if she was clear and what did she think now?
Juror 17 expressed to us she still felt mitigating factors #4, #5, #8, #9 applied to Jodi Arias. We asked her what it would take for her to vote death in a capital case. She responded “this would if not for the mitigating factors.” We asked her again if there was anything we could do or show her to sway her vote? We offered to review more evidence and some jurors even shared such personal stories I can’t even repeat them.
Juror 17 told us there was nothing we could do or say to change her vote. Once again the room exploded into a heated, cussing match between some jurors and 17. By 4:30pm on this Wednesday it was incredibly intense. I suggested we sleep on this and see if minds are changed in the morning. One juror stood up and said she wasn’t sleeping and they wanted to express to the judge where they stood. This person wanted their life back and needed sleep. Another juror joined in wanting to tell the judge where they stood or they will request to be removed from the jury. It was clear to everyone additional time would not change Juror 17’s view. I felt I was losing the jury one by one. I asked them to please sit down and we would craft a note to the judge. All the photos of Travis Alexander’s dead body still lay on the table in front of us.
http://thetrialdiaries.com/exclusivethe-foreman-from-the-jodi-arias-trial-speakshear-his-story/
After reading this I have changed my mind and don't believe Juror No. 17 got on the jury to hang it. I am convinced even more that Juror No. 17 suffers from Battered Woman's Syndrome and couldn't separate herself from Jodi Arias. Because she was abused as a child and a domestic violence victim, Juror No. 17 believed Jodi Arias was and so she saw herself in Jodi Arias and couldn't kill herself.
This is why she is hiding out and can't stand up for her beliefs. In my opinion, Juror No. 17 should never have been on the jury because she didn't have the psychological makeup to see through Jodi Arias lies like the other jurors. She relived the trauma that Jodi made up. I think she would have had a breakdown and wouldn't have been able to hold out against the rest of the jurors if her husband, a convicted felon, hadn't supported her to not vote for the death penalty. I believe he would be against the death penalty.
The other jurors were objective and could see Jodi Arias was lying and that the premeditation and cruelty outweighed the mitigating factors but she couldn't. The fact that she had a strong stomach for the autopsy pictures shows she has seen violence and has deadened her feelings while the others have not.
I've taken excerpts from the article to show how Juror 17 saw things differently than the other jurors because of Battered Woman's Syndrome:
We again tried to dig for reasons as to why Juror 17 was voting for Life.
We asked about the child abuse mitigating factor she agreed with and Juror 17 shared her own personal story.
Juror 17 began to write on the white paper that hung on our walls, she began to put her pros and cons on each mitigating factor. 17 struggled but began to write things down.
The Borderline Personality Disorder #8 and #9 the psychological makeup impairing Jodi’s ability to cope with the tumultuous relationship she had with Mr. Alexander was big for Juror 17. She just couldn’t separate these two factors from each other.
I gave her positive feedback for making efforts in hopes it would encourage her.
One juror suggested we now start discussing the Aggravating circumstances and we made a paper and attached it to the wall. Juror 17 was engaged and fully participating by putting things down on the paper such as receipts, dates, and pretty much all the pre med evidence. She was really good with all the dates. We had great discussion as a jury and continued to look through journals and texts starting with 4 weeks before the murder and 1 week after the murder. We then cleared the whole table off; just imagine this large table that seats 12 or more people. We put out the crime scene photos and autopsy photos in time stamped order all over the table.
Juror 17 was engaged at this point, she had a strong stomach for the photos. Most of us at this point were very tired and not sleeping. The autopsy photos were very hard to look at. They were deeply moving and I had to look away at times. I had lost 5 pounds alone just during these deliberations. We once again discussed how Jodi made phone calls just hours after murdering Travis and even went to see Ryan Burns.
Most of us felt Jodi had to get rid of Travis Alexander so she could move on. Juror 17 agreed with this theory as a motive.
I felt positive 17 was coming around that the jurors would be unanimous after all. We read the journals a month before the murder and Jodi mentioned a pattern of Travis’s rudeness. She stated that her parents were never proud of her accomplishments and Travis had a firey anger. Prior to this Jodi’s journals didn’t mention anything negative about her parents. She had stated her childhood was ideal and something she wished she could go back too. We noticed this last month was used by her experts to show what Jodi called a pattern regarding Travis’s behavior.
We felt Jodi Arias was setting up her journals for the murder of Travis Alexander. I felt stronger and stronger for death at this point.
Juror 17 had stated to us earlier in some cases she would support the death penalty. She acted like she fully understood the pre meditation of the murder, the photos. I asked the trauma nurse to explain to 17 what kind of force it would take to stab Travis like she did and nearly decapitate him. The nurse explained how hard it is to cut someone’s throat like she did and it would take a lot of force. We asked 17 if she was clear and what did she think now?
Juror 17 expressed to us she still felt mitigating factors #4, #5, #8, #9 applied to Jodi Arias. We asked her what it would take for her to vote death in a capital case. She responded “this would if not for the mitigating factors.” We asked her again if there was anything we could do or show her to sway her vote? We offered to review more evidence and some jurors even shared such personal stories I can’t even repeat them.
Juror 17 told us there was nothing we could do or say to change her vote. Once again the room exploded into a heated, cussing match between some jurors and 17. By 4:30pm on this Wednesday it was incredibly intense. I suggested we sleep on this and see if minds are changed in the morning. One juror stood up and said she wasn’t sleeping and they wanted to express to the judge where they stood. This person wanted their life back and needed sleep. Another juror joined in wanting to tell the judge where they stood or they will request to be removed from the jury. It was clear to everyone additional time would not change Juror 17’s view. I felt I was losing the jury one by one. I asked them to please sit down and we would craft a note to the judge. All the photos of Travis Alexander’s dead body still lay on the table in front of us.
http://thetrialdiaries.com/exclusivethe-foreman-from-the-jodi-arias-trial-speakshear-his-story/