Jodi Arias, Accused Of Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend 27 Times, Will Face Death Penalty

Jodi Ann Arias, the California woman accused of brutally killing her ex-boyfriend, will face the death penalty when her case goes to trial later this year, an Arizona judge has decided.

Judge Sherry Stephens denied a defense motion Thursday in which defense lawyers requested the death penalty be removed as a punishment option for Arias. The 31-year-old photographer is accused of shooting her lover, Travis Alexander, in the face, stabbing him multiple times, and slitting his throat.

The defense had argued that Arias should not face death because she had not planned to kill Alexander. His death was an act of self-defense, her attorneys argued.

While Stephens denied the motion regarding the death penalty, she did grant a separate motion, prohibiting witnesses from hearing the testimony of other witnesses when the case goes to trial.

Alexander, a 30-year-old motivational speaker and insurance salesman from Mesa., Ariz., was found dead on June 9, 2008. Friends found Alexander's naked body inside his standup shower, and advanced decomposition suggested he had been dead for several days.

CASE PHOTOS: (Article Continues Below)

Authorities ultimately determined Alexander had been shot in the right brow with a .25-caliber gun and stabbed 27 times before his throat was cut from ear to ear.

Arias initially denied any involvement in the slaying. When police used DNA and other physical evidence to place her at the crime scene she admitted she was present when Alexander was murdered, but said his death occurred during a home invasion. Arias now claims she was a victim of domestic violence who killed him in self-defense.

Originally slated to begin on Feb. 21, Arias trial was delayed because Arias' lawyer, Victoria Washington, asked to withdraw from the case. Jennifer Willmott, a death penalty-qualified defense attorney, has since been assigned to represent Arias.

Stephens has set Oct. 17 as the date jury selection will begin.

READ THE LATEST COURT DOCUMENTS IN THE CASE:

Jodi Arias Court Documents Feb. 2012

WATCH:

Comments

[exPatPatti]

12:46 AM on 03/31/2012

Stand Your Ground Act?

/s

[LiberianGirl20]

01:47 PM on 02/26/2012

Her lawyers must be smoking something. Self-defense? Ha! Had they presented me with that, I would have laughed in her, and their faces. If she gets off like another unmentionable that we all know, then I will completely lose all of my faith and respect for the justice system.

[ebsb52]

09:22 AM on 03/10/2012

Her lawyer can only advise, it's Jodi who's smoking it. She needs to just admit she killed him in a fit of rage, 2nd degree murder, the jury would probably buy that, then get 22 years max, probably more like 15, 13 with good time, she will have about 5 years incarceration by trial's end and be out in 8. She is rolling the dice and not getting any younger. I saw her yesterday and she's aging after being in for almost 4 years.

[practiceempathy]

04:07 PM on 02/15/2012

I simply don't understand why people like this think that the victim will be the one(s) paying for their alleged slights or misdeeds.

The survivoring loved ones are the only victims with lingering daily suffering. Meanwhile, the direct victim presumably rests in peace.

[ebsb52]

09:24 AM on 03/10/2012

Let's be real, Travis was no victim here, he was a player. he knew she was nutters and took her up onteh booty call. He was using a messed up girl for his pleasures, so he owns part of this. Travis was not a bystander. Her defense is pathetic, it s/b 2nd degree, fit of rage type.

[mdipary2004]

05:26 PM on 03/12/2012

Every news station said he was a victim of domestic violence and this trial will have better coverage than the O.J. trial.

[mdipary2004]

02:45 PM on 02/15/2012

The news story above have caught my eye. There is something very odd about the story in that they don’t mention the BUZZ WORDS “Domestic Violence”, despite the fact that the crimes committed clearly are domestic violence (DV). The stories also fail to mention other fashionable terms, such as “Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)”

The one thing that all the stories like this one have in common is that the perpetrators of the DV are women. It appears that when women commit DV against men, the salient point that it is domestic violence goes unmentioned. Instead it is called manslaughter, murder, assault, grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, malicious wounding etc.

However, when men attack their girlfriends or wives, reporters fall over themselves to speak of domestic violence and spousal abuse. Indeed, with monotonous regularity, they also seek to warn us that there is an epidemic of the same.

I have onlt heard one news media outlet call this the worst case of Domestic Violence in U.S. history. That is so sad for a case this grusome.

[ebsb52]

09:33 AM on 03/10/2012

Read the entire timeline, this case is more than that. It was an on-again / off-again romance that was forbidden by his family as all knew she was nuts, had real psychological issues. He decided a booty call was a good idea, even tho he knew she was obsessed with him in an unhealth way, it was all about him getting off. He had a GF he was taking on a cruise, he knew they had broken up and she was nuts about it, she was driving from N Cali to Utah, called him enroute to ask if he was some booty, he took her up so she detoured to his house, 100's of miles out of teh way.

