Is Juan Martinez Married? - Camille Gives the Answer

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If you watch the Jodi Arias trial - the formerly blonde bombshell who killed her lover 3 different ways - you not only know who Juan Martinez is, you have an opinion of him. 

Martinez is the diminutive prosecutor with the giant personality. I live tweet from inside the Jodi Arias 
courtroom and twitter demands brevity, so I always refer to him as simply, "Juan." 

Juan Martinez looks at Jodi Arias video on the monitor on the prosecution table

His first name has been co-opted by the web, anyway, as fans frequently refer to him as "Juanderful," "Juantastic," and other clever puns showing enthusiastic admiration for the short, slender man who displays the cerebral machismo of a Captain Kirk, with an identically equal commitment to justice and to winning.

Instead of zooming from galaxy to galaxy setting wrongs to right wherever he goes, Juan Martinez dashes from courtroom to courtroom discharging his considerable energy like a phaser set to stun on witnesses and defendants who don't know what hit them.

Juan is unabashedly aggressive in the courtroom, mocking witnesses, raising his voice, never letting a single point go by unchallenged.  Now that he has a worldwide television audience, it turns out the ladies love him for it. 

Some of the most commonly used search terms now to find this blog are, "Is Juan Martinez married?" or "Juan Martinez wife?" or "Juan Martinez available?"

Sometimes I have answered that question directly to commenters who post the question in the trails. I figured it was time I made it easier to find the answer with a post of its own.

Ladies, Juan Martinez is NOT married.

Now for the bad news: he is not single, either. 

Juan Martinez is in a long-term relationship with someone who fell for that terrier-like charisma of his long before he was famous.  She has been keeping a close eye on the trial, closer than you would think, but you haven't seen her.

Why am I being so coy about naming her or giving more info about her?  Because they are. Well before fame came into their lives, Juan and his lady love guarded their privacy carefully.  With the unrelenting glare of TV cameras from all over the world converged on him every day all day, their privacy for their personal lives is even more sweet and I will not be the one to break it for them.

I will tell you that she is as smitten with him as you are and speaks of him with great fondness and admiration. So you can all rest assured that he is treated well and given his due portion of loving companionship.

I can also tell you that he is incredibly lucky to have her, as well. She is physically just gorgeous. She is highly educated. She has considerable professional accomplishments of her own. I guarantee you would all like her.

Juan Martinez was not a national figure before the Jodi Arias trial but to those of us who have been in the Maricopa County courthouse for many years before Jodi ever tried on her first pair of jail stripes, he has been a familiar figure, handling many of the most sensational murder trials in this county. Some of us know his better half, most do not. 

Juan also happens to be a polarizing figure. Some consider him a bully, not a bulldog. I've even had commenters on this blog suggest the temper he displays in court is a symptom of a scary man and fear he may even be dangerous as a partner.

I can say unequivocally that is a bizarre accusation of the wildest kind. Without having actually taken her clothes off for any forensic exam, I can tell you I have seen his sweetheart often enough and know enough about her to assure you she is no shrinking violet and displays all the qualities of one of the most capable women you could ever meet. Frankly, she could probably best him in a physical confrontation--not that such a thing has ever happened!--because of both her character and his small size. In other words, if you dressed them both in WWF scary outfits and dropped them in a ring together, I wouldn't know which one to bet on. So please put that ridiculous thought out of your mind. Feel free to dislike Juan, but don't worry about his private life or his loved ones.

But most of you adore him. You can't get enough of him. You will be sorry to hear that during the Jodi Arias trial, a TV production company that was working on a piece about one of my cases was having a hard time reaching him. I was able to help them out by passing on their message to him in person in the hallways. 

Unfortunately, the Chandler Police Department ruined your chances of seeing Juan on TV for that particular story because they refused to cooperate, so the TV crew had to kill the story.  It was the Jamie Laiaddee case, which is my story "Trophy Wife" in Masters of True Crime. In that case, your favorite prosecutor got some measure of satisfaction for another grieving family, remarkable because the body has never been found, making it a far more difficult a case than Jodi's. Not only no body, but no crime scene has ever been found, either. Rick Valentini, the man on trial, maintained that Jamie is still alive and has simply left town on her own.  

But Juan Martinez ninja-ed his way through that enormous obstacle and got Valentini convicted of 2nd degree murder. Valentini will be wearing an orange jumpsuit for the better part of the next 50 years. 

Juan Martinez has prosecuted many interesting cases and I will feature more of them. Here's one of the more bizarre. < < click

Just a sliver of the crowd in front of the courthouse on Jodi Arias verdict day, as seen from the KPNX set

So many of you have discovered this fiery and focused prosecutor through the Jodi Arias trial. You have fallen in love with his saying to witnesses what you wish you could say to them yourselves. You've been impressed with his tight control of his case and his always-ready organization skills. You've admired his passionate speeches to the jury, in which he used no notes and spoke for hours from the facts and points in his head. You loved him when he pointed at Jodi and called her "a liar and killer." 

You consider yourself his biggest fan. 

Just remember, he does have one fan who is even more ardent and committed than you are. She's proud that all you ladies admire him from afar.  She's amused that he's become a rock star to you.

But mostly she's very happy she found him first. 

(If she ever gives me permission, I will "introduce" you to her. But I won't out her, so don't ask! To the few who think she is me, she isn't. Really. Don't get me in trouble with her, please.)

**Link to this or any post is always welcome, but posting the whole text to another site makes me go all frowny!**

Never Any Worries - Crime Writer talks Jodi Arias to KPNX

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Jodi Arias to Fox 10's Troy Hayden after her 1st degree murder conviction: "I think death is the ultimate freedom and I'd rather just my freedom as soon as I can get it."

