Misrepresentation and Deceit in the Arias Trial:
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Fact Based Reporting by
Rob Roman and Amanda Chen
“Somebody lied to you about important facts in this case.” – Juan Martinez
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“If you believe what the defendant is telling you, then all the arguments begin to make sense.” – Juan Martinez
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According to Juan Martinez:
If it is written down, it’s the truth. If it’s not, it’s a lie. A white lie is just as bad as a regular lie. Not telling the full and complete truth at all times is a lie. Omitting details is lying. Anything that anyone says happened that is not in their diary is a lie.
If you are attacked or beaten by your partner and you don’t document it, tell someone or call 911, it never happened and you are a liar.
You are a liar if, after you do something unspeakable, you do not tell every person you meet what you can remember about what you have done.
Somebody did lie about important facts in this case, and we’re not talking about Jodi Arias. We have broken these lies down into five categories. The headings in bold type are assertions made by Juan Martinez in his closing argument . These are the categories of lies:
White Lie
Typically a white lie is a harmless lie that is often done to be polite. Here, it’s a lie that plays into Martinez’ themes and theories, but it’s immaterial to the murder charge. These white lies are far from harmless.
Exaggeration
Something from the facts or testimony is taken out of context and magnified. It’s a fish story where a mountain is made out of a molehill.
Misrepresentation
This includes presenting mere speculation as fact, and changing the meanings of facts. It’s a deliberate effort to skew a fact to align it with other facts in the case.
Mirror
It’s a manipulation of the jury. Juan Martinez is projecting his own feelings, motives and ideas, or those of others, onto the defendant.
(see more about the this in the previous article, Lies and Juanipulation: The Mirror Crack’d)
Whopper
It’s an obvious untruth in light of the facts. It’s deceitful and a breach of integrity
Let’s examine more of the territory covered in the prosecutor’s all-important closing arguments:
The Manifesto and Salt Lake City
“She has signed a Manifesto just in case she becomes famous” – Juan Martinez
This is another thing Martinez dug up in Alyce LaViolette’s notes. The prosecution had no witnesses attesting to any “Manifesto” and it was never entered into evidence, even though Martinez wants the jury to believe that Arias made copies and autographed the copies in jail in Yreka. 
Even if she did, it’s just the same “intruder story” again, and Arias has already claimed she invented the story as a stalling tactic. Reporters have requested proof of the Manifesto from the prosecutor’s office, and they’re still waiting.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/jodi-arias-manifesto-day-42_n_3041141.html
“This woman who claims she never went to Salt Lake City” – Juan Martinez
Martinez tells the jury Jodi testified that she was never in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was in West Jordan, on the far outskirts of Salt Lake City. This honest answer is a lie and a manipulation, according to Martinez, because a gas receipt near West Jordan states “Salt Lake City”.
This is simply a trick of semantics.
“Staging The Scene”
Arias believes “she will not be convicted, after she has staged the scene for you”. – Juan Martinez
It’s The Mirror. The most important question here is why does Martinez feel he needs to add all the ornamentation you see throughout the trial? This is yet another behavior that El Espejo, the mirror, attributes to Jodi Arias.
Juan tells the jury that “in the light of truth you can see who she really is.” “This is an individual who is manipulative.” “This is an individual who will stop at nothing and will continue to be manipulative and will lie at every turn and at every occasion that she has.”
This from the man who peppered the trial with lengthy inquiries and discussions about Bobby Juarez, high school era windows and doors, happenings from Arias’ life when she was 5 and 8 years old, the backspace button, the criminal, the stupid sister, the gopher, the dog, the chameleon, the wildebeest, that thing, Snow White, the Shack, the Christmas tree, the Ring and The Fog.
Yet in his closing argument, when referring to Arias’ answers to mostly irrelevant questions, Juan says “There’s nothing, absolutely nothing important about that as it applies to the killing other than to try to manipulate you, to try to shock you…”
Who is really “staging the scene” here and who is really the manipulator? Who uses lies to kill instead of a gun or a knife?
Who is “not a very nice person”?
Arias Has Memory Problems
This is one of Juan Martinez’ favorite tactics and he uses this often at trial. Everyone who testifies will have some discrepancies in their testimony. Martinez seizes on this to discredit witnesses. He will claim that there is a memory problem and that it must be because the person is lying.
Martinez says that Arias has trouble remembering things, but yet he says “she has an incredible memory for her fantasy world”. The events were over 4 1/2 years before. Arias used photographs, her bank records, and her journal to try to remember dates and times. The evidence showed that Jodi has a very good memory.
Juan likes to say “with the the truth, you ain’t got to remember nothing” – This is false for an event that happened 4 ½ years ago. Any honest person trying to accurately recall an event will remember things incorrectly and will correct themselves as related facts are brought to light.
Jodi does not have memory problems.
Arias Is a Manipulator Because in 5th Grade She “played the victim”
Can this seriously be presented as evidence? There’s not one detail or example about how Jodi “played the victim”, other than the statement itself. This is another Martinez Special, and he serves these up frequently throughout the trial. What is going on in this death penalty case with this kind of “evidence”?
What did you do in 1st through 5th grade? Anything different now?
This is a self-defense case. Of course, Arias is claiming the victim attacked her and she was forced to protect her life.
Jodi is not playing the victim.
Jodi Arias Is a Criminal
Martinez said during the trial that Jodi does in fact have a prior record because:
She’s a liar and a murderer. She probably has committed crimes and engaged in criminal type crime behavior in the past. She has engaged in criminal behavior during the trial. She would not hesitate to commit plenty of crimes if she could, but she’s in jail, so she can’t.
