Fecal Adhesion
12:13pm Central: [Great Seal of the State of Arizona]... HLN reports an ex-parte meeting with the defense.
12:20pm Central: [Great Seal of the State of Arizona]... Mike Galanos on HLN does not list Patti Womack on today's lineup though he does not specifically say she will not testify. He mentions only Darryl Brewer and Jodi Arias.
12:29pm Central: [Live feed begins]
The following represents my notes for todays proceedings and not a true transcript.
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| Evil Stare |
NURMI: Court had a duty to protect the Defendant's right to a fair trial and failed to do so. All previous requests for mistrial were denied. Failure to sequester was denied. Claims of witness intimidation restated (Womack and LaViolette, both still under seal). Claims Ms. Womack now cannot come forward and testify on behalf of Arias. The intimidation is evidence the picture is not complete for this jury. The state offers no support for their opposition to the mistrial. Claims mistrial is the only lawful remedy.
MARTINEZ: Issue before the court today regards only Ms. Womack. The issue is why she's not here to testify. I conducted an interview with Ms. Womack and she failed to answer questions regarding drug use of herself and the Defendant. She left the room with Jennifer Willmott and Kirk Nurmi, not her attorneys. When she returned, Womack's Fifth Amendment right was asserted and she stated it was her belief she should assert them. She faces prosecution for not reporting income from "some photographs" and for "use of illicit drugs". She has some sort of substance abuse problem. She came to court on Thursday May 16 and at that time the court appointed an attorney, Kenneth Countryman, who wanted to wait until Monday to make a determination. It's the State's belief, based on her silence, she would have continued to assert her rights and been excluded from testifying. Makes a copy of the interview available from the May 15 interview as evidence as what happened. Womack is not here to testify.
NURMI: The truth doesn't associate with what he's saying. We never advised Ms. Womack. When this court allows a prosecutor to attack [a witness]... we don't know whether it's true that Ms. Womack would plead the Fifth... the effect on Ms. Arias would be the same. Ms. Arias has a right to present a full and complete case during mitigation.
STEPHENS: Defense has failed to prove its case. Sealed proceedings outside the courtroom will not be revealed. Any witness the Defense wishes to call may be called in sealed proceedings. The court can only speculate why Ms. Womack is not here today as well as other witnesses who could possibly testify. Motion Denied.
NURMI: Ms. Willmott and I again request to withdraw from the case. We cannot fulfill our duty to the Defendant.
STEPHENS: Motion to withdraw denied.
NURMI: We will not be calling witnesses during this phase.
STEPHENS: I assume your client does wish to allocute.
NURMI: May we approach? [sidebar]
[JURY ENTERS THE COURTROOM]
[Live feed defaults to the Great Seal]
12:58pm Central: [Live feed resumes. Jury has left the courtroom.]
STEPHENS: Due to ex-parte meeting with defendant which shall be sealed, court will be adjourned for today and resume tomorrow.
MARTINEZ: Ms Womack stated she would not be able to testify to Arias having a bad childhood. [Implies her testimony would not be crucial to the Defense.]
NURMI: We believe a jury instruction as to why Ms. Womack is not going to testify is appropriate. Asks for a stay of the proceedings.
STEPHENS: I will say [Womack] is unavailable. Stay is denied.
MARTINEZ: May we approach? [sidebar]
STEPHENS: Calls for the jury. We are unable to proceed. Please return tomorrow morning at 9:30 [Pacific]. You are excused. [Jury leaves.] We are at recess.
Footnotes:
I think it's being implied Alyce LaViolette would have been called to testify in this phase of the trial however Nurmi's opening statement did not mention her (only Womack and Darryl Brewer). It's not clear why Darryl Brewer didn't show up today [the Judge commented no witnesses were present today]. Nor is it clear why proceedings couldn't continue with testimony from Jodi Arias.
Jane Velez-Mitchell reports tonight during her program on HLN that she and her producer saw Darryl Brewer waiting at a nearby hotel for a call from the Defense to come on over to testify. That call never came. Apparently he was not intimidated at all by Juan Martinez and has nothing to hide. [Update 6:21pm Central]
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