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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias

Aired August 19, 2013 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight breaking news. Stunning new information. Jodi Arias secrets coming out tonight as we are exactly one week away from seeing Jodi back in court and finding out when she will face 12 new jurors who will decide if she lives or will be put to death by lethal injection.

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live.

As this crucial hearing barrels towards us next Monday, I`ve learned tonight explosive new information about sources extremely close to convicted killer Jodi Arias as well as murder victim Travis Alexander, and I`ve written all about it in my brand-new book, "Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER (via phone): You`re bad. You make me feel so dirty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The woman whose murder case gripped this nation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our Jane Velez-Mitchell has unearthed new details.

ARIAS: Oh, my gosh. That is so debasing. I like it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jodi Arias stalked another boyfriend.

ARIAS: I`m a giver.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She was the puppet master.

TRAVIS ALEXANDER, MURDER VICTIM (via phone): It`s so hot.

ARIAS: It sounds like what?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s a lot of shocking stuff that -- that didn`t come out at trial.

ARIAS (on camera): I have to maintain my innocence.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So I decided I`m going to set the record straight and really expose her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But there is even more to the story. Now I found out the secrets the jury did not get to hear. For example, that Jodi had stalked another boyfriend years before she ever met Travis Alexander, something we confirmed with multiple sources. We all remember how Travis` friends say Jodi stalked him, even slashing his tires, not once but twice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: What has this female done that he was warning you about?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had slashed his tires several times. She had slashed his -- he had dated someone earlier that year. He -- she slashed her tires. She had sent threatening e-mails to both Travis and his girlfriend at the time. She had followed us on the first date that we went on, and she sounded dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I also learned she undoubtedly made up that T-shirt herself.

Jodi`s stalking of Travis perfectly paralleled what she did with her first boyfriend, Bobby, years earlier: the jealousy, the suspicion, the espionage, looking into his private communications, then following him across state lines and dating someone else right in his inner circle, while frequently running into him. Doesn`t that sound just like what Jodi did to Travis? Was Jodi a ticking time bomb waiting to go off?

I really want to hear from you tonight at home. Call me -- You know this case -- 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7927.

And it`s nowhere near over. I`m going to reveal new stunning information from my book in a moment.

But first, straight out to the Lion`s Den. Tonight we have an incredible panel for you, including radio host Jay Thomas, who`s going to be on the hit show "Ray Donovan" on Sunday night. Want to let you know about that.

Bottom line, panelists, as I conducted interviews with Travis`s close friends to get the real story, I determined this. Pretty much everything Jodi Arias said on the witness stand, assume the exact opposite.

So here`s my question. Will Jodi take the stand in this penalty phase that`s coming up to decide whether she lives or dies before a brand-new jury? And will she spin in front of this new jury the same set of lies, or will she come out with a brand-new story?

And I begin with reporter Amy Murphy from KNXV in Phoenix. You`re there on the ground where all this has happened and it`s going to happen again. You`re a woman who did a sit-down interview with Jodi soon after -- right after she was convicted. What do you think? New storyline or the same old sex story?

AMY MURPHY, REPORTER, KNXV: I don`t know, Jane. To be honest, we have seen with Jodi Arias, expect the unexpected. Anything goes. You know, she did clearly, you know, lie on many occasions. She`s admitted to the jury, "Yes, I lied, but I`m not lying now." So who knows what she`ll come up with?

And at this point she could just basically say anything to save her own life. And, you know, it`s just one of those things that everyone will be waiting to see.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Jose Miguel, reporter, KPHO. What do you think?

JOSE MIGUEL, REPORTER, KPHO: I think we`re going to see the same old Jodi on the stand. I think she loves the attention. We`ve all seen her really go after that media spotlight. This is her opportunity to yet again be center stage for the world.

Now she`s got a little bit more time to work on, possibly, the stories that worked and what didn`t work against her and use it again to her advantage and hopefully spare her life.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The phone lines are lighting up so quickly because everybody knows about this case. Everybody has an opinion. Lisa, Canada, your question or thought? Lisa, Canada.

Lisa.

CALLER: Hello?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi, Lisa.

