I ventured over to Occupy HLN on Facebook several days ago and have started a back and forth with one of the obviously disturbed individuals there. I'm sure that any day now, they'll post on that page that the moon landing was indeed fake and that they have evidence that JFK and Elvis are really alive and well on some remote island somewhere. JFK might have a few motor skills issues though.
I am still amazed at the people who make asinine claims that Jodi is innocent or it wasn't premeditated or even that Travis abused her (including, apparently, 4 of the 12 jurors). I fail to see how these people were even watching the same trial I was. I'm convinced that they didn't, that they only saw parts of it. I mean, people can't really be that stupid can they?
One of the issues that always stuck in my craw was the fact that naysayers stated that the disorganization and messiness of the crime scene dictated that this could not have been a premeditated crime. Jodi is so smart and surely such an Einstein would not leave the scene in such disarray had she planned it. I have a theory about that and have had it all along. I was lucky to have an experience while finishing up my undergraduate degree that helped me to connect the dots. Jodi may be smart but apparently she watches too many movies and too much TV.
Let's hop in our time machine really quickly and head on back to the summer of 1994. A certain future blogger was taking two classes in each summer session in order to get his degree in August. All I had to take was electives. As most of you should know, I have a very keen interest in the law, so those are the classes I chose to take that summer. Among them were Trial Courts and Criminal Justice and An Introduction to Law Enforcement (both were senior level classes). A captain with the Indianapolis Police Department taught the Law Enforcement class and this is where I would learn the knowledge to help me refute those that say a messy crime scene leaned against premeditation. How? Well, I'll tell you.
The average person who watches TV or movies has a very unrealistic and sanitary view of the dying process for most human beings. In most cop shows or war movies, an individual takes one round, may make a slight sound and falls on the ground motionless in a neat, tidy demise. I grew up watching all the old war movies as a young man and one that sticks out quite clearly to me is the scene at the end of The Sands of Iwo Jima, where John Wayne's character Sgt. Striker takes a bullet to the back and goes quickly and quietly into the next life. This just isn't how it happens. Our good IPD captain endeavored to give us an education into that process. It was, to date, the most shocking thing I have seen.
The first thing the captain did was to tell us about an episode that has since come to be known as The FBI murders. This incident changed the way law enforcement across the country performed felony stops. There is a cheesy movie starring Michael Gross and David Soul as the bad guys that runs from time to time on one of the lesser cable networks. The basic details are as follows: in 1986, there was a rash of armed bank robberies in the Miami area. To make a long story short, the suspects were finally cornered by several cars full of FBI agents and a shootout ensued. When all was said and done, two FBI agents and both suspects lay dead. The part that is absolutely fascinating to me, relevant to the current discussion and would be mind-blowing to the average person is that both suspects each suffered several fatal wounds each. At autopsy, the coroner said the first bullet to strike one of them should've have killed him rapidly but he continued shooting it out with the FBI for several minutes afterward. This incident does an awesome job (if you can check out the movie, I would) of downplaying the average person's conception of what it takes to kill another human being. And lest you are thinking that drugs must've had something to do with it, both suspects were on NOTHING but adrenaline.
The second thing the good captain did was much more alarming, because it involved live people. He showed the class an actual surveillance video of a convenience store being robbed at gunpoint. And it wasn't a small gun either. The thief in question was packing a .357 magnum, the kind that blows big holes in anything it's used against. Unfortunately, this particular clerk went against the universal advice to give the crook whatever he wanted and began to argue with him. The villain was not amused and fired point blank into the woman's chest. She was not thrown back, she did not fall down immediately. In fact, the only way to tell that she'd been shot was the large hole that had appeared in her left shoulder blade. The robber ran and the rest of the tape played out as the woman pleaded with 911 to come and save her. She lasted about a minute and a half, with a point blank discharge from a .357 into her chest. To this day, it is one of the most horrifying and shocking things I have ever laid my eyes on. Absolutely disturbing.
So why has Steve regaled you with tales of his education? Let me bring it all back around, loyal readers. If you look at where Travis ended up on June 4, 2008, I believe you gain insight into Jodi's thinking. That's where she had planned on him staying all along. Relying on her false impressions from years of watching TV and movies, Jodi intended to get Travis in the shower in a vulnerable position, stab him or shoot him once, he'd die quickly, she'd wash him off and be on her merry way with no one the wiser. Except that people don't die in real life like they do in the movies and Travis didn't cooperate. He fought hard and created the messy and disorganized crime scene for which Jodi had not prepared. She had limited time to clean up what she could because Travis' roommate was due home soon. Her hurried and frenzied cleanup made her bound to make mistakes (like leaving the camera in the washing machine). So contrary to what some people have said, the condition of the crime scene does not mean she didn't plan to murder Travis, but rather that the plan she did have was flawed.
There you have it, loyal readers. Ammunition for the next time that a Jodi lover tries to work their magic on you. Until next time..........
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