Jodi, I think you'll finally get your wish. And very soon. (at least the sentence-the actual execution will take very long)

The embed code to the video below has it playing instantly as you visit the site. Please hit "pause" or turn down the volume until you are ready to view it. I will work on figuring out how to change the code or just remove the video if I can't change the setting. Sorry!

Many people, including some quite famous ones, were extremely nervous about the length of time that the Jodi Arias was taking in deliberations. I was not. To prove it, here's the TV interview I gave the night before the verdict actually did come in. I believe the jurors did exactly what I said they'd be doing.....




 I spoke with Mark Curtis again the next day from the courthouse steps shortly after Jodi Arias was convicted of first degree murder. I'll post that too if they put it up.

Jodi Arias found it easy to take a human life. 12 jurors did not. They took their time in reviewing their options. The final vote was a total of 12 for pre-meditation and another 7 found she also committed felony murder. Some of the time in the jury room may have been spent trying to get a unanimous triple play. But in the end they decided having 12 votes plus an extra 7 sent a strong enough message.


And that message is: DON'T BE SLITTING THROATS, DO NOT PASS GO, LEAVE SOCIETY NOW!


Please join me for the final phases of the trial as I tweet live from inside the Jodi Arias courtroom.
@CamilleKimball  with @CamilleInCourt for backup

Jodi Arias Jury - How Long Will They Take?

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The most common question I get now is how long will the verdict take in the Jodi Arias case?  The 3 alternates were chosen late last Friday and the final 12 went into deliberate. They returned to the courthouse this morning at 9 Arizona time. 

Crime writer Camille Kimball at Jodi Arias courthouse. Somewhere in that huddle is Jane Velez Mitchell

People hoping for a Murder in the 1st Degree conviction seem to feel the jurors have had the case for 4 months already, they must be eager to take their vote and get on with their lives. 

The Serial Shooter jury in Phoenix sat in trial for 6 months. They even had Dale Hausner's accomplice, Sam Dieteman, testify against him. Yet they took 3 weeks in deliberations. 

They finally returned with 6 death penalties and dozens of other guilty verdicts for Hausner. 

Marjorie Orbin's jury sat in trial for 9 months. Yes, nine.  But they did not return with their verdict in the space of an afternoon. It took about a week for them to convict her of the gruesome murder of her husband. 

Up in Yavapai County, the jury for Law of Attraction guru James Arthur Ray also sat in trial for months, but did not return a first day verdict.

In talking to jurors from trials like these, after it's all over, you hear how solemnly they take their duty of depriving a fellow human being of liberty or life. 

After the many months of trial, months during which the rest of us are free to opine and vent to our heart's content, the jurors have direly pent up emotions. They have not been allowed to review testimony or evidence with each other during the trial, nor with anyone else, not even their spouses. 

Juror #5 on Jodi's jury was let go precisely because the defense successfully argued she had revealed an opinion. 

Jurors haven't had the freedom of Jean Casarez & Jane Velez Mitchell to share their opinions on Jodi Arias

So what tends to happen on the first day in the privacy and freedom of the deliberation room at last is a spewing forth of emotions and opinions. The discussion, such as it is, will be chaotic and emotional. Only later, when the 12 have been able to process their feelings about the gruesome photos they have seen and the hours of testimony they have sat through with poker faces, will they get down to work.

This, I have often seen, is the time when the awesome responsibility of what they are about to do sets in. In the Arizona juries in the above cases, rather than simply taking a vote, they systematically start going through the evidence. They make sure they each understand an item and they will deliberate on its meaning. 

And then something similar occurs with the jury instructions, too. They may read and re-read different portions of the instruction, persuading each other along the way. 

Some juries have only one or two members who feel differently than the rest. Such a jury may spend many days trying to bring those one or two around to the majority position, may spend more days fretting with each other about the consequences of failing to reach a unanimous decision, and even more days hammering out a compromise using lesser charges.

Taking on the burden of having an actual vote in a case like is very different from watching it on TV or even from the gallery inside the courtroom, as I do. They know that some information has been kept from them and they want to make sure they do the right thing. I've had jurors come to my book signings and beg for more information about what happened when they are sent out of the room (which is the more typical procedure than what we've seen in the Jodi Arias trial where the jury stays put and the lawyers approach the bench while white noise is played on loud speakers in the courtroom). 

Jurors also want to review their own feelings and make sure they are not making a decision based on the personalities of the lawyers or even of the defendant or victim. They want to make sure they understand the law. 

Many of them will live with the case--and their own vote--for the rest of their lives. Some will seek therapy. Some will seek out the victims or the defendant and bond,

So, in my experience, it would be surprising if the jury in the Jodi Arias case had come back Monday morning or even Friday afternoon. I would expect them to take at least most or all of one day. Even if they reach a decision quickly, many will want to sleep on it before casting a vote. 

It's impossible to predict what any specific jury will do. Add to all of the above the mix of 12 strangers with individual personalities who may or may not be able to work together once they get down to business.

In the Fife Symington jury, a former Arizona governor convicted of fraud, it turned out one member was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. This went undetected during the selection process, but manifest in deliberations with her sometimes bizarre and obstinate behavior. 

When will Jodi's jury come back? The old saw that the longer deliberations take, the more it favors the defense has never been true in my experience. One of the quickest juries I ever saw was for Elizabeth Johnson in the Baby Gabriel case. That one was a victory for the defendant. But I only attend one trial at a time from a field of a nearly infinite number of trials so take it for what it's worth. But don't despair of the verdict you may be hoping for because 12 pent up people didn't take an immediate vote.