Why the prosecution has done a great job proving Jodi Arias is innocent
The Jodi Arias defense team will soon present its case and evidence and among other things, there is a lot of speculation about whether Jodi Arias herself will testify. But despite the fact that Ms. Arias has yet to testify, or even certain if she will, that has not stopped people from all over America, the world even, from have already come to the conclusion that Ms. Arias is in fact not just a murderer and a liar, but a psychopathic killer. For example, see "Inside The Mind Of Accused Murderer Jodi Arias" by David Lohr.
...women like Arias often meet the criteria for both sociopathy or psychopathy, according to Wendler.
"The characteristics of psychopathy include disregard and violation of other people's feelings, wishes and rights," Wendler told HuffPost. "These individuals use deceitfulness and manipulation to obtain what they want (pleasure, profit, etc.). They are often called pathological liars. They are self-centered and show reckless disregard for the safety of others; they lack empathy towards their victims and have little or no remorse about their criminal actions."
What entitles anyone to conclude Ms. Arias is a psychopathic killer is beyond me. She may very well be a killer, a liar, and a psychopath, but the evidence of that last label is pitifully weak. For one thing, psychopaths are very rare, maybe something like 1 to 5% percent of the general population. One study found that only about 1.9% of women fall into the anti-social psychopath group ("Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales"). Keep in mind we are not talking about psychopaths in general but the much smaller subgroup of criminal or anti-social psychopaths. Second, the crowning definition of a psychopath is not just their willingness to lie, but their singular talent in being able to do so convincingly.
So far, the prosecution has presented a lot of evidence that Ms. Arias is not just a liar, but a terrible liar at that. The difference between between Ms. Arias' statements and demeanor with, for example Scott Peterson, is striking. According to the prosecution Ms. Arias has consistently changed her story from one version to the next, each seeming more impossible than the other. If in fact that is the case, that sounds like someone who is trying to get away from trouble and is terrible at doing so. That does not sound like a anti-social psychopath at all.
Lying is something everyone does, especially to the police "officer, I was not driving that fast; officer, I stopped at that stop sign, I swear; officer, I only had two beers, etc...". People even lie to their doctor, risking their life for nothing more than not revealing an embarrassing secret. You are probably asking yourself so what? So what if Ms. Arias is lying, but is not a psychopath? The distinction is important because the fact that Ms. Arias may have lied to the police about what happened is very weak evidence she is guilty of murder, certainly very weak evidence of premeditated murder.
Most people, even completely innocent people, when confronted with the stress of a hostile police investigation will not be completely truthful and will say things that are inconsistent, just like Ms. Arias has done so far. If, however, she is not just a liar but is in fact a psychopath, then the prosecution theory of premeditated first degree murder makes a whole lot more sense. Then the prosecution theory is not just "she's lying" but "but she is lying to cover up the premeditated murder and not just because she is scared and confused". If she was an anti-social psychopath, the story she told the police would have been much more convincing and rehearsed. But she is nothing more than an amatuer liar, hardly a criminal mastermind.
The fact that Ms. Arias may have lied to the police is evidence she lied to the police, not of first degree murder. Up to now, the State of Arizona has done of very good of proving she is guilty of the first accusation and innocent of the second.
Comments (6)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endJgs - February 19, 2013 1:06 PM
I'd venture to guess that, overall, the police do a lot mor lying than the public at large.
Dianne - February 21, 2013 8:15 PM
I agree that Jodi does not fit the profile of a true psychopath. Not all killers in prison are psychopaths, but those who have killed in anger are killers non the less. We would be better off is she is locked up.
The sticky point that bothers me most is the time line of her last visit to see Travis. She drove 90 miles for a car rental, then
borrowed 2 gas cans....smacks of premeditation for a cover up.
That one point is frightening since I very much doubt Travis was abusive...maybe not into her as she would have liked, but not abusive. His friends make that quite clear.
In my opinion, she is a danger to society and does have psychopathic leanings which were in full bloom at that dreadful time.
Joe - February 28, 2013 8:06 AM
What a joke, she's a psychopathic sociopath, it's as clear as day.
The only people sicker than this murderer are those that still think she's innocent.
Fleming - March 8, 2013 10:33 PM
She is what we all say. She planned everything. Sickening human being.
