Jodi Arias Skirts Death Penalty, Again: Second Hung Jury Means Punishment Off Table

Jodi Arias, the convicted of murder in a 2013 trial that garnered national attention over her relationship with victim Travis Alexander, has escaped the death penalty. The family of the victim, particularly Travis’ sister Samantha Alexander, could be heard whaling as the judge announced a second jury had hung resulting in a mistrial.

The judge will sentence Arias to either life in prison or a life term with the possibility of release after 25 years.

It marked the second time a jury deadlocked over her fate, a clear disappointment and defeat for prosecutors who argued for the death penalty during the nearly seven-year legal battle against Arias that has cost the state millions of dollars.

The jurors deliberated for 26.5 hours over the last five days span. Earlier this week, the judge denied a mistrial request from Arias’ attorneys, who argued jurors were at an impasse, because a verdict does not necessarily rule out the possibility of a hung jury.

Arias initially denied stabbing and slashing Travis Alexander nearly 30 times, before slitting his throat so deeply that she nearly decapitated him. She also shot him in the forehead and left his body in his shower at his suburban Phoenix home where friends found him nearly five days later.

She later admitted that she killed Alexander, but shockingly, claimed it was self-defense after he had attacked her. The defense team began dragging Travis’ reputation through the mud, while Prosecutors said it was premeditated murder carried out in a jealous rage after he wanted to end their affair and planned a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Even though the second jury had never heard the previous accounts, that first jury, too, deadlocked on her punishment, resulting in the sentencing retrial that began in October.

Chris Hughes, a friend of Alexander, told KPHO that a hung jury would be frustrating.

“My personal opinion is that she earned the death penalty,” Hughes said. “I would be OK with life in prison, if she never gets out again, but she deserves the life of a death row inmate.”

The day she was convicted of murder, Arias gave a jailhouse interview with a local Fox reporter in which she said she’d rather have the death penalty. “I believe death is the ultimate freedom,” she said.

The interview led many to speculate if a clearly capable Arias wasn’t trying to manipulate the jurors into giving her life rather than death. Whether Arias was employing a reverse-psychology tactic or not, we may never know.