CALLER: Hi, Jane. My question to you and the panel, please, is question, plus statement is, because she was put in prison for murder, which was proven, I think what should be done to her is exactly what she did to Travis. All the brutalizing and everything.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Is that a statement or a question? That doesn`t happen in America. We`re not -- we`re not a barbaric country.

She did something incredibly savage and barbaric, Jay Thomas. And I can hear you chuckling there. You`re an Emmy-Award-winning radio host. And there are people who would like to see equal justice.

JAY THOMAS, RADIO HOST: Oh, boy.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But listen, she stabbed Travis 29 times. She stabbed him in the chest. She slit his throat ear to ear, 6 inches across, 3.5 inches deep. We don`t do that in America.

THOMAS: No, we don`t.

You see, what I look at when I see Jodi Arias and I think of all the bad girls and bad guys that are so attractive to people. And I`ve said this; I have three sons. When you meet somebody with this much baggage, and they are wonderful in the sack and sexual to the point where you can`t believe what`s happening, there`s always something wrong with these guys and these women.

And if you`re not careful, I believe that most of these people are so damaged that, if you don`t -- I think she killed Travis for one reason. He did not take her to Cancun; that`s it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right.

THOMAS: And because he just treated her like a sex rag and was tossing her away.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

THOMAS: That was it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m going to disagree with you like that, because in my book during my investigation to get the real story...

THOMAS: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I learned the exact opposite.

She -- during the trial Jodi tried to tell the jury and the world that she endured sex with Travis to placate him, to please him. That he was the sexual aggressor, that Travis was the one who forced her to engage in degrading sex.

Well, I found out the exact opposite, that she was the sexual aggressor. Travis told his very best friend that Jodi was, quote, "a nymphomaniac." That`s the phrase.

Remember the jury heard Jodi on the phone sex call having a very convincing climax. I`ve got to warn you. This is graphic, but it was played in open court. We`re only going to play a snippet to give you a sense of the real Jodi Arias.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS (via phone): (MOANING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Enough of that. Enough of that.

Now, look, according to Travis`s friends, people I interviewed for this book spoke, this was normal behavior. And I`m quoting here: "Jodi was capable of having eight climaxes in one day, might have been nine. It might have been 13." This is from Travis Alexander`s lips. And he added after saying that, "She`s crazy. She`s a nymphomaniac."

So I`ve got to go to Wendy Walsh, psychologist. Just because she`s a woman doesn`t mean that she wasn`t the sexual aggressor. I think that these words from Travis Alexander speak the truth -- Wendy.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, that`s true, Jane. But it takes two to tango. And I think that two kind of -- people with disorganized attachment styles often are attracted to each other.

And what they`re attracted to. And this is what Jay Thomas was talking about. Not the intimacy but the intensity. So that`s why you`ll see these sort of dysfunctional people being pulled in because they`re high on the sexual high.

I don`t think -- I think he had to be a willing participant in some way. She may have been the leader. And she may have been manipulating him.

And please. Eight, nine, orgasms? What we know for sure is Jodi could at least fake that many.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Are you saying that is -- whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you saying that is physiologically impossible?

WALSH: No, it`s not physiologically impossible.

THOMAS: Wow.

WALSH: But I think most of what she did was a charade for him and a performance.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this.

THOMAS: I`d like -- I`d like -- I`d like every married person to call up and just some wives tell me last time you had eight or nine orgasms in a normal sexual relationship.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, wait a second now.

MIGUEL: Jane, I think it`s important for people...

WALSH: Probably not clitoral orgasms. They were vaginal, if anything, Jay.

(CROSSTALK)

MIGUEL: Jane, I have to agree that...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go on. Go ahead, jump in, whoever is talking there.

MIGUEL: Jane, I have to agree that the opinion that she is probably a nymphomaniac just may very well be a true statement.

But I think the other word that we need to be looking at is that she`s also a narcissist. I think she was convinced that she could get any man that she wanted. She wanted Travis Alexander. And when he didn`t respond to her advances the way she wanted him to, well, then she did something about it, and we all know what the end result was there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Beth Karas, legal analyst, former prosecutor, you covered this case from the beginning; you were in court.

Travis`s friends told me that one said he was single; he`s a handsome guy. He said, "I could have picked her up, but she exhibited an energy that was like a stripper energy. Anything you want I can do." That`s the vibe he got.

