A 'Star' Magazine May Be The Most Damning Evidence Against Jodi Arias
Arias, who killed her devout Mormon ex-boyfriend in 2008, has earned comparisons to Anthony because she's young and pretty and because she lied to police repeatedly.
Baez has rejected comparisons between Anthony and Arias, but he's chimed in on the "Mormon murder trial" anyway.
Arias claims she killed her ex Travis Alexander in self-defense, and her credibility is a huge question in her murder trial.
In an interview with CBS 5, Baez was asked to identify what he believes to be the most damning evidence against Arias. Baez said the worst evidence he's seen is a magazine found in her cell with a code that "could be interpreted as" trying to change a witness' testimony.
"Jurors don't want to feel like someone is trying to pull one over on them," he said. "What little open-mindedness they may have had might have been destroyed by that magazine."
There were actually two magazines found in Arias' cell, ABC News has reported. One was a Digital Photo Pro and the other was a Star magazine with Casey Anthony on the cover. Arias had allegedly intended to give the magazines to her friend Ann Campbell. From ABC News:
"In the Star Magazine at the bottom of one page was the following set of numbers: 43 40 56 20 37 54. Each number, the prosecutor said, corresponded to a page from the Digital Photo Pro magazine which contained a part of the message."
"Strung together, the entire message, according to [the prosecutor], read, 'You f***ed up what you told my attorney the next day / directly contradicts what I've been saying for over a year / get down here ASAP and see me before you talk to them again and before / you testify so / we can fix this / interview was excellent! Must talk ASAP!'"
By alleging that Arias had tried to influence a witness' testimony, prosecutors were probably trying to show jurors that they couldn't believe the rest of her testimony.
That testimony includes claims that Alexander was an abusive, manipulative pedophile who attacked Arias the day she killed him.