Prior to this trial, Jodi had no prior convictions for any offense, and had nothing more than a few traffic tickets.
Of course, Martinez tries to fit her into the category of hardened criminal or insane psychotic, both proven to not be true.
She was convicted of 1st degree murder in an unfair trial, but Jodi Arias is not a criminal.
Jodi Was Not Abused by Travis
“This is an individual who wants to play the victim even though there is no abuse…” – Juan Martinez
Jodi was abused by Travis throughout the relationship as demonstrated by testimony, facts and evidence. Travis called Jodi a “skank” and a “pathological liar” behind her back within two months of meeting her. One and a half years later, he is still fanning the flames in phone sex conversations, conducting various business deals with her (including having her clean his house), and jumping into bed with Jodi Arias.
He had to have known she has a mental illness, it’s obvious to anyone who has some experience with the mentally ill and watched the trial. He confided in no one about her, and he took the relationship underground early on. He hid her away and berated her to his friends and acquaintances.
He is the one who made it a sex only relationship. He used her for sex and he threatened her. Then, he blamed her for the whole thing. All these things are excused by his community, the media, and his LDS Church because of his terrible demise.
Travis Alexander callously tampered with Arias just like someone would recklessly play with explosives. The result should have been readily foreseeable.
Jodi was abused by Travis, without question.
Nothing Is Jodi’s Fault
Juan claims in his closing argument that Jodi refuses to take responsibility for any problem. She blames others for everything and she projects her problems and bad qualities onto other people. Juan is saying this after he himself invited a completely non-threatening and amiable woman in her sixties to “spar” with him in open court.
Jodi accepted responsibility for killing Travis Alexander. She has stated numerous times that her dealings with Alexander were the results of her own bad choices and bad decisions and they are entirely her responsibility.
Jodi Arias has shown remorse and regret for her acts on numerous occasions, both in and out of the courtroom. She has shown sympathy for the victim’s family, regret for her false stories, and has shown concern that the victim’s family “can somehow find peace”.
Jodi Arias has stated that she will accept her punishment, whether it’s execution or a life sentence, and “deal with it”. She said “I will be sorry for the rest of my life, probably longer.”
According to Juan, everything is Jodi’s fault. He even says it’s Jodi’s fault that Darryl Brewer did not want to commit to her or start a family with her after almost four years of being with her. How does that make any sense?
Yet when Deanna Reid testified to the exact same thing about Travis Alexander, it was perfectly reasonable.
Jodi accepted responsibility for her actions and for Travis’ death.
Arias Targeted a Good Mormon Boy
“She decides those boys from the Mormon faith are people with lots of family values and they’re successful hard workers and can give her what she needs.” – Juan Martinez
Jodi Arias did not target a Mormon boy. She met someone who happened to be Mormon who often gives a book of Mormon to non-LDS friends and girlfriends.
Travis Alexander actively sought converts as part of his position in the church.
The evidence strongly suggests that Jodi Arias, far from being dependent on a man, went to Las Vegas to the PPL convention not to meet a Mormon boy, but to start a new, independent career for herself.
She was met by some good Mormon boys doing what they were normally doing at PPL conventions: Trying to set one of their away from home friends up with a potential sex partner by impressing her with an Executive Dinner.
These friends of Travis lied when they tried to suggest they were setting Travis up with a future wife. Jodi wasn’t LDS. They knew she was with him in his hotel rooms in the early months of the relationship. These were hypocrite phony Mormons and they knew exactly what was going on. Non-LDS girls are fair game for trysts for single and married Mormon men alike, because they don’t count.
Travis’ Mormon friends targeted Jodi Arias. They set her up with him. They provided Alexander with cover in their homes where they went to hook up. They warned Travis not to play games with her. They then began to warn Travis about Jodi when she began to take the relationship too seriously. Alexander then took the relationship underground. Why? Because Arias was bad for church and business, but good for some guilty pleasure.
Jodi and Travis met and talked about common interests and they quickly fell for each other. Jodi was looking for a religion where there are strong family values and the men do not cheat on their wives. It appears that in this case, the LDS Church was not the answer to Jodi’s dreams. Travis knew that Jodi was not ready to be baptized into the church and he was not qualified to baptize anyone due to his behavior. This shows his utter disregard for the teachings of the church. Travis is the only one to blame about that.
Jodi fell in love. She did not target a good Mormon boy, and she did not even target Travis Alexander.
Mormon Rules Were Arias’ Responsibility
Did Jodi corrupt Travis by offering him a Strawberry Frappuccino, (a caffeine beverage not allowed by the LDS church)?
“There’s a word in the English lexicon called ‘No’ that you can use when you don’t want a person to do something.” – Juan Martinez
Juan Martinez claimed that Jodi blamed the young missionaries who came to her home in California for not teaching her the specifics about the law of chastity. He claims that Jodi blamed Travis for telling her that avoiding vaginal sex was the really important principle. Juan is suggesting that it was Jodi who manipulated Travis to accept this interpretation.
– “It’s unconscionable to blame Travis Alexander when she had the same knowledge and same position as him.” – Juan Martinez
Jodi Arias was giving literal answers to literal questions. She was asked if the missionaries taught about the details of the vow of chastity and she answered the question.
It’s obvious that she didn’t want to say “No” to Travis. They both knew what the Mormon rules are relating to pre-marital chastity and they both broke the rules. Jodi said that there is no commandment that says “Thou shalt not fornicate”. She also said that “If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right”.