Anyway, the cruise came up, he said he's taking his GF and she lost it. This is quite simple and if she would just tell the truth she would be out in < 10 years. Travis is no victim, he's a player. He didn't deserve this, but he doesn't deserve the title of voctim either.

[mdipary2004]

05:28 PM on 03/12/2012

Can you say male victim of domestic violence

[mschievly]

04:03 AM on 02/15/2012

while I'm glad its a death penalty case why is it all the guys who kill their wives and girlfriends don't seem to get death penalty but are out in a few yrs to remarry again and start new families

[badhog8]

12:41 PM on 02/15/2012

I've noticed that too through the years. I've heard judges say because they knew the person they killed. But didn't the husbands and boyfriends who killed their wives or girlfriends also know them?

[mdipary2004]

02:38 PM on 02/15/2012

Actually most men recieve life sentences

[jennyopines]

01:15 AM on 02/15/2012

look at the picture of the two of them......the poor guy looked so innocent, like someone who couldn't hurt a fly....she on the other hand.....

[badhog8]

12:53 PM on 02/15/2012

Most people who murder are usually good looking or at least average. You cannot determine a good or bad person just by their looks. But, unfortunely I believe this will be a murder conviction without any possibility of parole.

[ebsb52]

09:37 AM on 03/10/2012

Probably, if she would assert a 2nd degree murder defense, she would be out in < 10 years.

[mypalsharon1]

12:55 AM on 02/15/2012

It's difficult to believe that she was ever a victim of domestic violence. She told 3 different stories. He was stabbed him 27 times, shot in the head AND his throat was slit from ear to ear. Overkill. Wasn't he naked in that shower...doesn't sound like he was much of a threat...even if he was, the shot would have been enough to get out of there fast and call the cops....I say...don't call me for jury duty on that case.

[ebsb52]

09:43 AM on 03/10/2012

She wasn't, she was a victim of her own psychosis and his arrogant need to get laid in spite of her mental illness. As for 27 stab woulnds, don't get too carried away by numbers, if you put your hands up as someone is swinging a knife and it runs across each finger/thumb, that's 10 stab wounds even if they just barely graze the skin.

She shot him in the bedroom and he told her that he was taking another girl on teh criuse, teh shot grazed him but put him in shock so she dragged him into the bathroom and swung a knife at him, then cut his throat.

If you read the story it become so clear what happened. They were both victims of their own flaws.

[TheAmusementOfPolitics]

10:10 PM on 02/14/2012

"Not Guilty" she will play the "race card" of females. Always the case. Always eat up by the jury hook line and sinker. Anyone that does not believe her is labeled as insensitive to the plight of women in domestic violence situations. SHE WILL WALK!!! Who knows if she is guilty or not, but you can forget the death penalty, not happening.

[ebsb52]

09:44 AM on 03/10/2012

""Not Guilty" she will play the "race card" of females."

AKA the gender card.

Read the story, she willnot walk, she s/b convicted of a lesser incl of 2nd degree.

[clarose219]

06:37 PM on 02/14/2012

Wow! A woman actually getting into trouble for hurting a man? FINALLY!

I'm surprised feminists aren't whining and complaining on here.

[mdipary2004]

08:47 AM on 02/15/2012

Well said I agree 1000%

[jlplummer1]

05:55 PM on 02/14/2012

She kills her ex and she's looking at the death penalty, some guy goes on a killing spree and gets prison with possibility of parole ?

[mschievly]

04:06 AM on 02/15/2012

exactly! thats why wives-esp if pregnant and girlfriends seem to be fare game
meanwhile he's out living his life...not enough evidence ---cant find body ect.

[eclipse535]

06:14 PM on 02/15/2012

What guy went on a killing spree and got prison with the possibilty of parole?

[smmogan]

02:48 PM on 02/14/2012

Wow - what a psycho. If I were on the dating scene (married 28 years) I would be very careful with anyone I were to get emotionally or physically involved. Seems like we are growing them crazier and crazier. There is definitely a mental health issue here.

whatever happened to live and let live - - - - and move on with your life.

[Daniella Lucia]

02:23 PM on 02/14/2012

I can understand the self defense thing by shooting him in the head I could believe that if I was on a jury and there was evidence of her using a gun to defend herself against an attack but stabbing the person over and over and slitting their throat well.. thats just over kill and that automatically turned her into a psycho who probably deserves the death penalty.

[ebsb52]

09:48 AM on 03/10/2012

Psycho, yes, deserves DP, no. This is a case of heat of passion / 2nd degree murder. In Nazizona we charge virtually all killings as 1st. They had an argument over a cruise, she got pissd and pulled out a gun.

