Live blog: Will Martinez end rebuttal with a bang?By Graham Winch
updated 12:16 PM EDT, Thu April 25, 2013
Prosecutor Juan Martinez could end his rebuttal case in the Jodi Arias trial Thursday with an emotional finale.
Martinez is expected to call medical examiner Kevin Horn back to the witness stand to rebut Arias' testimony of how she killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.
Arias testified earlier that she shot Alexander in the head first in self-defense, but doesn’t remember stabbing him multiple times and slitting his throat. However, she did acknowledge, while sobbing uncontrollably, that logically she must have been the person that attacked Alexander with the knife.
Horn will likely testify about his autopsy of Alexander’s body, and why he believes Alexander was stabbed first and that the gunshot wound was inflicted after Alexander had already died because of a lack of hemorrhaging in the wound.
The sequencing could become even more important later in the trial because this is a death penalty case. If the jury convicts Arias of first-degree murder and the prosecution can prove that Arias was cruel and caused Alexander to suffer, she may be sentenced to death. However, if the defense can show that Alexander was shot in the head first, attorneys can argue that all of Alexander's other wounds were inflicted after he died, so he didn't suffer. That could save Arias from the death penalty.
Judge Sherry Stephens has announced that after Thursday's testimony, court will not be in session until next Wednesday, when the defense is expected to call one last witness to refute new evidence Martinez introduced during his rebuttal.
...... more linkhttp://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/04/25 ... uttal-bang