However, Jodi was not an ordained leader of the LDS Church. She was not an active member of the LDS Church for 20 years. Travis introduced the religion to Jodi. Travis baptized Jodi into the church. Is there any evidence at all that he tried to get her to follow the rules? We have never seen any.
One guess is that the younger generation of Mormons probably follow the guidelines of the Law of Travis more often than strictly adhering to the laws of chastity. “Grinding”, heavy petting, and even oral sex are probably rampant, but it’s a big secret. So it seems Jodi is much more knowledgeable than Juan Martinez about the vow of chastity, at least for many young Mormons.
Jodi did not have the same position as Travis. Who would you rather ask important questions about the LDS Church? A novice or an ordained elder who has been involved in the church for twenty years?
Juan Martinez must be snorting some crystal blue meth.
Arias Made Her Own Rules
As far as when Jodi and Travis were not exclusive, Jodi seemed to be more concerned that they were being honest and open with each other, which Travis never was, and not hiding things from each other, like Travis often did.
Jodi told Travis all about her date with Abe Abdelhadi and about Ryan. Travis responded with Jealousy and threats of violence towards Abe. Travis may have been lying to Jodi, or Jodi may have been lying to herself about Travis. In any case, there seemed to be a big communication problem going on there.
Jodi didn’t make her own rules, She was sticking to the rules she followed long before Travis, rules that many people have. Being intimate together means commitment. Exclusivity is expected in a relationship and if it’s not exclusive, they want to know if and who the other person is seeing.
There’s an important reason for this, it’s called STD’s.
For Travis, being intimate meant exactly the opposite. It meant there was no commitment, not now and not in the future. Here is the confusion. As long as Travis kept coming back to Jodi, she thought she still had a chance with him.
Jodi Arias wasn’t following her own rules, Travis Alexander was.
Arias Moved to Mesa to Stalk Travis
This is what’s really important to the “stalker” question. What happened in the summer of 2007 when Travis and Jodi “broke up” and Jodi moved to Mesa? Juan thinks that this is the the fulcrum of an obvious stalking that led to murder, that Jodi is a liar and her witnesses are all liars because they base their conclusions on Jodi’s lies.
Since the defense is just one big lying lie, Juan thinks whatever bull he digs up or says should automatically become the truth by default.
There is no evidence that Travis discouraged the move. In all the communications, there was no evidence presented that Travis didn’t want Jodi in Mesa or that Jodi was unwelcome at Travis’ home. There were late night calls and late night rendezvous sessions. Travis was seeing both Lisa Andrews-Daidone and Jodi Arias at the same time, and neither of them knew about the other for quite some time.
That doesn’t sound like stalking. It sounds more like Travis was not being honest with Jodi or Lisa Andrews, ….. or Mimi Hall.
Jodi was confused about what was going on in the relationship. This is what the evidence says. This was the testimony. Jodi was going over the line in trying to find out what was really going on, but there’s no intimidation or threats of violence.
Jodi was fighting for Travis. She was not threatening him or attacking him. It’s not a typical “fatal attraction” situation because Alexander continued to get together with her time and time again.
Here are the ten stalking acts attributed to Jodi Arias form that dubious source, Radar Online:
There’s a rivalry going on, and Travis is not stopping it. He’s actually stoking the fires by continuing to play Jodi and lie to Lisa and he’s refusing to honestly deal with the situation.
Lisa Daidone testified, and she offered very little knowledge about what was going on. Dan Freeman also knew almost nothing about it either, other than Jodi was confused about the relationship and that Travis planned on ending it with her in January, 2008, but he didn’t really get around to it until March and April.
Arias was not “stalking” Alexander.
Arias Displayed Stalking Behaviors
Here is the entirety of Jodi’s so-called “stalking behavior”: 1) When they were first seeing each other, Travis and Sky and Chris Hughes left her alone in their house and the three went to the master bedroom to discuss Jodi. This is rude behavior. Jodi was wondering what was going on (which we all sometimes do) and may have been eavesdropping (which we all sometimes do). She became angry at this, which is understandable.
2) She went into Travis’ e-mail and phone at least once. Many people check up on their partners and spouses. 3) She went over to Travis’ house and found Lisa Andrews -Daidone with Travis, and left immediately. 4) Travis had his tires slashed, which was never linked to Jodi. If she did this, this is known to often be a passive-aggressive behavior designed to get a person’s attention. Maybe she was saying “stop avoiding me. Communicate with me.” 5) A letter was sent to Lisa Daidone, supposedly by Jodi, warning her to not sin with Travis.
Two of these so-called stalking incidents are these: Mimi Hall said that Travis “thought Jodi had followed him on a date”. Lisa Daidone said that “a home security alarm alerted that a door was open”.
Of course, why would a smart professional like Alyce LaViolette challenge and question this so-called evidence in a capital murder trial?
The legal definition of stalking revolves around an intent to instill fear or injury. There is no intent to instill injury whatsoever. There is no intent to instill fear. Jodi is either trying to find out what Travis is up to, or she wants proof of what he is doing. These are techniques law enforcement uses all the time.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Stalking
This is the time when some intervention should have been done, yet other than a police report, nothing was done. With all these incidents going on, there is no sign of a big fight between Travis and Jodi until after she leaves Mesa.
Travis did almost nothing to allay her concerns. A person with a mental illness showing obvious signs of distress and confusion over a relationship is not “stalking behavior”.
Travis Claimed That All He Was to Jodi Was a “dildo with a heartbeat”
Here, Travis gives Juan a run for his money as far as reflecting his own deviant thoughts and behaviors onto others. Like Travis’ addict parents, Travis and Juan are both snorting the crystal blue meth.
