Expert: Arias, victim were trapped in abuse ‘cycle’By Graham Winch
updated 4:15 PM EDT, Wed April 03, 2013
Testimony in the Jodi Arias trial ended abruptly Wednesday when defense expert Alyce LaViolette began feeling ill and Judge Sherry Stephens canceled proceedings until Thursday.
LaViolette, the domestic violence expert, testified that violence and abuse escalated in Arias and Alexander’s relationship. She is methodically walking the jury through the entire history of their relationship using Arias’ journal entries, emails and text messages to illustrate her points. She ended Wednesday's proceedings talking about the tumultuous state of Arias and Alexander's relationship in the spring of 2008.
LaViolette will likely testify Thursday about the events leading up to the fight that Arias claims forced her to kill Alexander in self-defense on June 4, 2008.
On Wednesday, LaViolette described how Alexander and Arias became trapped in a domestic abuse cycle where he would become violent and they would have a loving period after the fight.
"It’s just part of a cycle, part of that whole pattern where something happens that is unacceptable and then there’s forgiveness, based on the fact that the person is seeking forgiveness," said LaViolette.
LaViolette detailed several episodes of Alexander's violent behavior including when he allegedly kicked her and broke her finger. "They have an argument and during this argument he grabs her and throws her to the floor and when she hits the floor she makes a sound and he says basically, 'Don’t act like that hurts, b***, this hurts!' and he kicks her and then he kicks her a second time," LaViolette said.
His violence, according to LaViolette, became more intense and frequent as his relationship with Arias evolved.
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