And essentially, he said that Travis was really an innocent and couldn`t pick up on the red flags, because he didn`t know about women using sex as a tool to get what they want. And I`m not saying all women do this. I`m saying Jodi did this.

BETH KARAS, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Well -- well, you know, it is true that a lot of men have said that about Jodi. The kind of effect she has on men. She was more comfortable in the company of men than women, it seems. It`s probably also true what you`re saying about Travis being so inexperienced.

But really, the most important thing in all of this dialog is that she stalked a boyfriend in the past. This is a woman who was controlling and wanted whatever it was from these men. If they were rejecting her, she was going to make them pay for it.

So it`s very important, and this is something the jury never knew, is that she had stalked before.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right. Yes. And we`re going to get into that. That`s really the big blockbuster new information in my book "Exposed."

And we`re just getting started. I know we`ve got calls lined up. We`re going to take a short break. Back with new information, new, never before heard about the Jodi Arias trial, which, again, retrial starts very soon, quite possibly. We`re going to know on Monday, a week from now.

Stay right there. We`ll be back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE SHERRY STEPHENS, PRESIDED OVER MURDER TRIAL: "Did you enjoy having sex with Travis?"

ARIAS: For the most part, yes, I did, very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He cared about my pleasure as well.

ARIAS: There were things I was uncomfortable with. Having sex on the hood of a car. Little Red Riding Hood fantasy. That it would involve sex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: When he was performing oral sex on you, you said -- you said he sure knew what he was doing. Do you remember saying that on direct examination? Do you remember that?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: Doesn`t it take one to know one?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jodi Arias had a deadly obsession with Travis Alexander. But it wasn`t the first time she displayed stalker tendencies. During the trial Jodi testified about the time she invaded high school boyfriend Bobby`s privacy. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: You stopped at the library so that he could go onto a computer there at the library after you dropped him off. You, because of whatever reason, decided to go back to that computer. Right?

ARIAS: That`s right.

MARTINEZ: And when you hit backspace, you were able to access Bobby`s Hotmail account, right?

ARIAS: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: In my new book, "Exposed," I reveal that sources have told us that Bobby became quite fearful of Jodi Arias and they, my sources, regarded him as a stalking victim.

OK. Jodi had an established pattern, it would seem, of stalking behavior that began when she was just a teenager.

Back out to the Lion`s Den. This is something, as Beth Karas mentioned, the jury never heard. So let`s bring in some other lawyers. Adam Thompson, criminal defense attorney, radio talk show host out of Miami. Why is it that so often with trials the juries is the last to know about the big picture and the real truth?

ADAM THOMPSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the judge has to be very careful when they`re conducting the trial of this nature to make sure that evidence that may be so overwhelmingly prejudicial doesn`t come in at trial.

If the jury had heard that Jodi in the past had engaged in this kind of conduct, in any way, shape or form, the prejudicial effect of that information may have been so overwhelming that they might have tuned out what was really going on in this case and just made a decision based on past history.

So to play it safe, the court has to weigh the prejudicial effect of the probative value, and in a situation like this, they normally would keep something like that out. If the prosecutor can prove the case and they have the goods, then they`ll be able to prove this case based on the merits of this case.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I hear you. I hear you.

THOMPSON: Not based on past actions.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Anna Young, you`re a criminal defense attorney too. But it seems like sometimes the most important evidence never gets before the jury. They`ve got to put the pieces together, and I mean, to me, that says it all. That says it all. She stalked before.

ANNA YOUNG, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Jane, it`s a really good point, and your guest raises a really good point, too, because at the end of the day, the judge has to serve as the gatekeeper of the evidence. What evidence can come in and what evidence stays out.

And the jury has to decide, based upon the evidence that`s presented, she has a right to a fair trial. So of course, what your guest is saying is absolutely correct. Does the prejudicial effect substantially outweigh the probative value.

And clearly, in this case, the jury thought she was slutty, nutty and vicious. And they convicted her beyond a reasonable doubt.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Slutty, nutty and vicious, that`s the new -- we`ve heard the other three phrases that -- that she constantly, her defense team constantly referred to Travis saying. You know what I`m talking about.

YOUNG: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Three-holed wonder, et cetera. Now we`ve got another one. What is it, slutty, nutty and...

YOUNG: Vicious.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Vicious.

WALSH: Hey, Jane...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.