It was Jodi who wanted a full relationship, it was Jodi who was in love. It was Travis who forced the relationship into a secretive, sex only situation. Travis was conjuring up all kinds of sexual scenarios. Travis’ actions are wholly devoid of any caring, love or romanticism, save one candlelit bath with flower petals and one instance of leaving a pastry on her car. The romanticism was directed towards the good Mormon girls.
Jodi, probably due to childhood issues and mental illness, thought she could rescue the relationship. She was staying loyal to him. She was in love with Travis Alexander and Eddie Snell, the late night guy we hear on the sex tape.
This remark that Travis made does not make any sense and actually applies to himself, based on what the trial revealed. Travis is going to extraordinary lengths to keep the lid on what he had done and what he was doing. What’s the reason? The LDS church is the source of his business, his customers, and his community.
A more accurate version is that Jodi was nothing more to Travis than a living blow-up doll with a heartbeat. 
It’s an addiction with just as many disastrous consequences.
This is not the entire truth, though. Jodi seemed to be smitten with Travis because the relationship embodied secrecy, chaos and the emotional extremes from her unresolved childhood. Travis seemed to be drawn in by the love/hate relationship he may have had with his mother or both parents from his childhood.
The more he kept getting back with her, the more he unleashed blame, repulsion, and hatred onto Jodi Arias that was better reserved to himself. Tensions were increasing, and Jodi was beginning to lose her already tenuously balanced mental stability.
One can assume because Jodi was ready with her Helio phone to record their sex conversation in May, 2008 that this must have been a regular thing. He was calling Jodi late at night again while continuing with Mimi and who knows who else, in the light of day.
Travis’ friends didn’t call him T-Dawg for nothing. It seems that he continued this dating of multiple women the entire time, using his traveling and long hours to keep the women separate and at bay. It was ideal to have Jodi in Palm Desert, California and he just added her to his list. Jodi started to cramp his style when she moved to Mesa, but Travis seemed to think he could control it and handle her and he just kept on with his game plan.
Jodi Arias probably got closer to the real Travis than anyone had. Jodi Arias to this day is still enchanted by her memory of Travis. It’s clear that Travis Alexander was much more than just sex to Jodi Arias.
Jodi Was a Peeper and a Stalker (because she refused to let Travis play her)
Much was made by Martinez about the “peeping incident”, even though Jodi went over to Travis’ unannounced, which she did all the time, found the doors locked and went around to the back only to see Travis on the couch with an unknown woman. She peeped for a while and then she left.
Most of Jodi’s so-called stalking behavior would be called intelligence gathering. This is the same thing people do when they hire a detective, or go on a show called “Cheaters”. She wanted to know the truth, she felt she was being played, and it appears she was right.
This peeping incident is interpreted not as Jodi doing what she normally did, heading over to Travis’ for a nighttime rendezvous and being surprised, but something much more sinister. This is because Juan fits it into his stalking theory, and cleverly persuades others to do the same.
This theory makes all the sense in the world, had Jodi been scorned, but she had not been scorned.
The trial shows us that Travis is talking to Jodi late nights regularly over the span of their relationship. He is meeting Jodi first in hotel rooms and on trips away from home, on secret trips to his friends homes in California, and then in secret trysts in his bedroom. But he never gave Jodi any status among his friends and acquaintances, and that’s what her e-mails show.
Additionally, Travis was also being very helpful to two married women who were having problems at home, Ashley Reed and Shannon Crabtree. Both ladies had been over his home a number of times. One admits to at least kissing him and the other was planning on living at his house during her separation.
These two appear to be possible replacements for Jodi. This could mean more secrecy, late night sex, and no obligations or emotional involvement.
Amazingly, after Juan Martinez forces Arias to reveal the name of one of the married women on national television over Arias’ protests, Juan then claims in his closing arguments that Arias could not name any “other women”.
Arias also knew that Deanna Reid was Travis’ first sexual experience, which was confirmed by Deanna on the stand. Arias was telling the truth here, and it also shows that Travis did confide in her.
Arias seemed to be okay with Alexander dating other women as long as “she knew where she stood”. The two did discuss their other love interests with each other at times, according to communications shown in court. At the very least, it appears Jodi did not know where she stood at times.
Are we to believe that Arias was so powerful as to push and control Travis and constantly invade his life and he was completely powerless to stop her? Are we to believe that Alexander was just too nice a guy to not be honest with her and end the situation? He never sought help or the counsel of anyone, Mormon or not.
Jodi was pushed to perhaps become unstable due to Travis’ dishonesty and contradictory communications.
These were not “stalking behaviors”.
Regan Housley’s IM’s Prove Jodi is a Stalker
Travis needed to make excuses to his dates and friends for why Jodi is seen late at night at his home, why she was contacting him and why she was often around Travis.
When Jodi was in Yreka, California in May, 2008, Travis was communicating with non-Mormon Regan Housley, telling her that he had a stalker and he was extremely afraid, they even joked about the possibility that Jodi could be seeing their IM’s and be privy to their conversations.
Juan Martinez makes this a huge point, stating that this proves that Alexander was in fear of Jodi. But Regan Housley was never called to testify as a witness, and why not? You just have to wonder if there was something damaging she could have revealed about Travis. Yes, he was extremely afraid, but of what? That he would be exposed? That the lid would be blown off all the things he had done and was still doing?
Arias was 1,000 miles away.
