Jodi Arias Trial Day 12 Recap, Alexander's Friend Testifies He Was Unaware Couple Were Intimate
On day 12 of Jodi Arias' first-degree murder trial, her attorneys called in a friend of murder victim Travis Alexander as a defense witness.
Daniel Freeman, a close friend of Alexander's, testified on Thursday that Alexander did not tell him he was intimate with Arias. Freeman said Arias was never at Alexander's home when he went to visit him, so he assumed that their friendship was platonic. Arias, Alexander and Freeman were all members of a Mormon church.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez asked Freeman if he was aware that Alexander and Arias had oral sex around the time that she was baptized at their church.
"No," Freeman replied.
Martinez asked if Alexander ever caused Arias any physical harm, Freeman answered, "No."
Arias' legal team called Freeman into the Maricopa County court to support their case that Alexander was a liar and a cheater who was not as religious and innocent as prosecutors have portrayed him to be earlier in the trial.
The defense team brought in Lisa Diadoni, Alexander's ex-girlfriend, on day 11 of the trial to help support their case. She testified on Wednesday that she was shocked to learn that Alexander cheated on her by sleeping with Arias while she dated him off-and-on beginning in July of 2007.
"After Travis' death were you shocked to learn that he was not a virgin?" Arias' defense attorney Jennifer Wilmott asked Diadoni.
"Yes," she replied.
Diadoni said on the witness stand that she was saving herself for marriage so she never had sexual intercourse with Alexander. She said she assumed Alexander was also a virgin because they met at a Mormon singles church event. Diadoni said she thought Alexander was very sexual because when they made out it was far "too long" and in public he would "grab her butt." She added that when she asked him not to discuss sex "he did anyway," according to The Huffington Post.
Arias, 32, is accused of murdering Alexander, her ex-lover. When Alexander's body was discovered in his Mesa, Arizona home on June 4, 2008, police discovered he had been shot in the face, stabbed 27 times and his throat was slit from ear to ear.
Arias initially lied about committing the crime and later recanted her original story that Alexander died as a result from a home invasion. She admitted later to killing Alexander in an act of self-defense. Prosecutors allege she committed the horrific murder out of rage because she was jealous that Alexander began seeing another woman.
Arias' murder trial has made global headlines because if she is convicted for the crime, she will likely face the death penalty. If so, Arias will be the fourth woman in Arizona's history to die by lethal injection.
The jury was sent home for the weekend after the day 12 hearing ended on Thursday. The trial will resume on Monday, Feb. 4, at 10:30 a.m. PST/7:30 EST.
