W. Va. judge blocks youth testimony in Ohio trial

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A West Virginia judge has rejected requests that three juveniles be called to testify at the Ohio trial of two high school football players charged with raping a 16-year-old girl, a decision one defense attorney says puts his client in "a tough situation."

The juveniles' testimony was expected to bolster the players' defense against charges that they attacked the alleged victim, who is from West Virginia.

No legal case was cited from anywhere in the country to support the argument that the three West Virginia juveniles can be compelled to testify in Ohio, Hancock County Judge Ronald Wilson ruled Wednesday in an order obtained by The Associated Press.

Ohio and West Virginia law is different for a juvenile delinquency hearing compared to a criminal trial, Wilson said in the four-page ruling.

"The proceeding in Ohio is not a criminal action — it is not a criminal prosecution — and it is not a criminal proceeding," Wilson wrote.

"A trial judge follows the law — he does not make it," Wilson added. No law his court follows gives him the right to honor the request for the subpoenas, he said.

The two players go on trial Wednesday in Jefferson County juvenile court in Steubenville on charges they attacked the girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August. Their attorneys have denied the charges.

The request for the subpoenas came through Ohio Judge Thomas Lipps, after defense attorneys filed motions with him asking that the three witnesses appear at the trial. Nothing in the court ruling indicates what the juveniles would testify about.

The juveniles' expected testimony and knowledge was "material" to the Ohio case, Wilson's ruling said.

"It puts us in a tough situation," Walter Madison, a defense attorney representing Ma'Lik Richmond, said Friday. He declined further comment.

The lawyer representing defendant Trent Mays said the West Virginia witnesses are trying to avoid testifying. Attorney Brian Duncan said they have refused to speak to defense investigators.

"The truth will be exposed through evidence and testimony submitted at the upcoming trial, and the same will prove that our client did not rape the alleged victim," Duncan said in a statement Friday.

Dozens of witnesses for both sides are expected to testify at the trial. Their testimony is considered crucial because the girl was severely intoxicated that night and appeared to be passed out at times, according to several witnesses, and is not expected to testify herself.

Fred Abdalla Jr., chief probation officer for the Jefferson County juvenile court and the spokesman for issues around the trial, declined comment.

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

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Arias resumes testimony in Ariz. murder trial

PHOENIX (AP) — Jodi Arias resumed testimony Monday in her Arizona death penalty case as her defense attorneys work to undo any damage from her withering cross-examination last week during which she admitted to lying throughout the investigation in order to cover her tracks and avoid being caught.

"Were you forced to testify?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked Arias.

"No," she said.

"When you chose to testify, did you so do with the idea that the lies you told would be called into question?" Nurmi prodded.

"Yes," Arias said.

Arias, 32, is charged in the June 2008 killing of her lover in his suburban Phoenix home. She says it was self-defense, but police say she planned the attack on Travis Alexander in a jealous rage. Arias initially told authorities she had nothing to do with Alexander's death, then blamed it on masked intruders before settling on self-defense.

Arias also was questioned repeatedly during cross-examination last week about the steps she took after she killed Alexander, all admittedly in an attempt to create an alibi. She dumped the gun in the desert, got rid of her bloody clothes, tried to clean the scene at Alexander's home and even left the victim a voicemail on his mobile phone within hours of killing him and dragging his body into the shower. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth.

Prosecutors are working to prove it was a premeditated killing that deserves a first-degree murder conviction in order to secure a chance at the death penalty.

"Did you go to Mr. Alexander's home on June 4 with the intent on killing him?" Nurmi asked Arias on Monday.

"No, I didn't," she said. "That was never a thought."

Arias' grandparents had reported a .25 caliber handgun stolen from their Northern California home about a week before the killing — the same caliber used to shoot Alexander in the head — but Arias says she never knew her grandfather had the weapon. Authorities believe she brought it with her, though she has testified she shot Alexander with his own gun as he chased her into his closet in a rage after body-slamming her and threatening to kill her.

"He was trying to kill me so I was defending myself," she said Monday.

Alexander had also been stabbed and slashed 27 times and had his throat slit. His body was found by friends about five days later.

Arias has testified that in the months leading up to his death, Alexander had grown physically abusive and beat her on numerous occasions. However, no witnesses have testified and jurors have heard nothing to indicate Alexander had ever shown violent behavior in the past, and there has been no proof admitted at trial that he ever owned a gun.

Arias even told authorities repeatedly after her arrest that he didn't own a gun. That story changed only after several years in jail when she admitted to the killing.

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Arias testimony retreads details from killing

PHOENIX (AP) — Jodi Arias' defense attorney concluded his questioning of the defendant Tuesday after testimony in her Arizona death penalty case that largely repeated previous details from the day she says she killed her lover in self-defense.

Earlier in the day, Arias read from her journal as her attorneys worked to explain why she made no specific mention in her entries regarding claims that her lover physically abused her and had sexual desires for young boys.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez hammered her during his cross-examination about the fact that there was no proof of anything Arias had been telling jurors regarding her contention that Travis Alexander had become violent and abusive in the months leading up to his death.

Arias previously testified that she once walked in on Alexander viewing explicit pictures of young boys, something that has not been backed up by evidence or witnesses throughout the trial.

Martinez had pointed out repeatedly how Arias noted nearly every intimate detail of her life in her journal, yet made no reference to the incident.

"That's exactly the opposite of things I would want to note," Arias testified Tuesday under questioning by her own attorney. "I wouldn't want to remember that ... It was very shocking."

She then read another journal entry she says she wrote several days after discovering Alexander viewing the pictures.

"It still remains that I cannot marry him. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but something is just off with that boy," she read.

"What did you mean by that?" asked her defense attorney, Kirk Nurmi.

"That's kind of my indirect way of referring to his issues that were in my mind, something I couldn't look past or accept," Arias replied.

She also has testified that she didn't document negative events about Alexander because he often read her journal and would get angry.

Arias' attorneys were again working to portray the victim as a sexually deviant womanizer in an apparent effort to gain sympathy from jurors.

Arias is set to return to the witness stand Wednesday afternoon. Jurors in Arizona criminal cases are allowed to pose their own questions to witnesses via written notes provided to the judge and vetted by attorneys. The judge said the panel had about 100 questions for Arias.

Throughout her two weeks on the witness stand, Arias has made numerous assertions that Alexander owned a gun, physically abused her, and had illicit desires for children, none of which have been corroborated by testimony or witnesses.

Martinez concluded his cross-examination of Arias last week after hammering her repeatedly over her lies and efforts to create an alibi immediately after she killed Alexander.

She acknowledged that she dumped the gun in the desert, got rid of her bloody clothes, tried to clean the scene at Alexander's home, and even left the victim a voicemail on his mobile phone within hours of killing him and dragging his body into the shower. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth.

Arias' grandparents had reported a .25 caliber handgun stolen from their Northern California home about a week before the killing — the same caliber used to shoot Alexander — but Arias says she never knew her grandfather had the weapon. Authorities believe she brought it with her, though she has testified she shot Alexander with his own gun as he chased her into his closet after body-slamming her and threatening to kill her.

Alexander had also been stabbed and slashed nearly 30 times and had his throat slit.

Arias is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2008 attack in Alexander's suburban Phoenix home. She says it was self-defense, but police say she planned the killing in a jealous rage.

Arias initially told authorities she had nothing to do with Alexander's death then blamed it on masked intruders before settling on self-defense.

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