This is another big hole in the prosecution case. We know Travis must have been annoyed and agitated by what had been going on. After all the warnings and all these incidents, he is still engaging in phone sex with her, still complimenting her, and still encouraging her, right up until the end of May. That’s the reality that Alyce LaViolette was pointing out. This does not add up with the prosecution’s view of stalking, in spite of Juan’s skill in forcing unproven allegations to become reality via clever interrogation tactics on the witness stand.
Regan Housley doesn’t prove a thing.
Jodi Arias “scammed” Travis Alexander
This is yet another charge just thrown out there by the prosecutor and Travis’ text message with nothing to back it up. How did Jodi “scam” Travis? There was nothing brought out at trial that gives any credence to this idea other than the statement itself.
It sounds like Jodi may have been threatening to play the sex tape or go to the Bishop and expose Travis in some way. This is a huge threat to Travis’ standing in the community and his business affairs. He and Deanna went to the Bishop about their one time dalliance and Travis was punished. He did not go to the Bishop about all the sins committed since then. Travis would be a two-time offender in the LDS church which would require an excommunication for a period of time.
Jodi had every right to go to the Bishop and confess about her relationship with Travis. Travis should have gone to the Bishop himself when he made his clean break in April, 2008. Had he done so, there would be nothing to allegedly bribe him with.
Travis, from PPL Team Renew seemed to be engaging in a little of the “law of attraction” himself, just hoping this whole thing would just go away and writing his blog about how great he was going to be in 2008. Trial watchers forget that though we assume that Jodi was going to cause Travis some kind of problem or exposure, it was Travis who actually threatened Jodi, and that’s right in the communications.
Gus Searcy from Jodi’s PPL Team “Freedom” is another witness who testified that Travis was chasing down Jodi, at least on the phone, and that his call to Jodi when she was with Gus in Las Vegas made her very upset, even terrified.
In Las Vegas, it was Gus Searcy who gave Jodi the Helio phone, one of the few at that time with a recording function.
How did Jodi “scam” Travis Alexander? Were there any facts, evidence, or testimony in support of this? Travis said this to Jodi in a text message. Does that make it true? This scam idea sounds really good, it sounds so devious, but it’s meaningless.
A white lie, by definition, is a harmless lie sometimes meant to be polite or courteous. This is far more than a white lie from the mouth of Juan Martinez.
Jodi did not “scam” Travis. This is Travis projecting his own behavior again. Travis, the influential and highly organized motivational speaker, who could do the work of 20 people, according to his friends, scammed Jodi. There is zero evidence of Travis trying to get some help for Jodi. He lied to everyone for his own selfish interest. He scammed everyone that he tried to recruit into the Church and his entire LDS community. He scammed everyone in the LDS church that he taught about the tenets of the Church in his bible studies and everyone he baptized into the church.
This is not “trashing Travis”, it’s just the truth. Jodi did not “scam” Travis.
Jodi Lied Because She Did Not Masturbate Properly
According to Juan, Jodi owes Travis a sincere apology for not properly masturbating while having phone sex with him and allegedly faking an orgasm. She’s manipulating it. She’s faking it, when she’s “squealing like a cat” according to Martinez. She’s being insincere, because Jodi usually used two hands, and she needed one hand to hold the Helio phone. She’s lying even during the phone sex. Juan wants the jury to remember this vital fact. This is in the closing statement in a search for the truth, capital murder case, after all.
Jodi Is a Stalker (because she hid a sexual relationship)
To Jodi and her defense team, “it was really, really bad that someone had sex and didn’t want other people to know about it.” –Juan Martinez
They were both enjoying and hiding a sexual relationship. Arias’s defense doesn’t dispute that, and Arias doesn’t dispute that. Who was the controller and who was the controlled? That’s where the dispute is. Because of the nature of the secretive relationship, Jodi is at a distinct disadvantage in knowing what Travis is up to.
Jodi is being loyal to Travis. She can’t go to the suspected other woman or to the other woman’s circle of friends, because that could expose Travis. She can’t seek outside help or seek the counseling of the Bishop or a friend like Dan Freeman, because that could also expose Travis. What little she could do to assert herself and have some idea of what the truth was about her relationship with Travis is confined to actions that seem stalking- like in nature, because of the secrecy.
Travis Bears No Responsibility (because he hid a sexual relationship)
Juan tries to portray Travis as adapting to sexual encounters that Jodi Planned and provided. This is nothing more than convincing and persuading the jury to accept a simple tale that just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. It’s a campfire monster story, and it sounds so very convincing coming from a very good story teller. Watch the trial video and you can see Dennis Alexander just eating it up.
This is Juan’s career and his talent. Jodi’s the violent sexual deviant, the instigator and the aggressor, while Travis is the befuddled and hapless victim. Jodi is some kind of insect that blinds and overpowers Travis with her outlandish mating rituals. Jodi is the toxin that poisoned the relationship.
It’s nothing more than some really good Crystal Blue Persuasion.
Travis Was Not That Into Jodi
This is simply not true. Instead, they were attracted to each other and they hit it off. The evidence strongly suggests that they were into each other not just due to physical attraction and common interests, but also because they subconsciously recognized certain psychological deficits in each other. This was a meeting between two highly charged and ambitious young people. Most likely, Travis also had an untreated mental illness.
Travis is often commenting on Arias’ beauty and sexiness throughout the relationship and states that he loves her.
- Jodi with Eddie Snell from Alabama.
Judging from many communications, including the sex tape and the way Travis carefully hid his relationship from his friends, there must have been more to this for Travis than just sex. He was carefully managing and controlling these relationships. It was like an addiction. The deviancy, the illicit secrecy seem to strongly appeal to “Eddie Snell form Alabama”, Travis’ hidden alter-ego.