[mdipary2004]

10:36 AM on 02/14/2012

This violent controlling woman is just trying to get away with a murder she ploted out.Arias first told police that she wasn’t even in Arizona, but when her DNA and her palm print were confirmed at the scene, she quickly changed her story to it was a home invasion by a man and woman. After Travis was shot, she claims the gunman put the gun to her head, but it misfired. So, like any person scared out of their wits, she reached down and grabbed her purse off the floor and fled and drove for hours. Nope, she never called police or reported to anyone what had happened!
Next ploy by Arias is that she had to kill Alexander in self-defen­se. She claims he grew enraged when she dropped his new camera and attacked her.
Oh, and Travis Alexander’­s camera and bed sheets were run through the wash. Police were able to recover two sets of photos from the memory card – one set are provocativ­e photos of Alexander as well as nude photos of Arias, the other set shows a bleeding and dying Travis Alexander on the bathroom floor!

With all the evidence, seems to me, self-defen­se will be a pretty hard sell – seeing Arias on the stand trying to explain self-defen­se will be jaw dropping, I’m sure!

Stay tuned!

[ebsb52]

09:53 AM on 03/10/2012

I would call her nuts and Travis controlling or at least manipulating. He knew she was nuts and decided a booty call was a good idea. Why do people not acknowldge that all knew she was nits but Travis wanted to be serviced so he went against good judgement and his selfish desire to cheat on his GF and get laid?

Of course she did it, but it was out of a fit or rage. She wanted him and wanted to go on that cruise to get him back, he said, "No, just get me laid, that's all your worth to me." She lost it. They are both the victims of their own ill thoughts, her obsession, his arrogance.

[mdipary2004]

05:32 PM on 03/12/2012

I would call her violent controlling and abusive. We have seen what she can do.

[virginoliveoilisyummy]

12:36 AM on 02/14/2012

He did a bad, bad thing. Shouldn't toy with a person's heart. Crime of passion. Not premeditated. Players think that it's fine to be a player - and even better if you are 'honest' and tell the other person some truth but then go ahead and proceed to romance and seduce the other person as if it's a real romance. So maybe he said up front that he was a confirmed bachelor but he obviously must have led her to believe she was 'special' either through words or deeds. You can't expect to sleep with someone who likes you and not expect them to develop feelings for you. If you're a confirmed bachelor why not do the honorable thing and take yourself out of the dating pool and be celibate. His friend gave the most insightful take on the whole thing when he said that Travis was the kind of guy who probably told her 'sure, let's keep having sex' and 'oh, by the way, i'm going on a vacation and i'm taking another woman.' If someone is sleeping with their ex and then they say that to you just after making love what would you do? It would drive the lovesick person insane. He was being very careless with her emotions. That was his mistake.

[JusticeSleuth]

01:45 AM on 02/14/2012

Hmm I understand the point of view from a crime of passion standpoint. Yet, this does not sound like a self defense in a majority of self defense cases you do not see an overkill. The victim just wants to defend and run away and get help. Seems like there was some rage dwelling there and very well could have been prompted by jealousy. A shooting a stabbing multiple and a slit throat are just not so much self defense as some underlying reason not mentioned and quite possibly the true motive for the crime. If indeed domestic violence were at the heart of it then certainly that paper trail would concur. However, to lose one's life in a breakup or fight with loved one is not LOVE. There is never an excuse but to walk away with one's own life and leave others be to their choices. To take those choices, holidays and the future of any victim sharing the holidays with their family has to be the most selfish act of all.

[ebsb52]

09:58 AM on 03/10/2012

She didn't say it was self-defense. Where on earth do you see this post author saying that?

As for selfish, using a person for sex when you know it's not healthy defines 'selfish.'

[mdipary2004]

10:24 AM on 02/14/2012

He lives in Arizona she lives in Cal. He broke up with her. She drove from Cal. to Ar. to kill him, the murder was premedatated thats why she is facing the death penalty.

[janthewordnerd]

03:52 PM on 02/14/2012

There is no connection between time/distance and premeditation unless they have specific evidence proving she intended to kill him - that is not as easy as you think.

[ebsb52]

10:02 AM on 03/10/2012

She called to ask if they could get togther, she was enroute to Utah for a job, said she had time if he wanted. Had he said no thx like a responsible person would do, he would be alive to push his crappy pre-paid legal insurance to others. He thought of little Travis and said sure, come on out, they had sex, she asked him about the cruise, he said he won't be taking her, he's taking his GF and she carried a gun as she was driving cross-country alone and shot him. It didn't do the trick so she dragged him in the bathroom and finished the job.

[liberalpolicysucks]

09:24 PM on 02/13/2012

let her fry.