The battle between Jodi Arias' psychotherapist and Arizona prosecutor Juan Martinez heats up again Tuesday, as the prosecution again puts her techniques and professional opinions under a microscope.
Monday was Alyce LaViolette's seventh day on the witness stand and her second day of cross examination. The Maricopa County prosecutor again called out LaViolette's method for determining Arias was a victim of domestic violence, specifically the way she relied heavily on what Arias told her.
Martinez said LaViolette was selective in what she wanted to believe and pointed out she accepted all the alleged negative aspects about Alexander but ignored other things, such as his allegations that he was "extremely afraid of the defendant because of her stalking behavior," he said.
"You chose not to believe him?" Martinez asked.
"I guess you would say I did," she said.
Arias, 32, is on trial in the June 2008 slaying of her ex-lover Travis Alexander inside his Mesa, Ariz., apartment. She could face the death penalty if convicted.
During her 18 days on the witness stand Arias testified she shot and stabbed Alexander in self-defense. She claims Alexander had become increasingly violent and intercourseually demanding. She also claimed to have caught him masturbating to a picture of a young boy. The prosecution contends she murdered Alexander in a jealous rage.
The back and forth between LaViolette and Martinez continued throughout Monday, with Martinez ruffling her composure on more than one occasion. However, the most interesting line of questioning occurred at the end of the day when the domestic violence expert admitted under cross examination that Arias wrote a manifesto behind bars.
"Do you remember when the defendant was in jail up in Yreka, [California] and the defendant's manifesto ... Isn't it true that the defendant was signing or autographing copies of the manifesto?" asked Martinez.
"I believe those were my notes," LaViolette said.
Martinez pointed out that Arias had asked someone to print out copies of the manifesto because she wanted them signed "in case ... she became famous."
The manifesto attributed to Arias was not entered into evidence Monday. The contents of it remain unclear.
Martinez has been questioning LaViolette since Thursday, when the defense ended their direct examination of her. While testifying for the defense she said it was her opinion that Arias was physically and emotionally battered by Travis Alexander and feared for her life when she killed him.
The trial is set to resume at about 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, when Martinez is expected to continue his cross-examination of LaViolette.
Read below for minute-by-minute updates from court Tuesday:
The Huffington Post is live blogging Tuesday's testimony. Check back here for updates.
Via: HuffingtonPost