As the Jodi Arias trial prepared to enter its "aggravation phase" Thursday, court was unexpectedly delayed following a bomb threat and word that Arias had been put on suicide watch.
One day after jurors found Arias guilty of the premeditated first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, Arias and her defense team met with Judge Stephens in a closed-door hearing, an unidentified source "with knowledge of the proceedings" told CNN. Following the sealed hearing, Judge Stephens told reporters that Thursday's proceedings had been cancelled, and that the trial would not resume until May 15.
As the hearing was private, it's unknown just what was the reason for the meeting, but it's possible the delay was a result of Arias being placed on suicide watch, or a bomb threat made to the court house after Arias' guilty verdict was announced Wednesday.
In Arias' first interview following news of the jury's verdict, the convicted murderer said that she preferred "the ultimate freedom" of death to serving a life sentence in prison.
"The worst outcome for me would be natural life," Arias told FOX10. "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.
Arias reportedly met with her family after the interview, and was subsequently transferred from her jail cell to a psychiatric ward at a different jail, according to the sheriff's office. Arias is not allowed to meet with her mother as long as she's "under watch" for suicide, her mother told "In Sesssion" host Jean Casarez Thursday.
The trial may have also been delayed over a bomb threat made Wednesday by an Arizona teenager. After Arias was found guilty, 18-year-old Laquint Cherry tweeted that he had positioned explosive devices around the courtroom and planned to detonate the bombs at some point on Thursday.
"Planted some IEDs in the #jodiarias Superior Court room in Phoenix Arizona tomorrow I'll become a HERO and also shot by pigs once I unload," Cherry tweeted.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office increased security around the building immediately after it became aware of Cherry's tweet. Officers swept the courthouse for explosives but reportedly found nothing.
Cherry was eventually arrested for a felony charge of making threats. Authorities identified and traced him to a hotel room in Phoenix through his tweeted threat. A search conducted by a bomb squad and SWAT team found ammunition in the teen's room, but there were no traces of explosives.
Court was apparently at least partly delayed until May 15 due to prosecutor Juan Martinez's wish to one again question medical examiner Kevin Horn, who performed the autopsy on Alexander's body.
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.
Horn testified earlier in the trial that Alexander had been stabbed prior to being shot in the head, a statement that contradicts Arias' claim that she shot him in the head and then stabbed him as he continued to fight her. The prosecution's argument that Arias stabbed Alexander before she shot him is significant to the prosecution's assertion that Arias was not acting in self-defense, and didn't commit a crime of passion, but was rather "posed to strike," and premeditated killing Alexander.
Horn previously detailed the chronology of Alexander's wounds in lurid detail for the court. He testified that Alexander would have been debilitated almost instantaneously after the gunshot to the head because the bullet went into his brain. He said that Alexander would not have been able to protect himself against someone wielding a knife, which was "obvious," he said, due to various defensive wounds discovered on Alexander's hands during his autopsy.
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." Legal experts expect Arias' lawyers to call witnesses to the stand who could possibly humanize her to the jury. Prosecutor Martinez will also have the opportunity to present even more evidence while jurors will determine whether Arias killed Alexander in a cruel manner.
A 32-year-old waitress and aspiring photographer from California, Arias was found guilty in the grisly first-degree murder of her ex, 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.
When the trial resumes next week, prosecutor Martinez is expected to ask the jury to vote in favor of the death penalty for Arias. 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.
A unanimous vote is required to reach the death penalty. Were the jury to deadlock or rule in favor of a life sentence, Judge Stephens could take over in imposing a sentence, and would then have two options. 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.
Even after her sentencing is determined, Arias is bound to return to court. Alexander's family will soon file a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Arias, according to lawyer Jay Beckstead.
Court resumes May 15 at 1 p.m. EST.
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