Jodi Arias Verdict Hinges on Premeditation

Let's get more, now, from our legal team. Nancy grace, on hln. "Gma" legal analyst, dan abrams. Let me begin with you. You look at that closet. Nothing moved. In pristine shape. That comes before... See More

Let's get more, now, from our legal team. Nancy grace, on hln. "Gma" legal analyst, dan abrams. Let me begin with you. You look at that closet. Nothing moved. In pristine shape. That comes before prosecution puts up its last witness today, the medical examiner. They want the jurors to have a very clear image in their head. Absolutely. And it wasn't just a pristine closet. I'm sure you've met those guys that are neat-nicks. And they have the shoe protectors in all of their shoes and everything is color-coded. That was travis alexander. And jodi arias' story is that she climbed up those shelves, essentially, to reach back in the back, to get out the murder weapon, only she knew about it. That was all debunked. Not only did they show photos of this pristine -- and it looked like a california closet ad. Also, when the detective put his hand on the shelf, it came down. It cannot hold the weight of the body. And this is what I say. I don't need to be an expert in closets to know, when you bring grandma, when you wheel grandma into the courtroom, you're down at the bottom of the barrel. They're doing anything to get to that jury. And the judge, dan, is allowing the defense to call one more new witness next week before the closing arguments. Yeah. And, look, I don't think it's that big a deal. Go ahead. The bottom line is, yeah. The bottom line is that, yeah, this debate over whether jodi arias has or doesn't have borderline personality disorder is not going to be what this case hinges on. Basically, what the judge is saying is, yes, the prosecution mentioned a new theory in its rebuttal case. Remember, the rebuttal is just supposed to be the response. Yes, I'm going to allow the defense to call a quick witness to respond to that. It's not significant. The key here is that the focus of the rebuttal case, by the prosecution, has been on the most important issue in this case. And that's premeditation. The prosecution, trying to hit home the idea that jodi arias had planned this. That she bought gas cans so she wouldn't have to stop. That the gun story that she told about the closet, doesn't work. This is the most important issue in this case. It's been the focus of the prosecution's rebuttal. And so, if the defense, in its final opportunity, has an expert come on and say, jodi arias doesn't borderline personality disorder, I don't think it's going to make a difference. Nancy, what about -- dan, you know why that's so important? Part of what dan just said, they're showing premeditation because out of the blue, of course, a lot of court watchers expected it. The defense, now wants the charge on manslaughter. That's not consistent with self-defense. But showing that premeditation that dan had just started to lay out is important. It defeats a manslaughter in the heat of passion, you get angry and pull the trigger. She brought gas cans so she wouldn't be traced at a gas station. Yesterday, we saw photos where she dyed her hair. And took selfies,h a fake car, a fake tag. Her cell phone turned off. Her car littered with gas cans so she could not be traced on her way to commit the murder. The closing arguments next week. How does the defense get four months of a trial honed down to a single, clean argument? They've got to get rid of premeditation. I mean, they're resting everything here on this idea of self-defense. I don't think anyone is going to buy the notion that somehow jodi arias is going to be acquitted because this was self-defense. Her only hope is that they somehow believe that there wasn't premeditation, which is why this jury charge of manslaughter -- the judge hasn't decided yet whether to allow it -- becomes so important. If the judge does allow manslaughter, that says to this jury, hey, you could believe there was a fight. You could believe heat of passion. And you could convict her of a much less crime. Okay, guys. Thanks very much.