WALSH: It`s Wendy. Jane, we`ve got to stop the slut shaming here. This is so not feminist behavior here. She can enjoy sex as much as she wants. She just can`t kill anybody.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.

THOMAS: Amen, sister. Amen, sister. Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excuse me...

THOMAS: I don`t think -- wait a minute.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: When she takes -- OK, but she took the witness stand and described him as a sexual deviant. That`s what I`m saying. I`m not saying -- she can enjoy sex all she wants. But she can`t take the witness stand and say she`s a victim of domestic violence.

THOMAS: Jane, she does not deserve to die because she brings baggage into every relationship. And they`re going to bring up and the attorneys - - I`ve only played attorneys on soap operas. But the attorneys are going to bring up everything from her childhood.

Obviously, she`s damaged. She killed a guy. Every 29 slashes, I`m sure she was killing someone that had wronged her in her childhood, someone that had dumped her.

They want to -- everybody wants to be taken seriously. And the sex was a way to get people to want to be with her. But at the end of the day, strippers, porn stars, women that screw indiscriminately. She wanted to be taken to Cancun as a girlfriend, as a human being, and I don`t think she deserves to die because she`s nuts.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, look, I`m not going to get into death penalty argument. I`m going to just get into what the truth is. That`s what this is -- And I want to bring Beth Karas back -- a search for the truth.

The significance -- look, Jodi displayed a litany of stalking tendencies. She slashed tires. She sent creepy e-mails to Travis`s new girlfriend. She moved near him after they broke up and allegedly hacked his Facebook.

On the stand, she admitted to sneaking into Travis`s backyard and watch him make out with a mystery woman. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: You felt that it was OK for you to go over to his house in August of 2007?

ARIAS: I did not knock.

MARTINEZ: And at some point you started to peek into the house, didn`t you? You`re telling us you went around the back to get in, right?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: But when you got to the back to get in, you started to look at what was going on, right?

ARIAS: I glanced in as I was walking to the sliding glass door.

MARTINEZ: When you were outside looking in, right?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: And when you went and looked, you saw something that upset you, right?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: That night did you see Mr. Alexander inside that house, yes or no?

ARIAS: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What I learned from multiple sources is that Jodi stalked someone, a previous boyfriend, who became afraid of her. It`s almost an exact parallel to the way she stalked Travis: the jealousy, the espionage. Moving closer to him, across state lines, after they broke up. Dating someone in his inner circle and then running into him all the time.

Beth Karas, it`s an exact parallel almost.

KARAS: It is. Now, the jury did hear a little bit about that. Because Jodi talked about her relationship with Bobby. But there`s more, I know, that you have learned through sources than what the jury heard.

So to some viewers, they may say, "Well, we know that she was hacking so into his Hotmail and did certain things with Bobby." But they didn`t -- the jury didn`t learn that he actually was fearful of her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. That`s the difference.

Yes, she described a relationship turmoil. What we`ve learned is that this guy was scared of her. That she stalked him just like she stalked Travis.

All right. On the other side of the break, we`re going to get into more new information, and we`re taking your calls. Stay right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS (via phone): Remember the first time that you and I grinded? And we both like -- I`m going to (EXPLETIVE DELETED), and you`re like (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED). There`s just (EXPLETIVE DELETED). It was like oh -- so hot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His insistence to others that Jodi stalked him. His insistence to others that Jodi wouldn`t leave him alone. But yet, it was always at his demand and his beckoning that Jodi spent time with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jodi was explicit on the witness stand about how she claimed Travis would sexually humiliate her. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: He wanted to drive up to the home. He wanted to get out of the car and have me come out of the house, give him oral sex and he wanted to ejaculate on my face and then get back in his car and drive away without saying a single word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jodi claims she was the victim here. But in doing my research and my life experience talking to people, trying to understand the many crimes that I`ve covered over the years, I don`t believe she was in any way, shape or form a victim of anything. I believe that she sought out this kind of sex, and it`s really got a term, erotic humiliation. It`s an entire industry. A lot of people engage in it.

And I think that, frankly, Wendy Walsh, psychologist, to take consensual sexual activity and then try to turn it into domestic violence is obscene. It really insults everyone who has actually been a victim of domestic violence.

