Cleaning the Bathroom - Jodi Arias Murder Trial

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Seated between two criminal defense attorneys on the one side and domestic violence/high conflict divorce attorney on the other side Sunday afternoon during the Jay Lawrence show on KTAR, a question occurred to me. (In case you don't know, I attend the trial in person. Follow my live tweets @CamilleKimball)

Is there a gender issue in the Jodi Arias case that doesn't relate so much to the sexual or dating aspects of the case but to something much more mundane?

Michael Kimmerer is roundly acknowledged in Arizona to be the top of his field, criminal defense. Dwane Cates is well-known to audiences of HLN and Nancy Grace. Both of these men argued in studio that Jodi Arias might get a Second Degree Murder conviction because of the rage displayed in the savage butchering of Travis Alexander. 

If the killing were so pre-meditated with the various steps such as acquiring gas cans, stealing a gun, dyeing her hair and turning the license plate upside down, then why didn't she do an easier job of it, the defense attorneys asked?  Why not shoot her target while he was sleeping or otherwise unawares in bed, leave the house quickly and not risk leaving any further evidence?  Why wait till he was conscious and alert in the shower, they asked, shaking their heads to signify it was a preposterous idea. 

Inside the KTAR studios. Jay, Mike, Dwane and me

 Arias left an actual cavalcade of physical evidence at the scene, including her own blood and prints not to mention the infamous camera.  This bonanza, the two defense attorneys argued, showed that she was in a disordered state of mind, a sudden passion which would disqualify her for First Degree. 

To me, though, it makes perfect sense that a premeditated murder would take place in the shower. We know for a fact that Jodi Arias did attempt to clean up the scene. After incapacitation, Travis's inert body was dragged into the shower. The bed was stripped and the bedclothes placed into the washing machine and the machine turned on. The knife was placed in the dishwasher. Why wouldn't it have been part of the pre-meditated plan all along that she could minimize the disarray by keeping the action confined to the bathroom? This plan would possibly delay discovery of the body as well as give her a chance to remove traces that she had been there. It may even have pleased her sensibilities to leave his home, in which she had served as maid once or twice, as neat as possible. A bit of a final "so there!" to her victim? 

Why then, the defense attorneys asked me, did she leave so much evidence there? 

I argued that she became overwhelmed. 

The attorneys joined by host Jay Lawrence all said in unison, that's second degree murder right there. 

But what I want to highlight is that couldn't she have become overwhelmed at the sheer mess not at the crime? 

While these highly experienced and educated fellows seemed to find it not credible that a person would commit a pre-meditated murder in the most dramatic fashion possible as opposed to the most efficient, the thought that the victim could be lured into the shower for ease of cleanup came to me instantly, years ago when the the murder first happened. 

Not all men, not even most men are oblivious to housework issues. And far from all women are tidy. But deep in our cultural DNA, can we admit there's a reason the spokesperson for Pine Sol is a woman and the models using the Swiffers are women, too?  Something in the smell of ammonia and bleach makes our XX chromosomes quiver just a bit the way Tim Allen tried to tell us a hardware store did for the Ys. 

I have no trouble picturing a mess so colossal that, even with so much at stake, a female killer would start with the easy stuff--strip the bed--then lose heart. We know she lingered at the scene for some time as it is. Doing the laundry, using Travis' phone to check his messages (and to call herself).  At some moment, she would have at last stood there looking at blood spatter on the walls and carpet, realizing she could only do a smeary job at best. She would have decided Plan B, abandon the scene with the door shut, would be a better use of her time. 

To me, a killer could easily want to Make Someone Pay. Simply taking the life efficiently would not be nearly as satisfying as making sure the target knew exactly who was killing him and why. Especially if, as defense witness Alyce LaViolette claimed, Jodi Arias felt Travis in the power position in their relationship. The scenario of a woman scorned who kills in revenge becomes much more satisfying to the killer if the target can see for himself for at least a few minutes just who is in the power position now. Each stab wound would have come with statements from the killer, letting the victim know how he had "earned" his fate. "This is for the time you x! And this one is for the time you y!"  Seeing the astonishment and fear in his eyes would be part of the pre-murder planning and relishing. Planning the statements would, too. Underestimating the amount of mess that would be left could easily have been part of that planning stage, too.

To the right of me in studio was domestic violence/high conflict divorce attorney Kaine Fischer. He described his clients as timid, frightened women with downcast eyes not the confident, smiling Jodi Arias we have all come to know. While not a criminal defense attorney, he seemed to me have a bit better grasp of female behavior and did not support Kimerer's and Cates' analysis of the bloody crime scene.

Leaning into my seat while I take the photo, Kaine Fischer surrounded by the same crew

Which leads me to the question, is it possible men in general may view the bathroom as an entirely different piece of evidence than women do? Or perhaps women watching the trial, who are themselves not killers, see more in the bathroom than is there? 

We are all guilty of viewing the evidence through our own mindsets. I just wonder if in this case there's a gender fault line that, at it's core, is about housekeeping?  Am I way out of bounds? Let me know your thoughts!