Found guilty of first-degree murder and facing life in prison or execution, Jodi Arias is asking for the death penalty.
A 32-year-old waitress and aspiring photographer from California, Arias was found guilty Wednesday in the grisly first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in June 2008. Arias admitted to killing her former lover, so her guilt wasn't up for debate - but her intent was. Arias' defense was based on the belief that she killed Alexander in self-defense because she feared for her life due to his alleged habitual domestic abuse.
Arias' lawyers portrayed her throughout the trial as an innocent, naive, devout convert of Mormonism who was sexually exploited by an often sadistic and abusive Alexander. The defense's case was essentially built around this version of Alexander. Arias testified throughout proceedings about her lover's supposed double life: a pious virgin on the surface, but a "sexually deviant" violent control freak underneath. Alexander's friends contended the defense's portrait of him was nothing like the man they knew, and said Arias was stalking him and was "possessive and jealous." However, Arias consistently claimed the couple had a volatile relationship, and that Alexander was possibly a pedophile who was "emotionally detached."
But in the end, the prosecution's argument that Arias was a manipulative liar and a jilted lover exacting gruesome, jealous revenge was apparently too incisive to ignore.
After four months of testimony straight from a Lifetime movie, it took jurors just four days of deliberation to deliver a guilty verdict for Arias Wednesday. Out of a jury of 12, five jurors said Arias was guilty of premeditated murder and seven ruled her guilty of premeditated felony murder. Alexander's sisters wept and hugged one another after the verdict was delivered. The news of the jury's decision elicited cries of joy outside the courthouse.
Arias was virtually emotionless in court Wednesday, only momentarily letting tears sneak through her icy gaze as the clerk announced the jury's guilty verdict. In an interview with FOX10 following Wednesday's proceedings, Arias was incredulous of the jury's verdict.
"I think I just went blank... I just feel overwhelmed. I think I just need to take it a day at a time. It was unexpected for me... There was no premeditation on my part," Arias claimed.
Seemingly hopeless, Arias went on to explain she preferred the death penalty to life in prison.
"The worst outcome for me would be natural life... Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. I said years ago I'd rather get death than life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it."
"Say you get a long sentence, how are you going to spend your life?" FOX10's Troy Hayden asked Arias.
"I haven't decided yet," Arias replied through her tears.
Following Arias' comments in the interview she was placed on suicide watch in her Arizona jail, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.
"Until she is released from suicide protocol by Sheriff's officials no further media interviews of inmate Arias will be permitted," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Unable to corroborate its claims with evidence or testimony from anyone other than Arias, the defense is now presumably scrambling to produce evidence for the trial's impending "aggravation phase," which begins Thursday. Prosecutor Juan Martinez now has the opportunity to present even more evidence while jurors will determine whether Arias killed Alexander in a cruel manner.
Medical examiners found that Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, primarily in the back, as well as the torso and the heart, slit Alexander's throat from ear to ear with so much force it almost decapitated him, shot him in the head, and left his bloodied corpse crumpled over in the bathroom shower of his home - all in the course of 106 seconds. The prosecution has argued that Arias stabbed Alexander before she shot him, which is significant to the prosecution's case that Arias was not acting in self-defense, and didn't commit a crime of passion, but was rather "posed to strike."
After jurors rule whether or not Arias killed Alexander cruelly, the trial will move to the penalty phase when the jury will decide if she deserves life in prison or a death sentence.
If jurors vote in favor of the death penalty, Judge Sherry Stephens must honor their decision. However, if the jury rules in favor of a life sentence, Judge Stephens then has two choices: either sentence Arias to life in prison with no possibility of parole, or sentence her to life in prison with parole possible after at least 25 years behind bars.
Arias' days in court are far from over. Alexander's family will soon be filing a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Arias, lawyer Jay Beckstead announced to reporters Wednesday outside the courthouse.
Arias' aggravation hearing begins Thursday at 4 p.m. EST.