Jodi Arias To Represent Self at Death Penalty Trial

I do not find it surprising that Jodi Arias has decided to represent herself at her death penalty trial. Jodi Arias probably has learned that the only way she can influence and mitigate her risk of death is to get the jury to connect with her on some level–to have pity for her, and the only way that will happen is if they get to know Jodi. Hence, Jodi has to represent herself. Of course, being a narcissist and a psychopath, she’ll also love the attention so it is a win-win for Jodi. With that, her move to represent herself actually makes sense.

Could you look at a person before you and give the vote to kill them? It’s not an easy choice to make and Jodi knows that–especially since she doesn’t look intimidating, threatening and harmful. People have a natural tendency to be more lenient on people who look harmless, sadly. Human nature makes us not want to believe innocent looking people are capable of causing us serious harm because it means we have to admit we are somewhat vulnerable and defenseless with a person like Jodi, and that makes us uncomfortable on a subconscious level. This will all work in Jodi’s favor.

I never saw the close-up video footage above showing Jodi Arias’ face when she was convicted of murdering Travis Alexander. It’s fascinating to watch. Watch Jodi get the wind knocked out of her, literally. She is a master at minimizing her emotions, too–unbelievable so–considering her conviction. If you notice as hard as Jodi works to keep her emotions inside, she cannot stop her chin from quivering!

48 Hours: David Camm (re-run)

Eight months ago, I wrote about David Camm’s 3rd trial and him being set free. You can read about it here.

I do not believe David Camm and here are some of the reasons:

1. David Camm has not shown any genuine and real negative emotions about losing his wife and family to murder from day one in all the video I have seen of him over the years. He is as cold and blank as can be…

2. YET when David Camm is accused of sexual molesting his daughter, we see real emotion for the first time. THIS upsets David. We see stress in his forehead for the first time. I find that shocking. What’s weird about David Camm is that this seems to upset him more than the killing of his family. This is a “wow” moment for me.

4. We see very real emotions in David Camm when he gets set free, too–he seems to feel way more emotions for himself than he ever showed for his wife and family.

5. At the end of the show when David Camm said he didn’t want to share any memories of his wife because they are all he had left, I felt that was a cold and callous response. If he loved his wife, he would want to share how beautiful and special she was with the world because she was taken away way too early and so were his children, but he couldn’t do it. It was notable to me. Almost bitter. I cannot reconcile this.

Now imagine you are wrongly accused of murdering your family and of molesting your daughter. Which one would upset you most?

I think all people would feel more violated about being accused of killing three people versus and unsubstantiated sexual abuse claim, but not David Camm.

Read this excerpt from 48 Hours:

With Boney convicted, Camm was feeling better about his second trial, especially because the judge threw out the conspiracy charge. But he had to worry when he heard prosecutor Keith Henderson tell the jury about those unproven suspicions that Jill was molested.

Asked what it was like to hear those allegations, Camm told Schlesinger, “Now that — makes my blood boil,” he replied in 2013. “…that’s the one thing that really infuriates me, more than a lot of things.”

“Because?” Schlesinger asked.

“Because it’s not true and because it is so inflammatory,” Camm replied.

Wasn’t everything not true, if he was innocent??? Or was it only the molestation charge?

Camm sure makes you wonder, doesn’t he?

Michael Vilkin versus John Upton: What really happened?


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ABC 20/20 featured the story this past weekend of John Upton and Michael Vilkin–both neighbors who didn’t get along.

Vilkin owned a vacant lot and tended to it as if it were a full-time job but Upton had some serious complaints that he aired with Vilkin. The two were known to not get along.

The last fight these two men had involved Vilkin cutting down trees on his own property and Upton being upset that his privacy would be lost at his current home where he rented.

Vilkin ended up shooting and killing Upton, got convicted of murder and faces 25 years to life for the murder.

So what really happened here?

When I watched the show, I do not question that Vilkin was bullied by Upton. There is no doubt in my mind he was bullied.

But I have a problem with Vilkin’s story. At first, Vilkin told us he was assaulted by Upton when he shot him in self-defense, but the second time he said he saw Upton coming at him with a gun, and shot and killed him. The gun Vilkin thought he saw Upton carrying ended up being a cell phone.

The two versions of Vilkin’s story are completely inconsistent.

So I do believe Vilkin was bullied and it probably was driving him mad, but I don’t believe that he had to shoot Upton as an act of self-defense.

Jennifer Martello Found Dead

This is an interesting video to watch. The husband, Sam, talks to a reporter about the recent death of his wife, who was found dead along a road. He shows absolutely no sadness whatsoever when talking about her. This pings me.

Furthermore, he says their relationship was all about love, yet in another report neighbors talked about how the police were called to the residence at least six times since 2012, so by that we can see Sam is not being forthright. It wasn’t all about love–there were problems.

I am also disturbed by the fact he recorded her that night and saved it, and plays that for the reporter. In the interview above, he says his wife was determined to go to the bar. In another audio recording on the web, he says she was just going for a walk.

This story at this point concerns me… I have some questions for Sam.

48 Hours: Radley Horwitz

(Originally posted December 2013)
Radley was the son of Lanny and Donna Horwitz. They were a blessed family with lots of money to live the good life, but life wasn’t good for Lanny and Donna. The two separated and divorced multiple times and upon the last reconciling, things were still tainted between them as another woman was in the scene.

So when Lanny ended up dead, the mystery was who did it? The case is long and involved, but eventually a court of law determined that it was Lanny’s first love, Donna, to whom he was married previously and had recently reconciled with who did it. They believed she had motive…the motive of jealousy because of the other woman. But the case was all circumstantial.

When 48 Hours aired this story a week ago, one person dropped a boat load of red flags and I can tell you unequivocally, I didn’t believe him whatsoever. That person is Lanny’s son, Radley. While I cannot conclusively rule out Donna as being involved, Radley was hotter than a potato out of the oven. I have little doubt he knows exactly what happened and could have easily been the killer — protected by his mother after the fact as she knows he is young and has his whole life ahead of him and a daughter to raise.

Radley is egotistical and arrogant, and quite frankly a chip off the old block. They say people who are alike either love each other or hate each other. With Radley and Lanny, it turned to hate.

Radley’s “stories” were over-the-top and his behaviors were unnatural at every turn. He had me crawling up the walls that he was never looked at as a suspect.

I do not trust one word Radley said to 48 Hours or on the stand.