Reuters: U.S.: Arizona jury resumes weighing death penalty in Arias murder case

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Arizona jury resumes weighing death penalty in Arias murder case May 23rd 2013, 18:01 Jodi Arias addresses the jury during the penalty phase of her murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona May 21, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Rob Schumacher/Arizona Republic/Pool By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX | Thu May 23, 2013 2:01pm EDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona jury, weighing whether Jodi Arias should be sentenced to death or life in prison for the murder of an ex-boyfriend five years ago, resumed deliberations Thursday, a day after the panel said it was unable to reach a consensus on her fate. Arias, a former waitress from California, was found guilty this month of murdering Travis Alexander, whose body was found in his Phoenix-area home in June 2008. He had been stabbed 27 times, his throat was slashed and he had been shot in the face. The jury, which has already ruled Arias eligible for the death penalty but must now decide whether to impose a death sentence, told the presiding judge early on Wednesday it had hit an early deadlock, but was told to resume deliberating. The four-month-long trial in Phoenix aired graphic testimony and photographs, and snared the attention of U.S. television audiences with its tale of a soft-spoken young woman charged with an unspeakable crime. Arias, 32, argued the killing was in self-defense and characterized her relationship with 30-year-old Alexander as abusive. In a television interview aired on Wednesday, Arias said she felt somewhat betrayed by the panel of eight men and four women. "I feel a little betrayed by them. I don't dislike them; I was just really hoping they would see things for what they are, and I don't feel that they did," Arias said on the "Good Morning America" program on Wednesday. A day earlier, Arias had pleaded with jurors to spare her the death penalty for the sake of her family, and to sentence her, instead, to life in prison. That was a reversal of her previous publicly stated preference to die. In an attempt to help jurors who were struggling to reach a consensus on Wednesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens suggested they might identify areas of agreement and disagreement and discuss the law and evidence as they relate to those disagreements. If the jury remains unable to reach a decision, a penalty-phase mistrial could be declared. The state then has the option to retry that phase, and a new jury can be impaneled to determine whether to impose a death sentence. Shortly before the jury said it was deadlocked, it was given a clarification on whether a life sentence meant Arias would spend the rest of her life in prison or whether she could face the possibility of parole. Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott told jurors that if they sentenced Arias to life in prison, they were "sentencing her to die in prison," and there was no procedure in place to grant parole after 25 years. Prosecutor Juan Martinez countered that just because there was no mechanism now to grant Arias parole some time during a life sentence didn't mean one may not be set in place later. During her trial, Arias said she had killed Alexander in self-defense after he attacked her in a fury because she dropped his camera while taking snapshots of him in the shower. She said she did not remember stabbing him. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bernadette Baum) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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