WALSH: It does a disservice to real victims who are trapped in relationships, either financially or physically trapped, or because they have children and they`re stuck in the home. So it does a disservice to these kind much domestic violence victims.

On the other hand, you do talk about this sort of emotional humiliation that she liked with her sex. But we say like psychologists with fingers doing quotation marks. Because what she`s doing is re- traumatizing herself from traumas in the past.

So on some level, Jane, yes, she could have perceived herself as a victim. Now again, this is separate and aside from her as a murderer. Was this cause to create murder? I don`t think so.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But it`s not separate and apart, because it was her defense.

And Amy Murphy, you`re a reporter there in Phoenix. You actually interviewed this woman one-on-one, and that`s the thing. Her whole persona was "I`m demure. I`m petite. I`m polite." And that goes right in hand with "I was sexually humiliated. I was taken advantage of."

MURPHY: Absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But didn`t you find her to be a master manipulator?

MURPHY: Absolutely, all of those things, Jane. And you know -- you know, it may appear that she did enjoy many of these things. But at least one person on that jury believed that there was some culpability on the part of Travis Alexander, and that was the foreman.

I spoke directly with him in a sit-down interview, and he said, "You know what?" He said, "This was a toxic relationship. It went both ways." And he did believe that, obviously, Travis did not deserve to die. But that there was some culpability on the part of Travis Alexander. Those were his words to me.

So the defense obviously believed that at least one person on that jury might side with Jodi Arias in believing that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Although that person did convict her of premeditated murder.

MURPHY: Yes. But they also were a hung jury...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: At the same time, they were a hung jury on the other...

MURPHY: Four jurors who believed that. Including the foreperson who believed that she at some point perhaps was mentally or abused by Travis Alexander.

So it`s easy to say that she`s not the victim here. But with the 8-4 split, we know that at least four jurors felt that Travis Alexander at some point perhaps maybe mentally and/or emotionally abused her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Or maybe they just didn`t have it in them to give her the death penalty.

We`ll be right back. Stay right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m absolutely sick. It`s just not right. I can`t believe that the jurors were picked knowing that this was a death penalty case and that they can`t come up with the right decision. It`s not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: Don`t roll the tape yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why didn`t you call 911?

ARIAS: I was very scared of what would happen to me.

Even though this is a very serious thing to be charged with, there`s no reason for me to be sad.

I`m game for like almost everything you come up with. But you really are a wellspring of ideas.

No jury is going to convict me.

Listen, if I`m found guilty, I don`t have a life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury do find the defendant as to count one, first degree murder, guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: In my new book, "Exposed: the secret life of Jodi Arias", I make a convincing case that Jodi was blackmailing Travis with the phone sex tape she recorded less than a month before she killed him. That tape was played in open court and warning, it is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS ALEXANDER, MURDER VICTIM: I`m going to tie you to a tree and put it in your (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

ARIAS: Oh, my gosh. That is so debasing. I like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Two weeks later, Travis and Jodi had a huge fight. In my book, I reveal a shocking new secret. Travis Alexander`s close friend, Scottie Hughes, studied the content of that May 26 text and instant messaging fight between Jodi and Travis and found that, quote, "Jodi says", quote, "I`ll call my attorney". So could it have been that Travis told her she was breaking the law by taping him without his knowledge given that California requires all parties on a call consent to the recording?

Straight out to "The Lion`s Den, and I`m going to start with Adam Thompson, criminal defense attorney. What do you think? I think blackmail.

ADAM THOMPSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t really know if that`s the case. I mean, listening to everybody on the panel tonight, I think anyone who really thinks that this is just a one-sided kind of sexual escapade going on is missing the whole point. This is like one of these really bizarre sex relationships -- seems like there`s a dominant/submissive. When you have that situation, it`s two parties doing it consensually.

I mean if you look at all the things that Jodi Arias supposedly did to Travis Alexander, slashing his tires not once but twice, going into his phone and stealing text messages, going into Facebook and stealing messages, reading e-mails, doing all these things and he never once called the police or reported her? Or just said "Hit the bricks I don`t want to see you anymore."

VELEZ-MITCHELL: People don`t call the police --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Beth Karas -- I hear you.

JAY THOMAS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: May I say something?

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on, Jay Thomas. Jump in. Jay Thomas.

