Arias: Nurmi Acts Wormy

I'm relieved to see I'm not the only court watcher who believes Kirk Nurmi went way over the line today in his cross-examination of Deanna Reid.  Reid, former girlfriend of Travis Alexander, was called to the stand as part of the state's rebuttal case against Jodi Arias.  Under direct examination by prosecutor Juan Martinez, Reid revealed a portrait of Alexander seldom seen in this courtroom.  The couple dated from 2000-2005, having what most people would consider a normal, healthy relationship (Mormon prohibitions aside).  Once Reid realized the relationship would never result in marriage, she advised Alexander she wanted to move on.  The couple remained friends and kept in contact up until May, 2008 -- shortly before his death.

On cross-examination, Nurmi droned on in his zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz style, rehashing testimonial territory already covered on direct.  Just as I was wondering why he bothered getting out of his recliner for this, he switched tracks and attacked Reid, forcing her to admit to having had a sexual relationship with Alexander -- unnecessary and irrelevant questioning in every respect.  Why didn't Martinez object?!

Making a bad blunder worse, Nurmi went on to question Reid as to whether Alexander had ever called her any of the long litany of x-rated names he'd used on Jodi Arias.  Primacy and Recency... I'm sure that's the only excuse Nurmi had for "going there" with this witness.  He couldn't leave the jury with an image of Travis as a nice guy.  While that may be a good defense tactic in theory, I would bet my last nickle the jury will be as offended by it as are the rest of us.  God speed Deanna Reid for handling it like a lady.

Is there evidence Alexander ever treated any other woman in the manner he treated Arias?  Not that I've seen.  Perhaps that's because he had a preference for Good Mormon Women (e.g. Deanna Reid, Lisa Andrews-Daidone and Marie "MiMi" Hall).  What he learned was that even though he could make Jodi a Mormon, he could never make her a good one.  Nor could he ever be rid of her.

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Snark Alert

I get a kick out of Kirk Nurmi's cheek-puffs.  I snapped a screenshot of him doing it a couple of times...