Why Not Kill Her: A Juror's Perspective: The Jodi Arias Death Penalty Retrial

by Paul A. Sanders Jr.

Why Not Kill Her: A Juror’s Perspective

On June 4, 2008, at approximately 5:30 PM, Jodi Arias stabbed Travis Alexander twenty-nine times and then shot him in the head. The killer went to great lengths to cover up her crime including sending his grandmother flowers, going to the memorial service, driving by the victim’s house and calling the lead investigator, Detective Esteban Flores.
This incident took place in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. It would be five years before this case of capital murder would be put in front of a jury to decide the fate of Jodi Arias although the fate of Travis Alexander had been set in stone. Was she a cold, calculating murderess or was she a victim of extreme domestic violence at the hands of an abusive boyfriend?
The first jury was left to decide in 2013. It was the most watched trial of the century. The jury decided that Jodi Arias was guilty of first-degree murder with cruel and heinous circumstances which qualified her for the death penalty. The jury could not reach a decision in the penalty phase and justice was delayed.
A new jury, drawn from a pool of four hundred people, was drawn for the highly anticipated retrial of Jodi Arias. On October 21, 2014, a jury of nineteen was given the responsibility of deciding whether Jodi Arias should live or die for her crime. So began a retrial that would last almost five months with Juan Martinez and Detective Flores representing the State of Arizona and the return of Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott speaking to the defense of the convicted killer.
The journey will walk the reader through the meticulous actions of the courtroom and extend to an appellate court, a municipal court and a day in the in the original courthouse in phoenix, Arizona. The trial speaks toward the long arm of the law and the implications of decisions made daily. With the help of former jurors of the Jodi Arias death penalty retrial, the reader will step into the jury box when Jodi Arias was on the witness stand and reach a climax when the reader accompanies the jury foreman into the deliberation room as the jury decides the fate of the defendant.
“The lambs to the law were now executors of the law. It was humbling, intimidating and powerful at the same time. It was also the time that the jurors’ souls would be tested for truths and experiences that would mark many discussions in the deliberation room. The jury would remember Travis Alexander and what was done to him.”
Why Not Kill her is the suspenseful follow-up to the authors first book, Brain Damage: A Juror’s Tale, the true story of being a death penalty juror on the case of Marissa DeVault and the brutal killing of Dale Harrell. The third revised edition is now available in honor of Dale Harrell.
Take a journey into the life of Travis Alexander and a search for truth and justice. Somehow, Lady Justice will wield her sword and the end of a seven year saga would be realized but in no way that anyone could have anticipated.
Special thanks to True Crime Radio, Trial Talk Live, the Trial Diaries, FOX 10, ABC, NBC and CBS. The author would also like to thank those who supported this work on Go Fund Me with extra recognition to the administrators and fans of Juan Martinez Prosecutor Support Page, The State vs. Jodi Arias, Joey Jackson Fan Page, Justice For Travis, Justice 4 Dale, Justice For Travis Alexander and His Family, Court Chatter, Beth Karas on Crime, Gavel geeks, Trial Watchers, The House That Travis Built, Understanding The Travesties of Unexpected Murder Trials and For The Love of Travis. This work could not have happened without your support!
Why Not Kill Her is dedicated to Travis Alexander, his family and all those whom he touched in his short life.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

732 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 3, 2015

Reviews

[Lana The Real Lost Mermaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this incredible view of a trial I felt as though I were sitting in the courtroom with Paul. I was totally devastated along with thousands of others when the murderer was not given the ultimate penalty. After reading Paul's view on LWOP I have come to believe that the correct decision was handed down. One aspect of this book that took me right into the courtroom was the description of what each person was wearing. This may not seem to be important but I could actually visualize it as clearly as if I were sitting beside him. Thank you so much Paul for including all of us on this journey of J4T.

[Sarah Hurtley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Sanders gives the reader a deep look into the justice system from a jurors perspective. The prosecution and defense in a death penalty case comes to life in every page. Mr. Sanders, who served as a death qualified juror, shares his unique insights with us. Definitely read it for yourself...you won't be disappointed!

