Jodi Arias Trial: Day 19 (Canceled: Judge Sick)

Defendant Jodi Arias still remains on the stand, and will likely be on the stand for at least two more weeks, considering how slowly this trial is going. Yesterday the trial ended with an examination of one of the emails. This was the one, if I remember correctly, where Travis wanted Jodi to remain not just as a secret sex partner but also completely secret to the point he would not publicly acknowledge her help in the book he was writing. I can't remember if this was her email or Travis's.

Image is EVERYTHING in the Mormon church, and Travis knew if it became common knowledge he was still seeing Jodi, even socially, this could undermine his standing there, not to mention his job, which seem to attract a lot of employees who were LDS. Jodi made mention of a temple recommend having been taken away from him and his ex-girlfriend, Deanna Reed, for inappropriate behavior.

While people on HLN and other talking heads make excuses for Travis's rotten behavior, claiming he was just a "regular guy" abusing women and seeing them as nothing but objects put on this earth to please jerks like him, the fact is he was risking everything by acting this way. The phone sex recording undermined his image forever, not to mention blew a giant hole in the prosecution's notion Jodi was some kind of stalker who premeditated the murder out of a jealous rage of Travis going to Cancun with somebody else. The text messages and emails further undermine Travis's image and the prosecution's theory.

I haven't heard anything in Jodi Arias's testimony so far that can be construed as a lie. It's completely credible to me. What will be most important, of course, is her explanation of what happened on the afternoon of June 4, 2008, and the aftermath, since she never called the police and took off to Utah to meet with Ryan Burns. She will have explain why she lied to Detective Flores and told similar lies to the media instead of exercising her Miranda rights. I have a lot of theories kicking around about that day, and it remains to be seen if any of them have any validity. I am most interested in the obvious Mormon symbolism surrounding Travis's death.

What the media needs to do, but won't, is not interview ANY of Travis's friends or family members anymore knowing they will just try and spin this case into something that is now proven not to be the truth at all. They thought they knew Travis, but in reality they never knew him at all. Some of them, like the Hugheses, shouldn't be talking publicly at all, as they are potential witnesses.


Update: The trial has been canceled until next Tuesday. Judge Sherry Stephens called in sick:

The Jodi Arias trial has been canceled for Thursday.

According to a court spokesperson, Judge Sherry Stephens is out sick.

The trial is expected to resume Tuesday since the courts are closed Monday for President's Day.

Can't very well have a trial with a judge out sick.