Jodi Arias Live Stream WATCH ONLINE Closing Arguments; Defense Witness Makes PTSD Claims In Last Effort To Save Arias Life
The live court session for Jodi Arias' first-degree murder trial will resume on May 2 for the 2008 Arizona killing of Travis Alexander. Closing arguments are expected to be delivered in the courtroom today and Friday.
The trial can be watched via the free live stream below.
Arias' defense lawyers summoned their last defense witness to the Maricpoa County courtoom on Wednesday in their last effort to save their client's life. They tried to convince the jury again that Arias suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that is what caused her to kill Alexander.
Psychologist Robert Geffner made the PTSD claims as their last defense witness in the four-month long trial.
Dr.Geffner testified that as an expert, "we're looking at a consistent pattern of trauma" with Arias' history of abuse.
Arias and other defense psychology experts testified earlier in the trial that she was abused mentally, sexually and physically by Alexander.
"She could be suffering from PTSD and borderline personality disorder, but if all of your symptoms of borderline came after the event, it's not appropriate to call it just borderline," Geffner said, according to ABC News. "All your tests are supporting some sort of anxiety disorder."
Dr. Geffner based his findings on four tests he had given to her over the years after she was arrested and put behind bars in 2008. He said he believed she did not lie on the exams.
"The tests would indicate significant trauma, and significant issues that cause symptoms with the way this person views themselves, the way they experience themselves, which could be present in an anxiety disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder," Geffner added.
Arias' defense team brought in Dr. Geffner after prosecutor Juan Martinez brought in another expert psychologist in their rebuttal case.
Psychologist Janeen Demarte testified that said Arias showed signs of borderline personality disorder, not PTSD in the prosecution's rebuttal case. Dr. Demarte said she administered a post traumatic stress disorder test to Arias and it revealed she had personality disorder and does not suffer from PTSD or battered woman syndrome. The test revealed Arias has "anxiety and depression" and a high IQ. The expert said there could be symptoms of PTSD, but did not confirm it, according to Radar Online.
Arias, 31, has been on trial since Jan. 4 for murdering her ex-lover, Alexander. According to police, Arias lied twice at first about how Alexander was killed and later admitted that she killed him in an act of self-defense. If she is convicted of the murder and the lies that she confessed to, she will likely face the death penalty and become the fourth woman in Arizona's history to die by lethal injection.
Watch Arias' murder trial live online to see closing arguments on Thursday, May 2 which began at 12:30 p.m. EST.