If you thought this was going to be clean and easy, you haven't been paying attention. In an early sign that the Jodi Arias trial jury may have deadlocked in deliberating her sentencing, jurors asked Judge Sherry Stephens what they should do if they could not agree on a verdict.
After just one day of deliberations, jurors are apparently struggling to reach consensus on Arias' sentencing. The jury requested help from Judge Stephens in court Wednesday, claiming they were stuck. Speaking to jurors in court, Judge Stephens offered added instructions before sending the eight men and four women back to deliberations.
"You may want to identify areas of agreement and disagreement and discuss the law and the evidence as they relate to the areas of disagreement. If you still disagree, you may wish to tell the attorneys and me which issues, questions, law or facts you would like us to assist you with," Stephens told the jury.
Attempting to not influence in the jury's decision, Judge Stephens emphasized her instructions were nothing more than suggestions and that she was "merely trying to be responsive to your apparent need for help."
A 32-year-old waitress and aspiring photographer from California, Arias was found guilty May 8 in the grisly premeditated first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, 30-year-old Travis Alexander, in June 2008. Arias confessed to killing her former lover, so her guilt wasn't up for debate - but her intent was. Arias' defense revolved around on the beliefs that she could not premeditate murder, or fully comprehend or take responsibility for her actions because Alexander abused her so intensely that it fractured her psyche, and Arias was forced to kill Alexander in self-defense because she feared for her life due to his alleged habitual physical and emotional abuse.
The same 12 jurors that convicted Arias of premeditated first-degree murder determined she was eligible for the death penalty during the "aggravation phase" of the trial last week. Arizona is one of a few states where jurors are first tasked with judging whether someone is eligible for the death penalty. After just three hours of deliberation, the jury decided Arias killed Alexander in a "cruel, heinous, or depraved" manner that would warrant the death penalty. Arizona law defines "cruel manner" as when a victim suffers physical and/or mental pain.
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 face, and dragged his bloodied corpse to the shower where she left him crumpled over - all in 106 seconds.
Jurors will continue to deliberate Arias' sentencing Thursday. Arias might have declared she preferred the "ultimate freedom" of the death penalty to serving life in prison just minutes following her conviction, but she sang a different, desperate tune in court during the penalty phase, begging jurors to save her life.
"I've made many statements I would prefer the death penalty over life in prison ... To me, life in prison was the most unappealing outcome ... but as I stand here now, I can't in good conscious ask you to give me death," Arias said.
If jurors decide that Arias deserves the death penalty, she will become the fourth woman on Arizona's death row, and the first to be executed in the state since a woman was hanged in 1930. A unanimous vote is required to reach the death penalty. Were the jury to deadlock, Judge Sherry Stephens will dismiss jurors and the trial will enter jury selection all over again for sentencing. If the second batch can't come to a unanimous decision, Judge Stephens 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.
Were Judge Stephens to rule a hung jury, the trial could continue to drag on for months, according to ex-Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley.
"If that happens, this jury would be dismissed and a second jury would be impaneled, and you'd literally have to go through the whole case again," Romley explained to the Associated Press.
While the trial would start over, Romley added that were a new jury selected, jurors would merely be presented with a "Cliffs notes" iteration of the trial.
Part of the jury's problem may be weighing various mitigating factors against their ultimate decision.
Mitigating factors include: Arias' age; Arias' capacity to comprehend the inherent "wrongfulness" of her actions or ability to act within the confines of the law was "significantly impaired; Arias could not possibly have "reasonably" understood ahead of time that her behavior during the act of killing Alexander "would cause, or would create a grave risk of causing, death to another person; While Arias was "legally accountable" for the deeds of another, her involvement was "relatively minor; Arias was suffering "unusual and substantial duress; Arias' alleged rough childhood/family background, and history of domestic abuse as a young girl, and at the hands of Alexander.
The jury will resume deliberations Thursday at 1 p.m. EST.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