[Donnie Stempniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal read! Paul Sanders unique experience as a deliberating death penalty juror on another high profile case, lends itself to a credible and unparalleled account of this journey to justice. Simply outstanding!

[Shadira · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this incredible view of a trial I felt as though I were sitting in the courtroom with Paul. I was totally devastated along with thousands of others when the murderer was not given the ultimate penalty. After reading Paul's view on LWOP I have come to believe that the correct decision was handed down. One aspect of this book that took me right into the courtroom was the description of what each person was wearing. This may not seem to be important but I could actually visualize it as clearly as if I were sitting beside him. Thank you so much, Paul, for including all of us on this journey of J4T.
Every night of this extended fight for justice was anguish for the entire extended Travis Alexander family and his friends. Unlike the guilt phase of the trial that was seen live on TV, the retrial of the penalty phase was dubbed the star chambers, as it was shrouded in secrecy.A merican trial watchers became hooked on Paul Sander's blog. He was in court every day, all day, without exception, taking it all in and reporting on it with his colorful, unique style. Never in the history of American jurisprudence have I been aware of such secrecy as what went on in this legal matter.
Only a handful of reporters were there to handle this trial by tweet. If one couldn't be there in person,
Paul Sander's detailed, spirited retelling of the day in court was the next best thing. Paul is one of those rare writers that can make you feel like you are right there experiencing it. He tells of behind the scenes anecdotes like the clues one got from the jurors having brought in a crockpot one day, and how an innocent lunch crew of his friends was excited to go to a local Mexican eatery. Trying to find a little levity during a very emotional day, one lady jokingly broke into an impromptu La Cucaracha verse only to have Kirk Nurmi, the defense lead attorney accuse them of making an ethical slur at the infamous mitigation specialist. You just can't make this stuff up!
His observations as a former juror are unique and his gift of storytelling puts life to the transcripts. Now to have it all wonderfully compiled in a book means a record of it will be perpetual. I have looked forward to this book with enthusiasm. I told him long ago I was a big fan and whatever he is selling, I will take two. Paul Sanders book makes me proud to be an American.

A jury summons will arrive in our mailbox. It is inevitable. His own juror's perspective reminds us of the sacred honor it is to serve. That his book is here just in time for the 4th of July is serendipity! Z
If you are interested in this trial, or jury service in general, I highly recommend this book. Through the eyes of a former juror himself, Paul takes you right into the courtroom. As one who served on this very jury, I can attest to his accuracy and great attention to detail. He also includes all the activity that went on outside the presence of the jury, making for a complete package.
I would read his recaps of the trial every day - and this book did not disappoint. Thank you, Paul - you mentioned several times
Paul did a remarkable job taking us into the courtroom each day and giving us the feeling that we were actually sitting there. I would read his recaps of the trial every day - and this book did not disappoint. Thank you, Paul - you mentioned several times in this book that Juan Martinez or Dr. DeMarte gave Travis a voice in that courtroom. Well, you did an amazing job of bringing that voice to life in your book.
Loved this book. Gave me a lot of insight into things that happen in the trial that were not televised.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only about 300-350 pages worth reading...

I love the premise & idea for this book, but it's not what I expected. I thought I'd be reading a book in which the jurors would be expressing their thoughts & feelings of being on the Arias trial. Instead, this author was the one "guessing" how they felt "based on his experience on the DeVault trial" (I did a search of the name DeVault, and found it mentioned 80 TIMES). REALLY? Isn't that excessive? The phrase I put in "-" above is used throughout the book. The author expects us to believe that although he is a MAN who works in a cafe & sat on a completely different trial, knows exactly what these jurors are thinking - even the women, in each of the different professions, all of the different IQ levels, different levels of schooling, different ages, etc. I find that very unlikely. I'm sorry but, ladies, how many men actually REALLY know how you're thinking or feeling? That's not a dig at the author, it's just the truth! Mars/Venus, right?
He did not interview ONE juror after the trial was over, even though all of their names were made public.
There were other issues with this book as well.
There were 47 days of trial & he described what every person involved in the trial was wearing, every day. That got a bit tiring.
There were also several phrases that were repeated throughout the book such as "see, touch & feel," as in the evidence he claims jurors like. I think that was in there about 25 times, but I only searched one combination. There were others, but I don't recall them at this time.
To be honest, I probably only read about 300-350 pages of this book after I skipped over the parts where he gave his own opinion on what the jury should be thinking that day, & what everyone was wearing (I could care less about the defense attorneys sparkly black nail polish), & any sentence starting with "from my experience on the DeVault trial (until I got back to a paragraph where I recognized Arias again...which sometimes took pages & pages).
I'm going to try another of his books since they're avail on KU because they're shorter & see if they're any different before I decide if I'll follow him or not.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one for me...