This is why there was so little testimony about what was going on in that relationship. No witness came to the stand to shed light on what was going on from Travis’ point of view. Out of all his friends all over, Mormon and non-Mormon, he confided in no one about this. Who did this troubled man confide in? Jodi Arias says he confided in her. Why should we be so quick to disbelieve her? Travis was very much “into Jodi”. She was fun to talk to and to be with. He even once said she was beautiful, inside and out.
Travis was always denying the relationship and being derisive towards Jodi to his friends. So, of course they would say that he was “not that into her”. Travis needed to marry eventually, and that meant he would have to get rid of Jodi. She wasn’t a true Mormon and she didn’t count, anyways. Maybe this was the real crux of the problem. There’s no question that this was a volatile and combustible relationship, and the evidence shows that Travis was encouraging it by fanning the flames. He did not want it to end.
Jodi was an outlet for Travis’ deviant alter-ego. He even confesses to this hidden side of him in his blog.
- Eddie Snell performs his “comedy routine” which includes punching at and kicking at others.
– “Desperately trying to find out if my date has an axe murderer penned up inside of her and knowing she is wondering the same thing about me. That’s usually when I think myself into a panic and start acting weird in consequence to trying so hard to act normal.”
– “I realized the reason I wasn’t married wasn’t because the type of person I was looking for doesn’t exist but that the type of person I wanted wouldn’t be interested in me.”
– “What they usually don’t understand is those same character flaws are in them too. In fact that is usually at least partially what attracted them to each other.”– Travis Alexander, “Being Better” Blog, May 15, 2008
Not to blame him, but Travis, a high school drop-out and a poor speller from the looks of his e-mails and text messages, required the services of at least two women to help him write his rather simple blog.
This hidden side emerged way before Jodi entered his life and probably extends back to his background as a child of meth-addicted parents. With Jodi, it was okay to act weird and to be himself. This Eddie Snell character looks like a way that Travis Alexander could bring his deviant and crude side out into the open. “Woman, I will beat you dead.” and “Hit a woman every now and then.” were two “jokes” Eddie Snell told at a conference full of salespeople in Las Vegas. He also joked about Vegas being full of “shows and hoes” and he talked about chlamydia being something that happens in Vegas, but doesn’t stay there. Is this really appropriate for a mixed group of salespeople, many of whom are Mormon? Is this something more than a comedy act?
Travis appears to have been addicted and like a conflicted addict, he was very into Jodi at times and pushing her away at other times.
Travis was very into Jodi, but not in a healthy way.
Friends of Travis Said Jodi Was Stalking Him
One friend of Travis stated that Jodi basically pulled him into her world, and he just couldn’t get himself away from it. Knowing Travis’ horrendous childhood and the deep psychological trauma and emotional scars he must have had, this is too simple an analysis.
There was something very compelling in this relationship for Travis and it wasn’t just sex. It had to be psychologically magnetic, too.
It must have been a full blown addiction. It attracted him like no other, and it repulsed him like no other. Alexander is projecting his own thoughts and behaviors onto Arias, and his own self-loathing and guilt manifest into a palpable hatred and anger directed at Jodi Arias.
Unlike so many of Juan’s claims, this is right in the testimony and it’s right in the evidence.
One popular blogger thought that this was a classic example of the Madonna Whore complex, where a child has both great love and great disgust with his mother, and this manifests in later life with a powerful fascination for women that he can both worship and hate. This seems to fit very well into what the evidence shows.
Travis’ friends had no idea what was really going on.
Travis is the Hapless Victim Jodi Targeted, Stalked, and Finally Murdered
This defies the evidence. People vilified Alyce LaViolette, because she was showing how this charge does not comport with the evidence. In just the 10 months since the “break up”, Alyce rattles off a whole list of women that Travis appears to be involved with. Of course, just messaging and communicating doesn’t mean that anything more is happening. But it’s indisputable that Travis is involved with more than Jodi Arias and the good Mormon girls he dates with an eye towards marriage. Juan wants the jury to believe that it’s all Jodi, that she’s the one coming at him, showing up unannounced, reeling him in with sex, and forcing herself into his life.
That Jodi is the scorned woman stalking the hapless Travis is refuted by Travis’ own words:
– “I want you to ride my face like a horse.”
– “When I’m all by my lonesome I have nobody else to think about in my scandalous fantasies.”
– “I’m gonna take you like youvé never been taken before. When it’s done the intensity will make you feel like you’ve been raped, but you will have enjoyed every delightful moment of it.”
– Jodi Arias? ‘She’s a skank!’
– “I love you.”
– “It will be like…legitimate rape”.
– “This photo shoot is gonna be one of the best experiences of your life and mine.”
– “You’re Evil….soulless… a corrupted carcass.”
– “I haven’t stopped thinking about the pics I’m gonna take, The progressiveness of it, from the very clean to the very dirty and everything in between.”
– “It will tell quite a story and be a lot of fun and not a day has gone by that I haven’t dreamt about driving my shaft long and hard into you.”
– “Nothing from my own experience, nothing is even enjoyable compared to you.”
– “You are beautiful inside and out.”
– “You’re a whore and a slut.”
Travis was the up and coming salesman and motivational speaker. He was extremely persuasive and endearing. He had the strength of an entire Mormon community behind him. He had many friends, a vast network of social and business connections, and he was an ordained elder priest holder in the LDS church. Jodi was under his influence and she was influencing him. But by March, 2008, she was on the outside looking in.
