As the domestic abuse expert for Jodi Arias' defense repeatedly rebuffed the state's questions Tuesday, questioning grew so heated the witness lashed out at the prosecutor, saying she wanted him to "take a time out."
Arias' lawyers are trying to establish her inherent need for self-defense against her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander through a series of paid expert witnesses. In an attempt to prove he fractured her mental state so badly that's she's suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and is a victim of domestic abuse, the defense is currently questioning psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette. The defense's assertion that Arias is the real victim here is the crux of its argument at this point in the trial. If they can convince the jury she was physically and mentally abused, she could beat the murder charge against her. Meanwhile, prosecuting attorney Juan Martinez is determined to prove Arias' premeditation to sustain a first-degree murder charge in Alexander's killing.
A 32-year-old photographer from California, Arias is charged with the grisly first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Alexander in June 2008, when she stabbed the 30-year-old man 27 times, primarily in the back, shot him in the face, slit his throat from ear to ear with so much force it almost decapitated him, and left his bloodied corpse crumpled over in the bathroom shower of his home - all in the course of 106 seconds. Arias' guilt is not up for debate - but her mental state at the time of the killing is. Arias' future depends on whether the jury believes she killed Alexander in self-defense, as she contends, or was actually a jilted lover exacting jealous revenge, as the prosecution argues.
In another day of tense testimony, Martinez quickly grew impatient with LaViolette's cagey, indirect responses to his questions, chiding her over and over for not answering "yes or no."
Martinez began by once again focusing on psychotherapist LaViolette's methods of diagnosing Arias as a victim of domestic abuse. He asked LaViolette what caused her to assess Arias as believable.
"I pulled in all the sources I could possibly pull in ... I looked at all the material and believed Ms. Arias confessed to the crime," LaViolette testified.
Martinez spent much of Tuesday trying to prove that Arias was manipulative, and had always played the role of the victim. LaViolette continued to offer her interpretations of the relationship based on her readings of the case files, 40 hours of interviews with Arias, and journal entries written by Arias, but she mostly just ended up defending herself.
"The defendant is very manipulative, isn't she?" Martinez asked LaViolette.
"I don't believe I said she is manipulative ... There was collateral sources that said she was manipulative," LaViolette said.
"Isn't it true your investigation revealed she liked to play the victim?" Martinez asked.
"This was about high school Mr. Martinez," LaViolette said of her notes and the person who told her Arias was manipulative.
"You thought it was important enough to write down," Martinez said.
"I took notes on every interview. I asked her about [playing the victim] but I also looked at statements from her [family]," LaViolette said.
"I never got the impression that she was in the habit of playing the victim," she added.
Martinez hammered LaViolette over whether or not she had read the police report describing Arias' interviews with law enforcement. LaViolette claimed she did, but said she could not remember any details from the documents.
Martinez then questioned LaViolette about Arias' story of borrowing gas canisters for her road trip. The prosecutor noted that LaViolette had not sought information from any source other than Arias about whether the defendant had originally planned to go to Mesa, Ariz. at the time she borrowed the gas cans from an ex-boyfriend. Martinez asked LaViolette if her professional opinion of Arias would change if she found out the stories she'd written in her journal were lies. LaViolette claimed it would not have likely had an effect on her opinion.
"Aren't you providing an excuse and siding with the defense?" Martinez asked.
"No, I'm not saying that. ... What I am saying is I like to look at the big picture," LaViolette said.
Martinez prodded LaViolette to admit that Arias had been manipulative in the past toward men.
"You indicated the defendant was manipulated by Mr. Alexander ... and in fact ... we have the defendant exhibiting manipulative behavior, right?" asked Martinez.
"Right," answered LaViolette.
Arias faces the death penalty if convicted. The trial resumes Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EST when Martinez will continue his cross examination of LaViolette.