Five of the Biggest Liars of 2013

Every year brings it own share of amazing lies and liars ... each one accompanied by a flurry of news stories that quickly fade away.  Some of them make national news; others only receive attention in one region of the country.

It's actually wise of us to go back from time to time and recognize the lies that many people fell for ... in the hopes that the public won't be so easily fooled in the future.

If you know of a situation that occurred in 2013 that you think should have made this list, feel free to include it in the comments section below.  I'll even allow links to articles on the topic, as long as the links are not promoting more potential scams.  (Believe it or not, I frequently have to delete comments containing links with obviously dishonest exaggerations such as "lazy way to make $50,000 a month."  I'm always amazed that people believe I will leave these types of comments on this site!)

Here are my picks for the biggest liars of 2013, based on the amount of interest shown on my blog over the past year.  Click on the title of the stories that interest you and you will discover that it is a link to the full article.  Beneath each title I've included a line or two from each of the articles to give you a better idea of the information they contain:

Clayton County Sheriff Elected Despite Felony Charges

"It seems beyond belief that Sheriff Victor Hill was elected to oversee law enforcement and the Clayton County jail in Georgia while he had 32 pending felony charges against him, including accusations of racketeering and theft." Learn more about this outrageous sheriff.

What is Catfishing and Could You Be Victimized?

"The latest person to be damaged by catfishing is Manti Te'O, a Notre Dame football player and Heisman Trophy contender".  Read more about his embarrassing story.

The Jodi Arias Lies

"Few recent trials have captured the attention of the American public more than the Jodi Arias murder trial.  She was accused of murdering her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander, on June 4, 2008 at his house in Mesa, Arizona by slitting his throat, stabbing him 29 times and then shooting him in the face.  After a televised four month trial, the jury convicted Ms. Arias of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013."  Read about the lies she told that convinced the jury that they should convict her.

How to Avoid Phony Online Product Reviews

"The website business2community.com recently posted an article about online reviews in which they reported that a research company named Gartner has discovered that approximately 15% of online product reviews are fake!"  Learn how to recognize a phony review!

Oops!  Anthony Weiner Did it Again!

"This week Mr. Weiner revealed that he actually had sexually explicit online relationships, via text, Twitter and Facebook, with approximately six to ten women while he served in Congress."  This is in addition to the scandal from 2012.  Is this going to become an annual event?

I'm sure we'll have more interesting scandals to read about in 2014.  I wonder if Anthony Weiner will make the list again!

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of Anthony Weiner is is official Congressional photo and is courtesy of www.wikipedia.org/commons

The Jodi Arias Lies

Few recent trials have captured the attention of the American public more than the Jodi Arias murder trial.  She was accused of murdering her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander, on June 4, 2008 at his house in Mesa, Arizona by slitting his throat, stabbing him 29 times and then shooting him in the face.  After a televised four month trial, the jury convicted Ms. Arias of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013.

Arizona is one of the few states in which jurors can submit questions they have, and the judge will then ask them during the trial.  Based on the questions that the jurors submitted, one of the problems they had was whether to believe her testimony that she had acted in self-defense.  They were bothered by the fact that she had already told so many lies to investigators.  At least some of the jurors wondered how they could believe anything she said.  What were some of the lies that may have troubled the jurors?

Biggest Lies Told by Jodi Arias

1.  When she was first questioned on July 15, 2008 about the death of Travis Alexander, she insisted that she had not had any involvement in his death.   She said, "I would never want to hurt him."  Later, she would have to recant this statement.

2.   She also told investigators that she had not seen Travis at all since April of that year, weeks before his death.  However, a camera was found at the crime scene with photos inside that proved she was actually in the house on the day of his death.

3.   Once she could no longer deny being present when he died, Jodi then told the police that two masked men had killed Travis, also claiming that one of the intruders had held a gun to her head.

4.    Jodi must have forgotten the first story, because a short time later she told another tale about a pair of male and female masked intruders and how Jodi, trying to save Travis, had charged down the hall and pushed the female intruder as hard as she could.  How heroic of her!

5.   When no sign of intruders could be found and it appeared that Jodi was the only person present in the house that day, Jodi tried another tact.  In this story, she finally admitted that she had killed Travis, but claimed it was in self-defense. 

6.   To support her story of self-defense, of course she had to come up with damaging evidence against Travis Alexander.  She presented letters that Travis had supposedly sent to her indicating that he was a pedophile.  However, court testing indicated that the letters were actually forgeries.

7.   Apparently, Jodi Arias could not keep herself from lying, even about where she worked.  Her new boyfriend, Ryan Burns, testified that Jodi had told him that the cuts on her fingers came from a broken margarita glass at the restaurant where she worked.  She said the name of the restaurant was Margaritaville in the town of Yreka.  No such restaurant exists.

8.   In attempting to create a fake alibi, she visited Ryan Burns within hours after killing Travis, telling him that she arrived later than promised because she had gotten lost.  She also left messages on Travis's phone, and sent him an email telling him that she was looking forward to seeing him soon.  All this was done to create the impression that she did not yet know that he was dead.

9.  In looking at her alibi, it becomes obvious that she was attempting to carry on a relationship with both Travis Alexander and Ryan Burns at the same time while, simultaneously, not wanting Travis to have a relationship with anyone else but her.  The theory is that she killed him in a jealous rage.

10.  Finally, even her appearance during the trial was a lie, of sorts.  While she was described by the press as a "blonde bombshell" prior to her arrest, she darkened her hair color to brown and wore glasses and conservative clothing during the trial, all in an obvious attempt to look too sweet and innocent to have committed these crimes.

Without a doubt, the jurors were skeptical of these lies.  After a four month trial, they convicted her of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013.  However, even after being convicted it is possible that she is still spinning a web of lies.  In an interview shortly after her conviction, she stated that she would prefer to die "sooner rather than later."  She also said that "death is the ultimate freedom."  In other interviews she has indicated that she contemplated suicide in the past.   The result of these comments is that she has been placed on a suicide watch which has actually caused the penalty phase of her trial to be delayed.  Was she still lying when she made these statements?  Who knows? Perhaps even she does not know the truth when it comes to her own thoughts and feelings.

Whatever the truth about Jodi Arias, there is no question that the events that happened on the night of June 4, 2008 were a terrible tragedy for Travis Alexander.


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Travis_Alexander

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57583601/jodi-arias-says-she-prefers-death-penalty/

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/04/jodi-arias-lies-murder-trial-travis-alexander/

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of courthouse door courtesy of www.morguefile.com