Many believe Sandy Arias, mother of convicted murderer Jodi Arias, could provide powerful support for mitigation in this case. Even though Sandy appears to want to testify on her daughter's behalf, that simply cannot happen.
First of all, two of the mitigating factors the Defense announced they will argue is that Jodi (1) was neglected and abused as a child and (2) lacked support from her family. Putting any family member on the stand to testify in a positive way about Jodi would subject them to intense rebuttal arguments by Prosecutor Juan Martinez.
Second of all, the jury has been prevented from seeing the heartbreaking interview Sandy gave to Detective Flores on July 15, 2008, where she admits Jodi has mental problems and that she herself first suspected Jodi may have had something to do with the death of Travis Alexander. If Sandy takes the stand, Juan Martinez could use that video for impeachment -- and that would be absolutely devastating to the Defense.
Lastly, Sandy Arias (in order to support the Defense allegations) would have to "admit" to being abusive and neglectful. Since we know that didn't happen (or at least seriously doubt that it did), Sandy would be forced to perjure herself. That would open the door for Martinez to pull out the interviews done by Patti Womack with Nancy Grace and 48 Hours relating what an idyllic childhood Jodi Arias had.
I believe Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott are (and well should be) concerned about the potential to suborn perjury by putting any of the Arias family members on the stand. They have to continue to cope with their own client's lies but they don't need to make a bad situation worse.
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