THOMAS: You know what, what I don`t get is why didn`t the prosecutor who got all this information sit down and say, listen, you`ve killed the guy, you`ve admitted it and plea bargained for a 20-year sentence or whatever? I really believe that as an announcer, it gives us fuel for books, to have three months of radio shows and everything else. They should have made a plea bargain deal. She admitted to murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He might have, Jay --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hello. Hello.

She was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder. Beth Karas, legal analyst, former prosecutor. The prosecutor didn`t need to make a plea deal, did he?

BETH KARAS, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: No. He didn`t need to. The jury -- 12 jurors convicted her of first degree murder. You`re talking about a plea not for something less but just to take death off the table. You know that is --

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: You know what -- we have to stop spending millions of dollars on what looked like to all of us an open and shut case and she would have probably taken the deal.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoa, whoa, hold on, first of all --

(CROSSTALK)

JOSE MIGUEL, REPORTER, KPHO: But you still have to take into consideration the viciousness of this attack.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

MIGUEL: This is a very vicious murder.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jose Miguel? Yes, Jose?

MIGUEL: This was a very vicious murder here. The fact of the matter is, she stabbed this man 27 times, she slit his throat, shot him in the head. To give someone the opportunity to possibly walk out of jail is really unfathomable to a lot of people, just because of the fact of the viciousness behind this murder. I don`t think there`s any doubt that Jodi Arias snapped here. This is a woman who converted religions. She quite literally --

THOMAS: Wait a minute. That`s temporary insanity.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMPSON: Listen, if you`re saying that this is a woman that snapped - - that`s the very reason she shouldn`t get the death penalty.

THOMAS: That`s exactly right.

THOMPSON: I mean that`s on its face should be clear.

THOMAS: That`s right. That`s temporary insanity, isn`t it?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, please. She knew exactly what she was doing. Hold on a second.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on a second.

THOMPSON: Temporary insanity.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on a second. She knew --

THOMPSON: No reasonable jury is going to put a young girl to death who obviously has a mental illness issues. She does.

THOMAS: Yes, I agree totally.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second. Beth Karas, let`s talk about the difference between legal insanity where you`re so messed up, you don`t know right from wrong and having a mental illness that -- well, a lot of people are borderline, they get treatment for it, they get help for it, they get medication for it. She clearly knew right from wrong based on --

KARAS: Absolutely right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- the cunning things she did. And list some of them because in my book, I talk about how --

THOMAS: Look at her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait second.

THOMAS: She`s a nut. She`s a complete and utter nut.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what? Everybody who kills is a nuts.

THOMAS: Look at her eyes. She`s nuts.

KARAS: Our prisons are full of people with mental illness. They`re a danger to society. It`s too bad that they`re mentally ill. But they`re a danger to society. This was a planned premeditated murder. Premeditation means really it could be just seconds. You`ve had time to reflect on what you`re going to do. She did more than reflect. She plotted. She spent at least a week from May 26th until --

THOMAS: Does that make her any less insane?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. Let her finish.

THOMAS: Does that make her any less crazy?

KARAS: No. But she`s dangerous.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But she knows the difference between right and wrong. She should never see the outside of a prison cell.

Let`s be real here, Jay.

THOMAS: Ok. That`s true.

MIGUEL: I think if we`re going to with Jay`s philosophy, then he`s giving the green light for anybody to come forward and say, I`m going to go ahead and kill someone and claim that I`m crazy. I mean the fact of the matter is she still committed --

THOMAS: No, that`s not true.

MIGUEL: -- a very vicious murder that she plotted.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMPSON: Listen there`s very strong requirement that has to be proven to show that someone`s mentally ill.

MIGUEL: I don`t have any --

THOMPSON: -- court case that says you can`t put mentally ill people to death.

If you produce expert testimony to show that they`re ill to a certain degree --

THOMAS: Thank you, yes.

THOMPSON: -- the Supreme Court said it can`t be done. That`s what needs to be done.

KARAS: No, no.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excuse me.

KARAS: The truth is --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We got to turn everybody down.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMPSON: We`re not that kind of nation.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The defense didn`t even argue that she was guilty but mentally ill. Ok? They tried to say she was a victim of domestic violence. They tried to paint Travis Alexander as a pedophile, which we all know is a complete and utter lie. Ok. This is diabolical behavior.

