PHOENIX, May 24: An Arizona jury failed yesterday to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Jodi Arias should be put to death for the brutal murder of her ex-boyfriend, prompting the judge to set a date for a new sentencing phase of the trial.
Arias, a former waitress from California, was found guilty this month of murdering Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home in June 2008. He had been stabbed 27 times, had his throat slashed and been shot in the face.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens, who had told the jury on Wednesday to resume deliberations after the panel indicated it was struggling to reach consensus, set July 18 as the date for a retrial of the penalty phase and ordered a status hearing for June with attorneys in the case.
Arias, a petite figure who had earlier pleaded with the eight men and four women on the jury to spare her life for the sake of her family, appeared to breathe a sigh of relief. Alexander’s relatives wept and hugged in court.
The marathon trial that began in January had included graphic testimony and photographs, and attracted the attention of U.S. Television audiences with its tale of a soft-spoken young woman charged with an unspeakable crime. Arias, 32, had argued the killing was in self-defense.
Following the penalty phase deadlock, the state has the option to retry the sentencing portion of the trial and have a new death penalty jury impaneled. Should such a jury also deadlock, capital punishment would be taken off the table.
Should prosecutors opt against a full penalty-phase jury retrial, the judge would be left to hand down a verdict of life in prison.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said in a statement that his office appreciated the jury’s work and would now assess its next steps, but was proceeding “with the intent to retry the penalty phase.”
Alexander’s family, including his younger siblings, Steven and Samantha, regularly attended the trial and declined through an attorney to comment after the sentencing mistrial.
Among the issues that came up during the sentencing deliberations was whether a life term meant Arias would spend the remainder of her life in prison or would have the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott had advised 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.
(AGENCIES)
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