50 Shades of Jodi

By Tommy Acosta
(February 25, 2013)

Sometimes we are like surfers waiting for the right wave to ride. Bobbing up and down in an ocean of news, we hope a big one will come along.

We finally got one. A really big one and it’s time to ride again.

No. It’s not the stupid sequester scare because just like the fiscal cliff hoopla, it will never come to be.

No, it’s not the gun ban fight because it has degraded into trench warfare now and it will drag on and become boring as more and more people become immune to gun violence news.

No, it’s not the immigration debate, although the real reason behind the sudden softening would make a good commentary down the road.

Benghazi? Ho hum… It’s like meditating over a dead cat. Only the stupidest of the pit bulls out there are still biting the stripped bone

Cosmic annihilation by an asteroid? Didn’t happen. Let’s wait and see how the Apophis comet looks later in 2013.

The inspirations comes not from the issues above but from a capital murder trial that is sucking Americans in like a mammoth intergalactic black hole…Yes, we are talking about the Jodi Arias trial on HLN Cable TV.

A young woman is facing execution if found guilty of killing her boyfriend, a high-ranking member of the Mormon Church, stabbing him 29 times with a kitchen knife, shooting him in the head, slicing his throat from ear-to-ear.

She claims it was self-defense against the victim’s rage, a man she accuses of indoctrinating her into the church but also introducing her to anal intercourse hours after he baptized her and sequentially enjoining her in all kinds of deviant sexual activities during the course of their relationship.

The prosecution seeks to prove it was premeditated murder and the trial is in the cross-examination point, where Arias is facing the formidable Arizona prosecutor Juan Martinez.

Opting to take the witness stand, the accused, under the skillful questioning of defense attorney Kirk Nurmi, she has weaved an incredible, erotic tale of seduction and sexual domination by Travis Alexander, whom according to her testimony, referred to her as a “Three Holed Wonder,” used her for quick “oral sex” encounters in parking lots, where he would ask her to leave the car once he was finished, was caught masturbating to little boy photos, and forced her to wear pig-tails, wear boy’s Spider Man” underwear while being taken anally from behind while talking in a little girl’s voice. She said he was violent, forceful and had broken her finger with a kick while they were dating.

The prosecution says the sex was consensual and recordings have been played showing Arias willingly involved in conversations of deviant sexual nature.

She is accused of driving from Utah to Mesa, Arizona while trying to cover her tracks by carrying extra cans of gas and not stopping at gas stations to leave an electronic trail.

She allegedly stole a gun of the same caliber used to kill Alexander from her grandparent’s house and threw it in the desert on her way back home.

She lied to the police when first questioned in the murder saying it was two men dressed in Ninja outfits that brutally killed Alexander. Eventually she confessed she killed him in self-defense.

The State seeks the death penalty even though no woman has been executed in Arizona in the since 1930.

There are currently two women on death row in the state.

So? What is it that makes this trial the most intriguing and different than any trial eve broadcast on television?

It’s the sex. It’s the sex,

People at home are tuning into the trial and learning things about sex they could never have imagined.

It’s naughty, forbidden and decadent. They can’t look away and they can’t get enough.

The trial has got everything: Murder. Sex. Power. Lies. Seduction, Religion and Intrigue.

Was she taken by this powerful man, mesmerized by his sexual power and his standing in the Mormon community; used, abused, dumped and then physically attacked when she displeased him, as she claims?

Or did she methodically plan to kill him as revenge for him dumping her and taking another woman to a vacation she thought she was a part of?

Jodi is not really beautiful but she can be made up to look good.

Her image on the stand is played down and she is reserved and cool. She is careful what she says and looks to the jury while recounting.

She wears her hair brown and down. She wears glasses, has thick lips and is petite.

It’s difficult to imagine her, looking as plain as she does, participating in the lewd acts she describes, acts seen only on porn flicks performed by sexy and voluptuous women.

She looks innocent enough but there is something dark there as well.

Prosecutor Martinez is in the middle of grilling her at this point in the trial. He is forceful and , animated.

He has an annoying voice, is bullying, and has a tendency to put words into the mouths of those he interrogates.

He is very quick to reach conclusions in a manner that requires a listener to rapidly put facts together to reach the same conclusion he does.

Unfortunately for his cross-examination so far, Arias is a stickler on words and properly formulated questions and keeps correcting the prosecuting attorney to refine his questions to make logical sense so she could properly answer yes or no.

As a result, his rhythm keeps getting interrupted and the amount of mental work need to process what he is trying to say requires more and more attention.

During testimony, she claimed she could not remember anything more about killing Alexander after the gun was fired.

Martinez demanded to know what affects her ability to recount. Jodi whacked him so hard with her reply that there was an audible gasp in the courtroom. She said that when men like him and Travis yell at her, it makes it harder for her to keep her thoughts together.

Watching the trial is like watching a game of chess by two really good players.

Did she kill him?

Yes.

Did she premeditate his murder?

One wants to believe when looking at her she is a cold-blooded killer and then one wonders if he really did attack her and made her fear for her life.

Is there something else about her?

For sure.

She has the eyes of one who stands and observes outside of the immediate conversation.

As an example, when a group of people are engaged in a conversation about a particular subject, they are usually in the conversation responding or listening, or if bored, daydreaming.

Then there are people when in conversations that are participating but are also separated, observing the others and consciously looking for an advantage or evaluating worth.

They are there but not really there. They look at you and determine your use. If you have no value, you are ignored. If you are useful, you are manipulated.

Many of the witness’ testimonies remarked how they felt when with her, claiming she looked through them like they weren’t there. They were of no use to her.

She is also quite articulate, using a more refined vocabulary than she appears capable of commanding. She describes intimate and extremely erotic sex scenes in a manner that skirts the offensive, rivets one’s attention and paints clear pictures in your mind.

Talking heads and HTL personalities like Nancy Grace are proclaiming her guilt as immutable. Analysts, prosecutors and defense attorneys, experts, Fox pundits like Geraldo Rivera are getting in on the act.

There are Web sites popping up dedicated to Jodi’s innocence.

It’s a legal free-for-all with punches flying everywhere. Unfortunately, the tragic death of a young man in his prime and the destruction of a young woman’s life has become today’s number one entertainment offering on TV and cable networks.

And the fireworks are just warming up.

Just like the Casey Anthony “TOT MOM” trial grabbed the country’s attention, this murder trial is destined to be even bigger.

A prediction on the outcome of the trial?

The prosecution will not be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt Airas premeditated the murder