I think everybody who commits a violent killing is in some way crazy. But that doesn`t mean we can let them off the hook for that.

We`ll be right back. On the other side --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- Travis Alexander, through writing this book and working on this book. Travis Alexander was a good guy. Was he a saint? No. But he was somebody who was really, really invested in helping other people and making this world a better place. Everything he did, even the car he drove, was a sign of him trying to be a force for good in this world.

The purpose of this book is to understand this horror, to prevent it from happening again. And I believe, if we get to the deeper why and we understand it and we dissect it and we learn something from it, as a culture, then Travis Alexander will not have died in vain.

And that is the purpose of this book and that`s why I dedicated this book to Travis Alexander and his siblings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight in the case of the alleged suburban black widow, Andrea Sneiderman. A Georgia jury found her guilty of lying to police in the murder investigation of her husband and guilty of lying under oath during her boss and alleged lover`s murder trial. The jury convicted her on 9 of 13 counts. Now she faces a whopping 65 years behind bars -- sentencing tomorrow. We`ll bring you what she gets tomorrow night.

Will Andrea make a plea? Kind of like Jodi, right? An allocution or something like that.

We`re back with more Jodi on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: He wanted me to dress up like Little Red Riding Hood.

You make me so horny. I think about having sex with you every day, several times a day. Like how it feels to have your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) inside of me.

ALEXAS: Is it wrong that I`m glad that we started (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

ARIAS: Well, if it`s wrong then I don`t want to be right because I`m glad too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Take a look at Jodi`s infamous back bend in the interrogation room. Some people look at that and said she`s just trying to seduce the detectives, the way she tried to seduce and succeeded in seducing Travis Alexander. I learned she engaged in a lot of sexually inappropriate behavior according to Travis` friends.

Let`s go out to the phone lines, a very patient Ron, Iowa -- your question or thought, Ron.

RON, IOWA (via telephone): Well, very shortly into the trial, I began to really believe that she was truly a monster and she`s such a good con man. I was worried throughout that she was going to get one or two of those jurors like she did to that Dr. Samuels and Dr. LaViolette. She`s really good at her con.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I agree with you. Jose Miguel, you and I were there at the courthouse. I think you have to really be there on the ground and in the courtroom to, A, get the creepiness of her testimony and B, see the incredible terrible impact it`s had on so many people, her own family and most importantly Travis Alexander`s family. I mean their lives have been completely upended and shattered by this woman.

MIGUEL: It was really -- that was the most devastating part for me. I mean you sit there and you listen to her on the stand. You listen to her talking about this man, really creating such a negative picture of him and your heart simply would break with the family sitting right in front of you listening to all of this, having to go through this ordeal over and over again. Looking at those crime scene photos and then the idea that they have to do this all over again, basically the same information to come out just for her to try and spare her life, it`s just heartbreaking when you think about it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy Walsh, psychologist. I think people are so angry because of the viciousness of the murder but also because of what she did on the stand. Killed him again, destroyed his character, accused him of being a pedophile -- we all know that`s a complete and utter lie.

She lied about everything, even her mother. My mom hit me with a wooden spoon. I talked to her friends from childhood. They never saw anything like that. They said they were strict, period.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. But friends were not around when a small child might have been beaten. Jane, again I`m not forgiving the girl, but it always, always psychological illness, mental illness is a combination of biological predisposition, meaning the environment -- the environment being a negative one.

So I`m not saying her parents were all bad. They raised other kids that turned out ok. But I`m saying her particular biology probably didn`t do well with this kind of parenting. Again, not to forgive her, but it`s to answer the question why did she turn out crazy? Because she is crazy, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ll tell you why she turned out crazy. I have studied this woman now, sleeping three hours a night for months to try to figure her out. And I`ll tell you why.

Yes, maybe she had borderline personality disorder. I agree. But she also engaged in magical lazy thinking. She dropped out of high school. She bought a house she couldn`t afford. She went into foreclosure. She put her mortgage payments on a credit card.

She made a mess of her life. A complete mess of her life, Jay Thomas and then she said, you, I pick you to rescue me. I`m going to use sex to get you hooked on me and then you better marry me. And when he said, you know what, sorry, I`m not going to marry you. I`m trying to move on. She moves to his neighborhood -- to his neighborhood.

