Jodi Arias Trial Recap: Is She Guilty of Murder? (Poll)

Can the trial of Jodi Arias get any weirder? The alleged murderer's case has played out like a live-filmed Lifetime movie, replete with tales of lurid sex, betrayal, lies, violence, and, of course, an ending that makes "Fatal Attraction" look like a calm, measured response to infidelity.

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 30-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.

Jury Question Phase

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. The jury's questions displayed a palpable level of skepticism for Arias' version of events, and in some cases, carried a notably pointed tone.

The Abuse and violence

Arias has testified throughout the trial about the couple's equally violent and volatile relationship, claiming Alexander abused her and was "emotionally detached." But the man she's described is nothing like the Alexander his friends knew, according to the Associated Press. Alexander's friends claim that Arias was stalking him and was "possessive and jealous." The prosecution has alleged that the pair had become distant in the weeks before the killing, and Alexander was trying to get Arias to leave him alone.

Evidence emerged earlier in the trial that showed Arias killed Alexander while she was photographing him nude in the shower. While taking the photos, Arias says she accidentally dropped Alexander's camera, and he became enraged. Next thing she knew, he slammed her into the floor of the bathroom.

"At that point, Travis flipped out," Arias said, and called her a "stupid idiot," USA Today reported.

Soon after, Alexander was chasing her down the hall of the bathroom and she ran into a walk-in closet where she remembered he kept a gun.

"I pointed it at him with both hands," Arias said, believing that would be enough to stop him. However, Alexander charged at her, head down, "like a linebacker," she said, and she shot the gun.

"I didn't mean to shoot," she insisted. "It went off."

But the shot wasn't enough. Alexander continued to run at her, and then things get very blurry, Arias claimed. "He wouldn't stop ... I have no memory of stabbing him," she said. "There are a lot gaps that day... a lot of things I don't remember that day."

She does, however, remember dropping the knife and screaming after she allegedly stabbed him 27 times. "It was like mortal terror," she said.

The Sex

The defense has played numerous recorded raunchy phone calls between Arias and Alexander in court to support its portrait of Alexander as a twisted sadist with a "nearly predatory sex drive." Recorded by Arias just weeks before the murder, the phone call showed Arias giggling and fawning over Alexander while he described his sexual fantasies, ABC News reported.

"I'm going to tie you to a tree and put it in your a**," Alexander said on the tape, according to ABC News.

"Oh my gosh, that is so debasing, I like it," responded Arias.

"You're pretty, you're so attractive," Alexander later said in the phone call. "I've never seen you look bad in my life. There are times when you've looked miserable and I've still, like, raped you."

Arias later claimed she played along with Alexander's crude suggestions because she didn't want to insult his sex fantasies, ABC News reported.

Eventually during the phone call, Arias orgasms. Alexander then tells her, "You sound like a 12-year-old having an orgasm, that's so hot, like little girl."

"You're bad, you make me feel so dirty," Arias responded, according to ABC News.

The long conversation meanders between the lewd and banal, with the two eventually singing to each other until Alexander falls asleep.

As Arias took the stand for the ninth day, she claimed that her and Alexander had been having kinky, violent sex in the hours leading up to Alexander's death, and that he had been agitated and hostile most of the day over minor inconveniences such as a CD he found scratched,according to ABC News. Arias says she pacified Alexander by granting his sexual desires for tied-up sex, anal sex, filming a sex tape, and a nude photo shoot in the bathroom where he was eventually discovered dead.

Among her other salacious accusations, Arias has claimed she once discovered Alexander pleasuring himself to photographs of naked young boys Jan. 22 2008. She was so upset after discovering Alexander in the act, she said she vomited in disgust, drove "aimlessly" in shock for hours, and refused to answer his many phone calls throughout the day. Arias' accusations of pedophilia are an integral piece of the defense's portrait of Alexander as a "sexual deviant." The defense has argued Alexander became increasingly hostile in the weeks leading up to his murder, and that he tried to control Arias.

The defense also told a story of Arias once waking from sleeping in Alexander's bed to find him having sex with her, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutor Martinez has showed the court several text messages and phone calls between Arias and Alexander suggesting she enjoyed, and initiated much of the kinky sex she claims she only engaged in to pacify Alexander's rages and fulfill his fantasies. Arias had steadfastly testified that the raunchy sex acts she was "coerced" into made her feel used, often like a prostitute.

"So when you tell us you felt like a prostitute it seems to be contradictory?" Martinez asked,according to CBS News.

Arias insisted he had misunderstood the context of the text messages, despite her explicit invitations to Alexander for kinky sex, and one phone call where Arias said to Alexander, "You are amazing. Seriously, you made me feel like a goddess."

The call occurred after Arias said Alexander was using her for sex, Martinez said.

The Lies and Claims of Memory Loss

Arias has wavered back-and-forth between giving explicit details surrounding the murder to claiming she has little to no memory of certain aspects of the case, such as the actual act of killing Alexander, saying her memory of the fateful day has "huge gaps," according to The Tri-City Herald. Prosecuting attorney Juan Martinez has pounced repeatedly on Arias' seemingly convenient memory loss of the most important aspect of the trial, sniping that it was interesting her memory of killing Alexander was so spotty, yet you "can tell us what kind of coffee you bought at Starbucks sometime back in 2008."

Seeking to underline her lack of credibility, Martinez has focused on the many outright lies and inconsistencies in Arias' version of events as he tried to establish a pattern of the defendant's habitual refusal to tell the truth.

Arias has already admitted to lying to police, Alexander's family and friends, and others in the past about Alexander's death. At first, she first claimed she was never at Alexander's home the day he was killed. Then, when DNA evidence proved she had been there, she blamed masked intruders for his killing, and finally she backtracked to admit she killed the victim, but claimed it was in self-defense, as he attacked her in the shower, forcing her to fight for her life.

She claims she lied because she was "ashamed" she killed Alexander in self-defense and because she was afraid of revealing the details of their kinky sexual relationship.

Martinez has also noted that during the day Arias claims she was lost in a fog, she was still thinking clearly enough to methodically and "meticulously cover her tracks" and dispose of evidence.

Martinez said Arias wasted no time in trying evade authorities after Alexander's killing. He drew attention to her behavior in the hours following his death suggesting she was planning out her alibi "immediately" - trying to clean up Alexander's home, calling Alexander's phone and leaving a message, dumping the alleged murder weapon in the desert, throwing away her bloodied clothing, and then driving to visit a man in Utah for a romantic rendezvous. Arias even played the part of concerned friend days later when police found Alexander's body, calling authorities, friends, and even her Mormon bishop, as she tried to find out what police knew and whether "anybody was onto you," Martinez contended

"Partially, yes," Arias conceded, but maintained her memory of that day is spotty.

Arias eventually admitted she left the voice mail because she was trying to evade police.

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