I want to preface this review by stating I watch every minute of both Jodi Arias trials. That might be why I found this book drawn out, repetitive and tedious at times.

I understand it's suppose to be written from a juror's point of view. For me there was too much repetitive information about jurors general basic thoughts.

The author did capture the personalities and mannerisms of the attorneys to a T. The same is true of the evil waste of space on trial.

The parts of the book that described the actual court proceedures and testimony I found very accurate and compelling. The "hired guns" the defense brought in were as ineffective and down right stupid as described. Dr. DeMarte was as intelligent, professional and knowledgable as described.

The defense attorneys were such slimeballs there is no way to describe them accurately. They had to be seen to be believed. The defense table was occupied by demons.

I admit I fell a little bit in love with Jaun Martinez while watching his mastery of the court room. This book reminded me why. He has a gift and passion for what he does. The reader gets a good picture of someone who is a crusader for victims and their families. His brilliance comes through in the writers descriptions.

I don't think the book yet answers "why not kill her." I would have liked to know more of the ARIAS jury's thoughts and comments. I've understood since the end of the trial it was one juror who refused to vote for death. But why? That question still needs to be answered.

I was against the death penalty for a long time. THIS CASE and the Chesire, Connecticut home invasion case convinced me that some people are pure evil and it's warranted. This book backs that opinion up.

The thing this author did best was humanize the victim. He portrayed Travis Alexander as the successful, warm, kind, loving and giving human being he was. He layed the lies and character assination at the feet of the defense and their client who is one of the most evil human beings I've ever seen.

I would recommend this book to anyone who followed this trial.

[Lisa Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly repetitive and not especially enlightening

This is indeed the perspective of a juror - although not a juror in this particular case. I learned little about Jodi Arias but then again this focused on her retrial and her refusal to be in the witness stand. I expected to find out more about her character - not the fault of the author who could only really 'report's on the trial as it unfolded. Having read the book in relieved I haven't had to be a juror, and I see little of interest in being a trial watcher. The process, as described in the book, was turgid and repetitive. I found the writing style irritating in places - constant repetition of the use of white noise, the "chuckling" of the Dr, the chicken dance ... Pointlessly repetitive. It was heavily biased against the defence which acted as a foil for the "energetic" prosecution - a tad sycophantic in places which seemed ingratiating and nepotistic. I didn't care for the cross references to previous cases - too numerous and of little significance. I think in essence I just picked the wrong book to read and should have taken more more of the title. It does what it says - outlines the retrial which in itself was mundane. To be fair the book didn't suggest it would she'd light on Arias and her motivations and I was wrong to infer that it would. This book is about due process not a biography . The case itself is horrendous and Travis Alexander suffered horrifically at the hands of Arias. The retrial itself however just bored me. If you're looking for some sort of expose or some sense of the motivation and character of Arias this isn't a book I'd recommend. If however you're interested in court case minutiae then you'll probably get more from it than I did.

[Jack Kauffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Although it meanders at times, this account of a trial of Jodie Arias is mezmorizing. It gives one a look into a disturbed mind. It reinforces that psychologists follow mostly subjective analyses. Interestingly this account causes one to examine the cocept of the death penalty. I lean to be against it, but I am reminded that after his execution, Ted Bundy never killed another person.