In the midst of the break up and chaos in early 2008 as Travis is trying to keep the lid on and trying to end things with Arias, she claims she was physically assaulted by Alexander several times. Arias, who is supposed to be so obsessed with Alexander, suddenly moves 1,000 miles away, home to Yreka, California. Travis had lost control of Arias. He was also going to lose his “sex slave”. Jodi was looking for a new partner and she is undeniably faithful and exclusive to her partner. Travis has shown jealousy before. Jodi Arias may have told him she was going to the Bishop to confess the entire relationship, so she could start clean with a new boyfriend.
Travis Alexander had very compelling motives for both assault and murder.
Travis Alexander was conflicted by his success, and his wholesome-pretense exterior, not unlike the outstanding and very promising medical student, Philip Markoff, the Craigslist Killer. Travis Alexander was conflicted and driven by his hidden inner demons, just like the pillar of the community, John Wayne Gacy, the bisexual control-freak serial killer.
Would Travis have become a killer like Markoff or Gacy? That’s doubtful, but all the same precursors existed in his personality and his psyche, especially a stunning lack of empathy or insight into his own behaviors and their potential causes.
Travis was the hapless victim? Only in Juan’s World with his misrepresentations, his inability to see things from a different perspective, his many lies and his crystal blue persuasion.
Martinez even managed to get seven of the eight death jurors to vote for both of two mutually exclusive theories of 1st degree murder. Translation: They were following Juan’s erroneous facts and his seasoned gifts of persuasion. Some jury members clearly didn’t understand the facts and they weren’t following the law.
Conclusion
The defense team claimed that much of this trial was all about lies, but many of the lies didn’t come form Jodi Arias. The prosecution claims there is no corroboration of Jodi’s testimony. There is plenty to suggest that Jodi’s story is highly plausible if not probable. It is the prosecution that cannot corroborate many of it’s claims other than sneaking things in on re-cross and re-direct, alluding to what someone might have said, and speaking of evidence and witnesses never presented at trial.
Martinez’ closing arguments were an exaggeration, a misrepresentation, a speculation, a consternation, and a detestation. The point is simply this: He lied.
That’s okay, because for Juan, Jodi Arias is a liar and a murderer. She doesn’t count. She’s not entitled to a fair trial and he is justified in getting the conviction and a death sentence by any means necessary. This makes Juan Martinez a very dangerous person.
Staple an American flag to it, say that it has God’s blessing and say something about “justice”, and we might just get a death sentence out of this complete embarrassment of a trial..
What does this say about America and our deeply entrenched inability to see that all stories have two sides?
There is no “Justice for Travis”. There is either Justice for all or there is no Justice. The insistence on the Death Penalty in this case has prolonged suffering for all involved and has actually obstructed justice.
Jodi Arias lied to live, while Juan Martinez lies to kill. Just ask the family of Robert Towery. Juan Martinez is a bigger, more sophisticated and accomplished liar, manipulator, and persuader than Jodi Arias could ever hope to be.
Let us know what you think. Your opinion matters. Opposing views are welcome!
All rights reserved
Sources:
http://travisalexander.blogspot.com/
Spotlight on law 
And when I say they could see her as ‘not well’ I don’t mean not well so much that she ws incapable of knowing full well that what she was doing was wrong, but that becs of a personality disorder she chose to not care abt the wrong or right about it, that she ws just driven by rage. The crime scene shows rage. A woman who feels spurned ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ and all that is in keeping with the facts of this case. But this is the one issue that Jodi Ann Arias’ ego alone would never allow her to admit. When a juror asked her the question as to ‘whether she was angry at Travis when she was stabbing him’ led to a very interesting response. Jodi felt it very important to remind the jurors that she was in the fog, at that juncture, however she said she could remember throughout even the killing what she was ‘feeling’. She said verbatim: ‘but I was never in fear of Travis, I mean I do not remember ever feeling angry at Travis’.
IMO this ws a classic – absolutely classic- Freudian slip. IMO – She was thinking how it ws important to let the jury know she was never angry at Travis during the killing (becs otherwise THAT would then align with Juan Martinez’ theory of the case- and we certainly can’t have that) but….how to do this given the fact SHE claims to have virtually no memory of the killing? But this is her chance to perhaps control what the JURY thinks happened. So what does she say? She ‘says’ that while she has no memory of the actual events she claims she DOES remember how she ‘Felt’ during it. And anger is just conveniently completely absent in her recall. But the problem ws instead of answering the question immediately, she was thinking of the best way she could use her response. She knew fear was never present and only anger was. But she knew she had to lie and so momentarily slipped up telling them the truth. This is not all speculation BTW. It’s something commonly seen in people telling untruths in interrogations. The truth slips out unconsciously. That’s obviously what happened here. Not to mention the inconsistency in her earlier testimony when asked of her ‘feelings during the killing’. When any answer she could give was bad for her on cross, the convenient fog rolled in. When she wanted to attempt to control perception, ms Arias was in no way limited by the fog.
I read almost every word you wrote. I am regarded as a pundit Psychiatrist, with many National awards and merits, deserving or not. If one validates everything that you have written, does they merit a brutal murder? I see and counsel abuse victims all day long who have had experiences and lives overridden with unthinkable abuse. Thus far, none of them have committed any violent crimes against their perpetrators. As much as I implore them to seek separation and/or divorce, their familiar hell keeps them from seeking an unknown heaven Please advise. Thank you..
I did e-mail you and I received no response. I think you need to take a “Reality Vacation”. We should be able to tell by what you say whether you have National Awards and merits, rather than you mentioning it so quickly. Are you Pinsky the phony?