THOMAS: Jane, you just put 100 million Americans in the worst recession since 1929 in the same category with Jodi Arias. You just did it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: Jodi -- if anybody (inaudible), when you meet a nut in a bar or online, don`t put -- don`t have sex with them. That`s what your book ought to teach. Travis, whatever his name is, walked right into it. She was nuts from the first night. She was nuts the night he killed him and you know what, he`s only to blame because he refused to believe how crazy she was. That`s it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look. I got to stop you here. I got to stop you and bring in -- wait a second. Wait a second.

THOMAS: You know what, he`s not that sympathetic of -- he`s not that sympathetic of a victim.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, absolutely not.

Beth Karas, you`re a former prosecutor. You were there for the entire thing and you spent a lot of time with the family. I saw them walking in and out every day. Actually, this conversation has taken a turn. I don`t know where it went but things have gotten upside down -- really upside down. Go ahead.

KARAS: No, let me tell you what Travis` friends have told me. He did know that she had pretty serious problems and at one point he probably threatened to expose them. Lord only knows what things she did in the privacy of their room independent of sex to show that she was unstable. But he didn`t want her killing herself on his watch. She would threaten suicide a lot. He did not want it to happen.

So he really thought he could help her. Unfortunately, he was also sleeping with her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She got him in a corner. Any time he would try to move away, she would threaten suicide. That`s the ultimate manipulation. She`s still threatening suicide. She`s still right there having her 2,600 calories every day and has not done anything to herself. It`s a manipulation.

More on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: When I finally came to, I saw that there was blood on my hands.

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: And you enjoyed the tootsie pops and the pop rocks, correct?

You think that the braids are hot, don`t you?

ARIAS: I think cute is more appropriate.

ALEXANDER: I love the braids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Travis Alexander was very passionate about pets and it`s time for our Pet of the Day. Send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane.

We look at Precious. She`s by the pool looking absolutely precious. And Milo, he`s stretching and he`s probably going to go fetching. And there`s Roccoh. And he says -- just like a little mouse and I`m as quiet as a mouse. Norman says "I`m tall. I`m wearing something. I don`t know what it is, though."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: You, Jodi Arias, are the worst thing that ever happened to me. Any doubt that that`s the truth? Do we need to look at the pictures, at his gashed throat? Do we need to look at the sort of frog-like state that she left him in, all crumpled up in that shower? Or do we need to look at his face, where she put that bullet in his right temple to know that what he says there is true?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, it brings it back to what this case is all about, and it`s about murder.

Straight out to the phone lines -- Cassandra, Illinois your question or thought -- Cassandra.

CASSANDRA, ILLINOIS (via telephone): Yes, Jane, I just think it`s really sad that we can`t help these people like Jodi Arias and Scott Peterson and Casey Anthony before they commit these terrible crimes. I just feel really bad for them on the inside. I really do.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this, and I`ll quote Dr. Drew, because I talked to him for my book, he said, look, she`s borderline personality disorder. We all -- there`s disorders. I`m a recovering alcoholic. I feel sympathy for the alcoholic before they get in a car, drive drunk, and kill a bunch of people. Then my sympathy ends. And that`s the same thing.

Beth Karas, you studied this case. There`s no indication that she received or got any kind of help for her mental issues. She`s a woman who knew about transcendentalism, Hinduism -- all sorts of things.

KARAS: Yes, and we know that some of her friends alerted her parents, her mother because her mother told the police the day Jodi was arrested that at least one friend had called her crying and saying that Jodi needs help and she`s laughing, she`s crying, she`s just unstable. So her parents knew she was unstable. Maybe she was an adult by then and they really couldn`t do anything, because you can`t force an adult who can make decisions by herself, himself to undergo treatment. Jodi Arias needed to want to help herself.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She didn`t want to help herself. She knew enough about therapy, she could have gone to a therapist. She didn`t do that, to our knowledge.

More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And a special shout-out to our amazing director in Atlanta, Jack Engelman (ph). Welcome back. We missed you. Here`s some flowers for you. Wait, you`re in Atlanta.

Hey, tomorrow, more on the Jodi Arias case and we`re going to have new information as we barrel towards the hearing.

Nancy Grace is up next.

END