[Louise Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving

Such a moving and unique insight into this case . An emotional ride from start to finish. Would highly recommend for people who can't get their heads around Jodi Arias not getting the Death Sentence

[Toni Hoffman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly written, confusing dialogue, extremely padded out with extraneous detail, please do not waste your money Read Juan Martinez’book instead

[Stephen Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is, as the title notes, a perspective on the Jodi Arias sentencing trial from a juror. The juror was not a juror on the Arias trial itself, but had served previously as a juror on another death penalty case. It is very detailed, spanning 700+ pages, and it's hard to imagine that much happened in the courtroom that isn't covered in the book. The author clearly invested a great deal of time attending court regularly and taking copious notes right down to the clothing worn by the attorneys, witnesses, and defendant. For that, it's an impressive piece of work.

My rating of 2 stars is based on a few factors: (1) much of the narrative is repetitive - the visual of Kirk Nurmi, for example, doing a "chicken dance" is repeated often, (2) the previous trial the author served on is an obvious reference point for him, but much of the detail of that trial could have been omitted, and I found myself losing interest with long passages concerning what the jury or the judge did in an unrelated trial, and (3) the author comes off less as an observer and more as an advocate for the victim and the victim's family. On this last point, the author isn't truly giving you a "juror's perspective" because a juror would need to be much more objective in his or her approach to the trial. The bias against the defendant (for whom I have no sympathy) extends to telling the reader how the jury is perceiving witnesses, which is something he can't possibly know. Juan Martinez, the prosecutor, is praised in the book for getting to the point and keeping the jury engaged. That's a lesson the author should have learned. A heavy editing pen and a bit more objectivity would have made this book a much more compelling read.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would definitely not recommend this book for first time Arias-readers as it references a lot of things that are from the first trial without much explanation. I would say I probably actually give this more like a 2.5. I enjoyed certain parts and learning about the jury process but this book really needed an editor. It went on for very long amounts of time about things we have already heard or irrelevant to the case. I will recommend that I didn't read some pages as carefully as I would usually because I was skimming through the unimportant parts (at least to me). Sometimes, I would get really excited because he would be describing questioning, but then he would just gloss over the most interesting parts, only to give detail after detail about some very inconsequential issues. I think this book would have been great had it been a bit shorter, or, if it is going to be this long; include the details from the first trial. Especially JA's testimony. However, it was very interesting to hear from the point of view of someone who sat on a jury, something I have always wanted to do. I would recommend this book but only to people who REALLY followed the Arias case closely. I would also say, there are large parts of this book you can skim over without really missing anything, but when the interesting stuff DOES happen, it is VERY interesting. I enjoyed the book, for the most part.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate what Mr. Sanders set out to do and I did find his analysis interesting. It was however, very repetitious and in some ways presumptuous. I don't think he can speak for all juries ever and that seemed to be his underlying assumption. Also, I knew nothing about the other death penalty case he served on and found discussion about it distracting. There were some superb characterizations that captured the participants very well, especially those about Kirk Nurmi, and I had a few good chuckles on that. I could see that he cared very much about the case and the cause of justice and I agree with him that the very best outcome actually did occur even if it may not have seemed that way at the time. Fifty years tucked away in the middle of a desert, with no media, no attention, no air conditioning and no Starbucks sounds very much like Jodi Arias's version of hell to me.

[aloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another tired retread

Repetitive; no new insights; poorly written. Okay, Nurmi has a funny "chicken dance" with his jacket. Does this need repeating over 5 times? We got it he first time you said jurors are "lambs to justice," why repeat it over and over? Most disappointing, the writer completely skipped over when Arias confessed she remembers slitting Travis' throat. Not a single comment on that? The insights on the jurors respective were constantly repeated-- nobody wants to be an alternate. The note takers are the best jurors. I've read countless books on Arias and this really offered little new insight.

[Michelle See · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting insight into being a juror & the various methods used by the courts in how trials are run. It makes you question the psychological impact on ordinary people called upon to decide another’s fate, when juggling the rules n regs imposed by the courts, family life, job needs etc

[LEESPASSAOL.COM · Rating 5 out of 5]

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING... THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS OFF THE CHARTS... WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO IS PASSIONATE FOR JUSTICE!!!!