Jodi Arias Death Penalty Sought in New Sentence Phase, Top Prosecutor Confirms
As new proceedings for the retry of the third phase of Jodi Arias' murder trial are preparing to go underway, Arizona's top prosecutor said he will ask the new sentence jury to vote in favor of the death penalty for the convicted murderer.
Maricopa County Attorney Bil Montgomery said at a press conference on Wednesday that he is "still preparing to move forward to retry the penalty phase," according to Reuters.
Arias was found guilty of murder in the first-degree murder on May 8 for the brutal murder of her ex-lover Travis Alexander. The jury reached a "cruel manner" verdict on May 15 in the second phase. "Cruel manner" is when a victim suffered physical and or mental pain, according to Arizona law. According to the autopsy report, Arias stabbed Alexander at least 27 times, slit his throat from ear to ear and shot him in the forehead. Arias lied twice at first, about how he died and later admitted she killed him in an act of self-defense.
The first jury in Arias' first-degree murder trial failed to reach a unanimous decision on May 23, in the third phase of Arias' near six-month trial. The judge was forced to then forced declare a mistrial because of the deadlocked jury. Montgomery said following the mistrial announcement, his office began taking the necessary steps to proceed "with the intent to retry the penalty phase."
The jury failed to come to an agreement on whether or not Arias should have been sentenced to life in prison or receive the death penalty where she would die by lethal injection on May 23. If she receives the death sentence in the second sentence phase, she will be the fourth woman in Arizona to do so.
The state of Arizona now has the option of retrying the sentencing phase of the trial, which would require a new jury be empanelled. If there is another deadlock, a judge would sentence Arias to natural life in prison, or life with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
The status hearing is scheduled for June 20 and the selection process for the new jury for the sentencing phase will begin July 18.
The sensational trial began in January. Arias, 32, took the stand for a marathon 18 days and maintained throughout that the killing was in self-defense despite fierce cross-examination by prosecutors.
