Jodi Arias' Psychologist May Have Screwed Up Her Murder Defense
Lawyers for the 32-year-old probably don't think her high-profile trial is going well. If they did, they would want to press on so Arias could get acquitted and resume her normal life.
To be fair to those defense lawyers, the case has been an uphill battle.
Travis Alexander was stabbed nearly 30 times, almost decapitated, and shot in the head. Arias says she killed him in self-defense and claims she remembers hardly anything from that day (including dragging his body into a shower).
Arias lied to investigators repeatedly, first saying she knew nothing of the attack and then blaming masked intruders before finally claiming self-defense.
Even considering these circumstances, there have been a lot of cringeworthy moments for the defense — culminating last month in prosecutor Juan Martinez's brutal cross-examination of Arias' psychologist, Richard Samuels.
It was Samuels who diagnosed Arias with the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and amnesia that explain why she can't remember stabbing her Alexander or cleaning up his blood.
When the prosecutor, Martinez, was cross-examining Samuels, he pointed out that the psychologist gave Arias her test for PTSD while she was still lying to investigators and claiming she knew nothing about Alexander's death. Samuels conceded that maybe he should have given her another test after she changed her story.
"These tests, which I administered early, did confirm the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although, I was in error by not re-administering the [test]," Samuels said in court, according to a HuffPost transcript.
Things got even worse when Martinez blurted out that Samuels had "feelings" for Arias. (It's not entirely clear why Martinez jumped to this conclusion, but Samuels did reportedly give the 32-year-old murder defendant a self-help book.)
Regardless of whether Samuels has "feelings" for Arias, Martinez may have made the jurors doubt his credibility. If they don't buy his amnesia and PTSD diagnoses, it's going to be really, really tough to explain why she remembers little from the day she killed Alexander.
No wonder why the Arias defense keeps asking for a mistrial.