Fleming - March 8, 2013 10:52 PM
I have just listened to part of your radio talk about Jodi Arias trial. I am following this from France and I am very impressed with the way the Prosecutor is handling this case as also Detective Flores. They are the voices for Mr. Alexander and if someone did what she has done I would feel relieved that someone in law says exactly what I am trying to prove. As far as a civic lesson is concerned I don't see your point about an 18 year old ranting and raving for a parking space, this is a murder trial. I could never be a defense lawyer and find Mr. Nurmi's way of demeaning the victim and absolute disgrace.
Cate Ellington - March 28, 2013 9:46 PM
Not all Sociopaths need to be really smart to be sociopaths. They usually are above average in intelligence, and Jodi is a reader, so that accounts for a lot but what they are really really good at is being extremely capable of finding the weaknesses in things, people, the social fabric, etc., like a shark sniffing blood or a dog "smelling" fear. My opinion on why Jodi is not a better liar is because she never had to be. She surrounded herself with people up until this point in her life who didn't challenge her. Or at least if they did, they were soon out of Jodi's life. She left, started over somewhere else. To me it accounts for alot of her nomadic lifestyle too. But what was also true was that Jodi was getting older and she had decided she wanted to be married have the kids and picket fence, so I am sure some things were getting more difficult for her, her goals were more substantial, less easier to attain and not accomplished via the the routes she had previously taken. . It explains why Jodi also seems to have surrounded herself almost exclusively with men. The truth is men are so freakin' easy to manipulate on so very many levels when it comes to a pretty girl. I know this because I used to be very, very pretty. I was never a sociopath though just a young selfish girl that FINALLY grew up and started valuing things like female friendship, relationships built on trust. I was also never a good "user" I always ended up feeling incredibly guilty for everything I did that was manipulative of a man's feelings. Young beautiful women have a power that is very compelling and effective with men. Combine that with an anti-personality disorder and it could get very scary. Women are not typically susceptible to the same sort of manipulation. Look closely at her life. She NEVER got along with her mom. That alone might not mean anything, but Jodi seems to have had NO close girlfriends. The ONLY woman she pointed to in the trial that was her friend (other than a superficial mentioning of a "Rachel", who has not testified in her behalf for some reason) that happened to be female was Leslie Udy, a grandmother, a woman far older than she, someone non-threatening to Jodi, who seemed to have been a sort of mom -big sister figure that probably never challenged her on anything ever. Other than that every single close confidante of Jodi's was a man. This is not by accident.
Based on what Ive observed of Jodi Arias, her vanity, manipulation, confrontational manner, she does seem to lean towards an anti social personality disorder. The recent unedited video of her talking to herself, admonishing herself for not having put on makeup -seconds after she has been "crying" -talking about Travis' brutal murder w/ the detective, just minutes before she is about to have her mug shot taken and she is arrested is just....stunning. (We actually dont even know whether she really was crying and its doubtful- since she had her head down the whole time and Det Flores has stated he never saw genuine emotion from her.) Her strange emotional disconnect is bewildering, but NOT indicative of "denial" or some sort of mental "fugue". It is FLAT. What they call FLAT AFFECT. (Yes, I know the good Dr Samuels pointed to it as a sign of emotional "distancing" to protect herself from the horror of that day, but it is ALSO a very common attribute of sociopaths. They have no empathy for others. They feel only sad and upset for themselves. Jodi has repeatedly demonstrated this at trial. Her tears never seem to be about Travis. But about her feelings about HER situation and the mess she has gotten herself in to. ) Her ability to act natural at the memorial knowing what she had done and her extremely confident nerves of steel lying on 48 hours. Her requests to see the crime scene photos of Travis' slaughter while claiming two ninjas did it, her confronting women in situations where she felt jealous?? Finally there is the story she tells Det. Flores on the interrogation tape when he asks her about whether she has issues with rage, she tells him of the "chained up family dog" in the backyard when she was a freshman in high school that had gotten into the trash and she had to "clean it up and it made her mad" so she KICKED it . She goes on to say that the dog ran off and she never- ever saw the dog again after that. Dogs do not do that unless there is a very very good reason. This is where they got food. But How does a CHAINED dog run away? Yes her lies are mind boggling dumb a LOT of the time. But there is a narcissistic self fascination to her stories that I think shows that of a very ill and dangerous person. Hurting animals- is a classic red flag and a warning sign of a violent personality.
Heather - April 11, 2013 6:31 AM
Omg! On the whole of this page only one person has scratched on any kind of truth-- jgs, and then he guesses, doesn't know for sure.
I shake my head..
and as for Fleming saying he's greatly impressed with the way the prosecutor is handling this case..
the mind boggles.