needle road. heavily wooded. ranger, would you have ever gone down a road? no, that place was four to five foot under water two weeks earlier. at a seemingly random spot, mcdowell said stop, this is the place. jeter and holland set off on foot. within a short period of time we found what we believed to be the remains of crystal mcdowell. there wasn t much left of her. she was pretty much decomposed. steven mcdowell had not only confessed but given up the body. case closed, right? not in texas because a murder defendant can claim sudden passion that the victim somehow played a role in their own death by provoking the killer. and mcdowell wanted to make that argument before a jury hoping he could drastically reduce his sentence. i can tell a jury look, if you find this story of sudden passion, then the only thing, the maximum you can give him is
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and he pointedly reminded the jury that this wasn t a reality show, that their decision shouldn t be whether they approve of the woman whose sexual escapades had been part of their daily routine for four months. nine days out of ten i don t like jodi arias. it was a phrase that resonated. if not with the jury then certainly with his client, who responded via twitter, nine days out of ten? that sounds about right. if you think it s strange that a murder defendant would laugh it up via social media, even while a jury deliberates her fate, then you don t know jodi arias. but of course that was kind of the issue throughout this trial. who was she? i don t know. look closely at jodi arias during cross-examination. no matter how much she sobs while strategically perhaps covering her face, there seemed to be no teardrops falling from her eyes. forensic psychiatrist steven pitt was struck by her
that place was four to five foot underwater two weeks earlier. at a seemingly random spot, mcdowell said, stop. this is the place. jeter and holland then set off on foot into the thicket. and within a short period of time, we found what we believed were the remains of crystal mcdowell. there was not much left of her. she was pretty much decomposed. steven mcdowell had not only confessed but given up the body. so case closed, right? well, not in texas. because a murder defendant here can claim sudden passion, that the victim somehow played a role in their own death by provoking the killer. and mcdowell wanted to make that argument before a jury hoping he could drastically reduce his sentence. i can tell a jury, look, if you find this story of sudden passion, then the only thing the maximum you can give him is 20. he can get out in as little as two. what worried district attorney lieck was that there were even some in law enforcement who thought this was
interactions with dana is that basically maybe she did something. he told everything on the stand. he did not hold back? no he did not hold back. the story is out. you have to go ahead and tell the truth. if you don t, you look like a liar now. so in that sense, jamere did do the right. think he did. the defense argued that shannon was being framed for a murder that he jamere alone committed. her lawyers painted jamere as a crooked cop. everything elevates shannon as she couldn t do anything, it has to be this bad cop over here. i did not know where he had done, and where he was going to do to me. it s often considered risky for a murder defendant to take the stand. but shannon insisted on telling her story. that she was a victim, and not a killer. for one he has told me since that he did. and you are telling the jury