This isn’t a battered woman case. It’s much more psychological. Pundits are mostly fools. Your awards mean basically nothing. Did you get an award for paying attention? No, I don’t think so.
Mike,
I am no psychologist or social worker, but I would think it a given that no person subjected to heavy abuse–especially on a regular basis–could possibly go on indefinitely without expressing anger, and possibly becoming physically violent.
I find it completely unbelievable to think that not one of the people you council who might be in such a situation have never lashed out in anger at their abuser. It is possible, but if you’re telling the truth, could your own experience possibly lack exposure to those clients that do commit violent acts after suffering unthinkable abuse? I know that some might become docile in an effort to survive by not giving their abuser reason to attack, but, where in the world do you get the opinion that all of your clients typify every last victim of abuse?
I very much doubt that you’re being accurate, but if you are being straight with those of us commenting on this forum, then I can only conclude that your experiences have been extremely unique, if you’ve never encountered at least some clients who at least has some anger issues,or depression, as a result of abuse, then the range of your clients behaviors must have been limited and skewed.
If you had a friend or loved one brutally murdered, would you desire Juan Martinez to prosecute the case? I do not believe you will answer this question.
Absolutely not.
There is really no doubt that Jodi committed a terrible and violent murder, but isn’t it typical for victims of abuse to sometimes snap and go into such a rage! And, even if she just felt abused because of having a mental illness, to her the abuse seemed absolutely real.
When someone stabs their victim over and over again, in addition to shooting them, there is obviously extreme rage involved. So the important thing is not whether Jodi was innocent but how she should be sentenced considering what was happening in her life.
Truly Travis was also no saint, and took liberties that may have made Arias extremely angry and insecure–add mental illness to the mix, and you are looking at a powder keg about to go off!
I would think that in most murders, there is no reason to keep plunging a knife in over and over, or to also shoot one’s victim as well. So, I think Arias should have been shown a little mercy upon sentencing because if not actually being abused, she must have felt that way in her mind–otherwise why the extreme violence, as if she wanted to make sure that Travis was dead, and would stay dead?
After watching some of the internet videos of Martinez continually splitting hairs in order to create an image of Jodi and her witnesses which he wanted the world to see, It seems he did act improperly by deliberately demonizing Arias and then trying to sensationalize various aspects of the case to make an impression on both the Jury and the public viewers at home.
The issue is really the right to a fair defense that all of us may someday have to hope for. Defense witnesses, as well as prosecution witnesses have got not just a right, but a responsibility to state their opinions based on their education and training, or their relationships with the people involved. The fact that Martinez’s line of defense was from the beginning, based only on demonizing the defendant, lead me to feel that, perhaps Jodi (although guilty) did not receive a fair trial which should have been judged impartially with objective facts.
And the right to such fairness, from whatever side of the Courtroom one sits should be guaranteed for all of us–even Jodi Arias!
Excellent analysis. Very well thought out!
This is absolutely brilliant, Rob and Amanda!
It’s thorough, insightful and emotionally and psychologically astute and sensitive. I agree with so much of what you’ve written here, and you’ve given clear explanations for so much that left me frustrated, sad and angry when I watched the trial back in 2013.
One word you never mention, however: misogyny. Misogyny — which, like racism, is kind of like an underground current in the culture, or like an odourless, poisonous gas that people don’t notice even while it exerts its powerful and destructive influence — misogyny was what gave Juan Martinez’ projections and manipulations their power over the jurors, the judge and the media.
Misogyny and sexism, together with the salacious sexual details involving young and pretty people, is why this case was tried in the media, why it inflamed passions, and why it brought out all that sexualized hatred for Arias. I have never seen a male defendant, not even an ultra-violent and sociopathic one, treated this way by the media and the public. Truly astonishing. Anthony, Wuronos, Knox — same thing. Yet, still worse for Arias
“Jodi Arias probably got closer to the real Travis than anyone had. Jodi Arias to this day is still enchanted by her memory of Travis. It’s clear that Travis Alexander was much more than just sex to Jodi Arias.”
Yes. Sadly, this is true, I think. I do not believe she has recovered or truly learned, or begun the process of healing — which of course isn’t surprising. She’s had to put aside developing into an adult (she was a very “young” 27-28 year-old), and just fight for her life. Perhaps, also, she continues to dissociate in order to cope with the guilt. Obviously, these are not ideal circumstances for self-actualization or even just facing the awful, terrifying facts. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s created an enchanted, spiritual dimension in her mind in which both she and Travis are perfectly and finally happy. To be clear: I’m not getting sentimental, here, and maybe I’m wrong. But, I think it is absolutely terrible that she never fully admitted that his emotionally abusive and humiliating treatment filled her with hatred and a primal (probably infantile) rage.
People! Try, try to be good to your kids! No kids need a perfect parent — parenting certainly is hard — but they do need to know that they matter, especially if they are born with a sensitive, fragile temperament. Then again, no parent is a parent in isolation. There are systems, too, that work against people seeing one another as precious, or at least as deserving of a certain minimum of dignity, of mattering to others. But, now I’ve gone too far. This case has really gotten to me … sorry for such a long comment.
Don’t be sorry, and thank you. 🙂
I ‘d like to add “deception” (i.e. knowingly leaving someone with a false impression) to the types of lies. When you omit pertinent details of a story and you know the hearer has gotten the wrong impression, and might act on it to their detriment, you are also lying.
I agree, Michael. When you tell one side of the story and purposely leave out important details, you are being deceptive.