I didn’t think it was possible for me to do another blog about Jodi Arias, but here it goes. Since the last time I talked about people buying her paintings of famous people (Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe), now it’s time to give some love to the other side – prosecutor Juan Martinez.

All over CNN and Headline News today, I kept hearing this story. Perhaps they’ve grown tired of playing the same clips over and over again. Anyway, the story was about how outside Maricopa County Superior Court, Juan Martinez is holding court – over fans that are flocking for pictures and autographs. One of the clips I saw showed him signing an old ladies cane.

One of the clips I heard said that Martinez put a couple of people on death row. That makes me wonder…would these “fans” want the signatures of them, too? After all, autograph collectors like to complete sets – Woodstock albums, that movie poster from American Graffiti signed by the cast.

This is an aspect of fame I just don’t understand. Don’t get me wrong, I understand getting excited about seeing somebody out on the street that you see on TV. If the OJ Simpson trial was going on, and I was at a deli in L.A. and Judge Ito walked in, I might say something. Yet it would never occur to me to ask for his autograph.

The San Diego Chargers do a blood drive each year. I’ve donated 25 gallons, and I usually skip that event because of the huge crowds. One time my friend wanted to go and get autographs, so I went with him. It made sense to get Chargers players’ autographs, but he asked one of the newscasters for his signature. This baffled me. I told him he could just drive to the news station (which was 13 minutes away) and get all their autographs. I then said “I do movie reviews on the news. How come you’ve never asked for my autograph?”

He laughed, saying “Because I know you. It’s not the same.”

I thought about saying “If I brought some of the newscasters to a party at your house, and you got to know them…does that mean you wouldn’t want their autographs, because you got to ‘know them’?”

I’m guessing if you grew up with and knew a famous athlete, you wouldn’t care about getting their autograph for yourself, but surely you’d be getting it for various friends. I know I would. Perfect gift items. In fact, I do that now with autographs. I’ll get somebody to sign something just so I can give it to a friend as a gift.

Anyway, the story was fun to listen to in the morning, but by the evening, the story had changed a bit. Now Jodi Arias’ attorney is making noise, talking about how unprofessional that is of prosecutor Juan Martinez (aka “the pitbull”). I’m guessing that’s just something she’ll use when she appeals. Since Jodi herself took the stand for 20 days or whatever it was…I’m guessing the prosecutor signing autographs isn’t going to influence the jurors in any way. Although that does lead to another question. Do jurors ever ask for autographs? I’m guessing when the famous folks have court cases, even after they announce their verdict, it’s probably a strict no-no.