Can Jodi Arias be Helped Through a New Defense Investigation?

Phoenix, AZ—A jury convicted Jodi Arias of Capital Murder.   She now faces sentencing and her lawyers are frantically trying to save her life. 

I have gotten several requests from sincere readers to reinvestigate the Arias case.  None of them have come with the necessary retainer to allow me to help out.  

The case is somewhat problematic since Arias had changed her story to police and juries rarely will forgive what they believe to be lies, especially by the accused.   I can tell you that many innocent defendants fib to police all the time out of absolute desperation.  It is more about fear and the instinct for survival that anything else.  

I know that the trial was beyond troubling because the jury was bombarded with outrageous outside influences from the massive media circus.  Her trial was a lot of things but fair was not one of them.  Members of the Mormon community pulled out all the stops in efforts to influence that poor excuse for a trial.

For those that would ask why would you investigate for someone like this?  My answer is simple every American that is accused has a constitutional right to an effective defense and investigation is part of that.  The chips will fall where they may. 

Saying that,  I don’t know what the truth is about the actual innocence of Arias.  In the end her defense was self-defense.  I specialize in those kinds of cases and won 14 out of the last 14 I’ve handled for the defense.  Saying that I can’t make a promise of a particular result for Arias.

Lawyers can only do so much with what they are given in the way of evidence and witnesses.  My job is to give defense lawyers more evidence to work with.  Accordingly the defense investigation often becomes more important than the legal work by defense counsel.  Of course the lawyers have to get that evidence before the jury and sometimes that's very difficult.  

Too often the defense investigation is not done well.  Sometimes lawyers constrain the investigators too much or they are unable to suggest creative ways of gathering evidence to the investigators.  Far too many defense investigators are simply not creative and only follow suggestions of the lawyers. 

The investigator must be sharp, creative and must discuss his ideas with the lead lawyer.  The reality is that the lead lawyer is the captain of the ship.  The defense team is not a democracy but a dictatorship with the lead lawyer as a single dictator.  

Like all of us I have to pay the mortgage companies, utilities and the daily costs in a miserable economy.  There is no way for me to do this pro-bono.  The reinvestigation could easily run $50K before it’s over.

It is substantially easier to win a case at the initial trial level that to overturn an existing conviction.  However convictions are overturned all the time.  I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t predict how this will end.

A proposition

I’m willing to begin a reinvestigation this case for $20K.  That would essentially allow me to get up to speed on the facts and give me the various directions to move forward.  In it self this may somehow be enough to find the evidence that could make a difference.  I can’t possibly know until I have spent a couple of months on this case where it will go or what it will cost in the end.  If things begin to look promising we can worry about the additional costs later.    

Arias’s supporters seem both convinced and vocal.   Through our social media funds can be raised and if my minimum retainer can be met I am willing to take this case on.  Perhaps Kickstarter or some other Internet fundraising scheme may be the way to get funding.  I won’t get involved with the solicitation of funds myself.

The other side of this coin is the media  and social media has made Arias a pariah especially within the ranks of the fans of TV legal bomb thrower, Nancy Grace.   Nancy Grace however could be the biggest fundraiser as she agitates the supporters of Arias.

There is just one thing more Ms. Arias must consent to my intervention.  The ball is now in the court of Arias and her supporters.  This  game does not have to be over.

UPDATE:  I just got a reliable tip in Phoenix about the Arias case.  Apparently the defense has found a new witness and is filing a motion for a new trial so that this witness may be allowed to testify.  I don't know the details yet and of course I'm not going to look too hard until I am retained.  

The George Zimmerman Crimefile News, Murder Trial Playbook

George Zimmerman with his lawyers and a jury consultant. 

Sanford, FL—Let me begin by reminding my readers that I’ve been a cop and licensed private investigator for more than 40 years.  I specialize in criminal defense cases where self-defense is the primary legal defense of the accused.

Governor Jeb Bush appointed 18th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Debra Nelson in 1999.  She served three years as a Broward County prosecutor in the very beginning of her legal career in 1979.  She’s never been a criminal defense lawyer.  This murder trial of George Zimmerman will provide challenges that few judges could ever equitably handle. 

Emotional and racist African-Americans and various Left Wing wackos will threaten the judge daily.   I say this based on the already exhibited behavior of pro-Trayvon Martin demonstrators.  Judge Nelson’s life is about to change and not for the better.

So far, I don’t see any real attempt to preclude prejudicial and illicit outside influences because the trial will be televised live and the jury will not be sequestered.  Trust me when I say most or all of the jury will be searching for material on the Internet every night to support their personal preferences of a verdict.

Let me also say that the members of the jury will be justifiably fearful of retribution if they don’t convict Zimmerman.  The jury is made from members of the local community and they all have already seen the massive hate directed at Zimmerman by very vocal neighbors.  This trial will be a lot of things, but I seriously doubt fair will be one of them.

The media will continue to portray Travon Martin with angelic pictures of a baby-faced pre-teen.  They will avoid all of the much more current tough guy poses with guns and drugs like the ones that were discovered on his cell phone. 

The media will continue to portray Martin as a happy lad skipping merrily through an apartment complex with tea and skittles.  They will portray Zimmerman as a ruthless vigilante stalking Martin only because of his race.  The media has their own long-standing agenda here of audience building sensationalism and to abolish American gun rights. 

The media led by Nancy Grace of HLN will relentlessly harp that Zimmerman disobeyed “orders” from a 911 operator to discontinue his efforts to watch Martin.  They will never once mention that the 911 operators have no training in the laws of citizen’s arrest or probable cause.  911 operators are not qualified nor authorized by law to order anyone to do anything at all.  They can however recommend options to their callers. 

The one thing we do know for sure is that the 911 operator was unable to do was to put a capable and well-trained cop at the scene to deal with Trayvon Martin’s suspicious conduct.  Hopefully the defense will make that point.

What the prosecutors hope to accomplish is the total shifting of the burden of proof making Zimmerman prove his justification to use deadly force.  That’s un-American and wrong but I have seen this happen in the majority of similar cases when defense lawyers are not skillful or when judges are biased against the use of weapons in self-defense cases.  Frankly most criminal defense lawyers don’t understand the dynamics of self-defense and can’t convey the needed information to a judge or jury.

The defense will show the jury the grass stains on the back of Zimmerman's clothing and his injuries.  They will show the disparity of force between the out-of-shape Zimmerman and the athletic Martin.

In the end witnesses will testify and the jury will be instructed.  The jury will make their guesses and Zimmerman will be lucky if he survives this ordeal at all.  I will be providing more information during the trial and will be on Twitter as @crimefile time permitting.   Please, stay tuned!

Special Update!  Since this was written Judge Nelson entered an order that the jury is to be sequestered.