In particular, my assumption is that there trying to prove Ms. Arias used gas cans to avoid being seen in Arizona at a gas station by either a witness or cameras. That, if true, would show planning of at least something. So why then didn't Mr. Prosecutor flat out ask Mr. Arias if that was her intent? Instead, he avoided asking her that question because of one thing: fear. Mr. Prosecutor is afraid she will have an answer for the question and the jury will believe her. So he is instead doing what trial lawyers have been trained to do, save the ultimate question for closing argument when the other side has no chance to contradict your argument.
Under all circumstances, such a approach is cowardly and craven. In the particular circumstance of this one in which a prosecutor's job is not to win per se but act as a "minister of justice", it is downright evil. When someone, anyone, as in Jodi Arias, is on trial for her life, she should be given every opportunity to directly answer all the government's accusations in her own voice directly to the prosecutor's face. It should then be up the jury to decide who to believe with all the facts before them. The jury should not be in the unfortunate position of deciding the fate of a person, as they are in now, without all the facts before them because the prosecutor was too afraid to ask the defendant the ultimate question.
But assume for the sake of argument she was asked that question and did not have a good answer for it. What was she planning? Was she planning on killing him since the moment she asked to borrow the gas cans in May, or since she left for her trip from California? If she was planning on killing him before she left on her trip, then why did she stay with him for 8 hours and have sex with him on the same day? Does that really sound like a plan on murdering Travis Alexander? I don't know, and even more more importantly, the government cannot answer these questions without speculation or guess work. The guesses may be reasonable and even probable, but that is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and certainly not proof enough to send Ms. Arias to death row.
If the jury is that stupid they would disregard facts and common sense, then they have NOT done their job, have likely been watching HLN and others in the lynch mob media, and therefore any conviction of murder one should be overturned on appeal.
Questions SHOULD be asked of the Maricopa County D.A.'s office why they overcharged Arias with this crime:
That being the case, it is obvious that the government overcharged her and should have accepted her offer to plead guilty to murder in the second degree some time ago. That way, the government could have avoided this silly fiasco that has hardly made Arizona look civilized and respectable, ie, "bull dog" or "mad dog" prosecution. Once the jury comes back with something less than a conviction for murder one, I hope media will aggressively question the Maricopa County Attorneys' Office why they wasted so much time and money on a wasted prosecution. I hope they will ask MCAO why did they refuse to accept Ms. Arias' plea to murder two with the hopes of garnering fame and attention? While nature may be "red in tooth and claw", do we want that to be the philosphy of our prosecutor's office?
I can only think that Martinez was looking for his 15 minutes of fame on the national stage, as the case had been nationally profiled by 48 Hours. He didn't do Travis Alexander's family any favors by overcharging her when Jodi Arias and her lawyers were willing to accept a plea deal. His stubbornness could be costly.
This record was the subject of a lot of discussion today. I would suppose this is the same person as the victim.
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