Jeffrey Toobin, Mark Geragos and David Swanson share their reactions to expert testimony given by a psychologist in the Jodi Arias trial who testified that Arias suffered dissociative amnesia.
Dr. Richard Samuels told the jurors that because of the trauma of killing Travis Alexander, Arias lost her memory. The theory supports her claims that she remembers shooting her ex-boyfriend in self-defense, but forgets stabbing him nearly 30 times.
The prosecutor tried to discredit Samuels by bringing up an ethics violation, saying the doctor treated Arias by buying her a self-help book, and by showing he used outdated information to conclude Arias had PTSD.
Toobin says he thought Samuels was an excellent witness on direct testimony, but the prosecution made him seem more like an advocate than an analyst. "PTSD is a big part of the defense here, and the fact that the analysis that led to that was while she was still lying about all this, I thought he looked pretty bad," says Toobin.
For more on the case, watch Psychologist says Arias has amnesia