Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Tries to Restore Credibility, Jurors Skeptical

After a week of scatterbrained testimony and over 200 incredulous questions from the jury, Jodi Arias and her defense team are scrambling to restore her credibility as a witness in the trial of the killing of her ex-boyfriend.

A photographer from California, Arias is charged with the the grisly first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, when she allegedly stabbed the then 27-year-old man 27 times, shot him in the face twice, slit his throat and left his bloodied corpse crumpled over in the bathroom shower of his apartment. Arias' fate depends on whether the jury believes she killed Alexander in self-defense, as she contends, or was actually a jilted lover exacting jealous revenge, as the prosecution argues. 

Jurors submitted a wealth of questions earlier in the week to be asked to Arias by Judge Sherry Stephens. Arizona is one of three states that allow jurors to ask witnesses questions once prosecuting and defense attorneys have completed their questioning, according to Fox News. 

Almost all of the 220 questions centered on Arias' varying versions of events and supposed inability to remember the most important aspects of the trial, such as killing Alexander, a focus that came as little surprise. Over four increasingly heated days of cross examination, prosecuting attorney Juan Martinez consistently pointed out the numerous inconsistencies, contradictions and outright lies in Arias' stories seeking to underline her utter lack of credibility. Martinez repeatedly noted that none of Arias' accusations of Alexander's allegedly abusive behavior or pedophilia have been backed up by the numerous emails, photographs, diary entries, text messages or recorded phone calls between the two already shown in court. 

The jury's questions displayed a palpable level of skepticism for Arias' ever-changing stories, and in some cases, carried a notably pointed tone. By the time Arias' attorney Kirk Nurmi began trying to redirect the focus, he had his work cut out for him; Arias finally acknowledged and agreed with questions asking her if - despite her supposed "memory condition" - she agreed she was responsible for shooting, stabbing and slitting Alexander's throat, albeit with the caveat that she does indeed have a "memory condition." 

"There's part of me that doesn't ever want to remember it. I feel like I'm the person that deserves to sit with those memories that I don't have right now because they were my actions, my responsibility," Arias tried to explain, HLNTV reported.

Nurmi tried to turn the questions around to suit the defense's portrait of Arias as an innocent, naive girl who got caught up with a sadistic, abusive, twisted man with a secret dark side and a "nearly-predatory sex drive." He asked Arias to once again describe as best she could her state of mind during the killing. 

"It's almost the angriest I've ever seen him. I didn't want him to be on top of me again. I didn't want him to bring me to the edge again," Arias claimed.

Nurmi also tried to counter the prosecution's argument that Alexander's death was premeditated. Arias testified that if she had wanted to harm herself or kill Alexander, she had no reason to steal a gun from her grandfather's home as the prosecution alleges because she already had unregistered firearms readily available. 

Arias' own grandparents had a .25 caliber handgun stolen from their home in northern California just one week prior to Alexander's death - the same caliber used in the killing. Prosecuting lawyer Martinez has repeatedly noted the entire idea that Alexander owned a gun in the first place was suspect. Authorities have reportedly also said they don't believe Alexander owned a firearm, and no one has testified in court to support Arias' story that Alexander kept a gun in the closet, according to The Herald. 

Arias also claimed that she drove 90 miles just to rent a car for a road trip before the killing for strictly economic and geographical purposes. She said the rental car company gave her the best quote. She also testified that she bought numerous cans of gas not because she didn't want to leave a paper trail prior to committing a murder, but so she would "not run out of gas in the middle of nowhere," Arias said.

Experts following the trial say they believe the amount of juror questions and their context foreshadow trouble on the horizon for the defense.

"I think the message here is, 'I think you're lying and I want to have you answer my questions directly,'" said Julio Laboy, a Phoenix criminal defense attorney, CBS reported.

Arias has already admitted to lying about Alexander's death to just about everyone. She first claimed she was never at Alexander's home the day he was killed, then when DNA evidence proved she was lying she said masked intruders killed him, and finally, years later she backtracked to admit she killed the victim, but claimed it was in self-defense, saying he attacked her in the shower, forcing her to fight for her life. She claims she lied so often because she was "ashamed" she killed Alexander in self-defense and because she was afraid of revealing the details of their sexual relationship. 

Arias faces the death penalty if convicted. Martinez will begin further cross examination of Arias March 13 at noon EST.