criminal defense attorney holly hughes is here with us now. holly, this thing just won't stop.nk one of the big questions of course is, we know about this talk of a retrial. but what's the chance actually of some type of a plea deal before they get there this. >> well i think what the state is going to want before they offer her anything, joe, is they're going to say to her, fine, you can have life without parole. but you have to waive all of your appeals in order to get that sentence. and the problem with that is what we've seen through the course of this five months, jodi arias is a control freak. and she thinks that she can manipulate the system. so you better believe she thinks on appeal, that her first-degree murder conviction issing did to be reversed. i don't see her ever waiving that right to appeal. i think she's going to say no. go ahead, try to kill me because it's all coming back, anyway. >> this is a very unusual and rare process in arizona. different from most other state, at least i know. >> yeah. >> how do you go about getting a jury to rehear just the facts abo

you will recognize her as my colleague holly hughes, frequent on-air contributor for cnn and hln. e a look at her back in 2006. this is holly at her heaviest. since then she had gastric bypass surgery and lost 155 pounds. you know, i saw the picture for the first time today, holly. when you look at that picture, what do you think? >> you know, it's the strangest thing. i always sort of knew i was fabulous, right? the amazing thing is after surgery, everybody else starts to agree with you. because you know who you are as a person. >> that's interesting. >> it really is about perception. i went to law school. i'm a lawyer. i'm practicing and doing my thing and i'm thinking i'm really accomplished. you hit a point in your life where you realize, that's nice, but my health has suffered. and i have not concentrated on my health like i concentrated on my career. when i look back at that i think, best decision i ever made. best thing i ever did for myself. >> how quickly did you start losing weight? >> immediately. you just absolutely start losing immediately. within the first four months

holly hughes, she is a criminal defense and former prosecutor not involved with this case. ng. >> good morning, carol. >> actually, that struck me too that his public defender was a woman. >> luck of the draw. whoever happens to be catching cases when it comes in, sort of like your homicide detectives. whoever is on shift, whoever is there. if you're up next, you get assigned. >> well, brian todd said he didn't really react to her at all. >> well, he's not in control anymore. when we look at these type of criminals, the type who exercise just total control. and not just physical control, carol. this is about psychological control. chaining these women, torturing them all these years. it's all about his own world. now that he has no control of what's happening in the courtroom, he's not going to engage. he's not going to bother. we see his attitude towards women. he's probably not going to be very cooperative with this woman until it clicks i'm trying to save the rest of your life. i'm trying to help you out here. and then he may cooperate a little bit. >> i'm sure the victim

holly hughes is here. the defendant spent 18 days on the stand during the trial. to jurors again? >> she is. her attorney said in his open that jodi arias will come up and talk to you. what will be fascinating, don, is if she e repeats what she told the reporter after she was convicted which is i want the death penalty. >> it will be a tough spot. they are trying to save her life but she herself said she would rather face death. >> and said it on national tv. there is something called impeachment in a courtroom. if you can be proven to be lying. if she says "spare me" the pru will impeach by playing the tape that says i want the death penal penalty. >> what does that mean? >> the jury will be confused. it is hard to put somebody to death even if you think they deserve it. >>> now to a difficult story. it is an unusual one. it's in south carolina. it's a lawsuit that's being called the first of its kind. the adopted parents of a child born with male and female organs say the state mutilated their son by having his male genitalia surgically removed. the surgery took

criminal defense attorney holly hughes is here. aggravation phase? >> that's what they call it. the law you have to have aggravating factors in order to seek the death penalty. >> okay. so break down to us. this is whether she'll live or die. what is it? >> arizona is different. they break it into two parts. the penalty phase, aggravation phase, death phase, whatever you want to call it. the prosecutor has to prove this was an unusually cruel murder. he's going to put up evidence for the jury. he'll do that by calling the medical examiner next to the stand. the guy's name is dr. kevin horn. he testified in the main trial. he's going to get on and they will go through every single one of the 29 stab wounds and then the slit to the throat was ear to ear. she almost decapitated him, all the way to the bone. and a shot in the face. >> all of this will be on television again. more testimony. >> couple of days at least. >> just moments after jodi arias was convicted of murder she sat down to do an interview with ksaz. listen to this. >> um, i said years ago that i would rather get dea

. >> criminal defense attorney holly hughes is here.et's talk about how the defense summed up the case and closing arguments. they say prosecutors didn't prove the case so you can't convict her. what do you think of the strategy? >> well, they used what they had, don. the problem with this particular case and this particular defendant is she loves to talk. before this particular team of lawyers got involved she gave interviews to television stations all over the place proclaiming she's innocent. she lied to the police, gave three different stories. they were hemmed in. they were hog tied by their client's own words. they had to work with what they had. i think they did an effective job of pointing out to the jury it's possible it happened this way. it could be self-defense, if you believe the liar because it's been proven she lied over and over. if you don't believe self-defense think about manslaughter. maybe it's not first-degree murder. maybe she just snapped. honestly, they did the best they could with what they had. i've got to tel