What Is Jody Arias Background?

Jodi Arias was convicted of brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander at his Arizona home in 2008.

Who Is Jodi Arias?

Jodi Arias made headlines when she was charged with murdering her ex-beau Travis Alexander in June 2008. Later on the gruesome, salacious details surrounding the murder were revealed, Arias testified during the 2013 trial that she had killed Alexander in cocky-defense. She was found guilty of commencement-degree murder, and later sentenced to life in prison after two juries deadlocked on whether to impose the expiry penalty.

Meeting Travis Alexander

Convicted killer Jodi Ann Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California. In the summer of 2008, Arias fabricated national headlines when she was charged with murdering her ex-young man Travis Alexander, a thirty-year-old member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Solar day Saints who was working as a motivational speaker and insurance salesman. Arias and Alexander had met at a briefing in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2006, while he was living in Arizona and she was a resident of Palm Desert, California. By the following year, they were a committed couple. Later only 5 months equally a couple, nonetheless, the two went their split up ways in tardily June 2007 simply still maintained a sexual human relationship.

Murder Investigation Begins

On June 9, 2008, Alexander's body was found in a puddle of blood in the shower of his Mesa, Arizona, dwelling by friends who had become increasingly worried about his whereabouts. Almost immediately afterward entering the residence, the young men began taking in the heinous crime scene. In the bathroom, they found Alexander with a gunshot wound to the head, more than 2 dozen stab wounds and a deeply and widely slit pharynx. Investigators later adamant that the murder had occurred five days before his torso was found, on June 4, 2008.

Arias quickly became the focus of investigations. She was indicted on first-degree murder charges on July 9, 2008, and arrested in California before long afterwards. Arias initially denied whatever interest in the killing, despite the discovery of her DNA mixed with Alexander's blood at the crime scene, but she subsequently changed her story, claiming that she and her ex had been attacked by two masked intruders. Later on killing Alexander, the criminals decided to allow her live, she told the police force, adding that she chose non to alert regime at the time considering she feared the intruders might seek revenge.

Defendant Jodi Arias prepares to testify on the witness stand during her murder trial in Judge Sherry Stephens Superior Court, on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. Arias, 32, is accused of stabbing and slashing Alexander, 27 times, slitting his throat and shooting him in the head in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. She initially denied any involvement, then later blamed it on masked intruders before eventually settling on self-defense. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Charlie Leight) — Jodi Arias

Photo: AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Charlie Leight

Sensationalized Instance

Testimony in Arias's trial began in early January 2013, which was aired live to the public and became a media sensation. The post-obit month, the declared killer took the witness stand up in her defense, from where she would testify for 18 consecutive days. Already infamously known for her different accounts of Alexander's murder, Arias stated that she had killed her ex in an impassioned act of cocky-defense. She testified that Alexander had frequently driveling her and that she killed him after he came at her in a fit of rage when she dropped his camera. She as well claimed to accept suffered memory loss equally the result of emotional trauma experienced during the incident, with a psychological proficient corroborating that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

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"Lying isn't typically something I but do," Arias stated during the trial in response to a query from the jury. "The lies I've told in this example tin be tied directly back to either protecting Travis's reputation or my interest in his death ... because I was very ashamed."

Conviction and Penalty Retrial

On May viii, 2013, Arias was found guilty of outset-degree murder. Five jurors found her guilty of premeditated murder and seven constitute her guilty of both premeditated and felony murder, a verdict that sparked elation among Alexander'southward family unit members. Still, the judge declared a mistrial in the penalty stage after the jury deadlocked on whether Arias deserved the death punishment.

The penalty retrial began in October 2014, with a new jury revisiting the aforementioned testify presented the get-go fourth dimension around. This time, the focus was on the psychological makeup of both parties, with the defense force attempting to portray their customer as a vulnerable adult female and Alexander as emotionally and physically calumniating.

In March 2015, the 2nd jury was unable to concur on Arias's judgement also, removing the option of the capital punishment and leaving penalization terms to Judge Sherry Stephens. On April thirteen, afterward expressing remorse for her deportment in a statement, Arias received a life sentence without the possibility of parole later on 25 years, and she began serving her term at the Arizona State Prison Circuitous-Perryville.

Appeal Complications

Although Arias appealed her conviction and sentencing, the process was bogged down by transcript errors and omissions. The court record was finally declared complete in Apr 2017, nearly two years after the appeals process began, and that summer a 2018 deadline was established for the defence force and prosecution to file their legal briefs.

Additional complications surfaced in October 2017, when Arias alleged in a civil adapt that the head of her legal squad broke attorney-client privilege past disclosing confidential information for the "expressed purpose of financial gain and his ain public redemption'" in a tell-all book about the case.