The Jodi Arias show – How Will it Play Out?

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Most people agree the way the Jodi Arias trial was conducted, and presented as the Jodi Arias show, was a bad advertisement for the adversarial approach to justice and in particular the judicial system in Arizona. Because of this it is debatable the final outcome will be seen as satisfactory.

Jodi Arias was found guilty in Maricopa County, Arizona, of murder in the first degree in 2013, for the brutal slaying of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander in 2008.

Whether under the inquisitorial or the adversarial system, it is difficult to imagine a trial in Europe being conducted in such a manner. I followed it closely from shortly after the opening day – Jan 2nd 2013.

Jodi Arias Show: Jury Fails to Reach a Verdict

When it came to the sentencing phase The jury was unable to reach agreement on whether Arias should be executed or not. As a result, she languished in prison for more than five years before her fate was decided.

The amount of controversy, hatred, and passion, that was fuelled by an insatiable media circus determined to extend the Jodi Arias show, was sad to witness.

Seldom, if ever, has a low-profile person been exposed to such a degree.

The jury was not sequestered. Some of them may have been threatened. Witnesses certainly were, and some refused to give, what could have been, vital evidence.

It was disgraceful and incompetent by the authorities.

The Original Jodi Arias Trial was Riddled with Perjury

The prosecution case was built on circumstantial evidence, and the prosecutor, Juan Martinez had a difficult time proving much of what he presented to the jury. In addition, a number of vital witnesses appeared to have been less than credible.

Perjury is a serious offence. Yet it appeared, and was sometimes obvious that, not just one but, a number of witnesses perjured themselves.

Did she confess to murdering Travis Alexander?

In the end she did. But she admitted to lying and changing her story several times. It became more and more like an American murder mystery movie, with many more episodes to come.

There was no adequate protection for the jury or witnesses, so it is difficult to see how this could have been a fair trial, for the victim, Alexander or for Arias herself.

The prosecution’s evidence was wholly circumstantial, so, it wasn’t surprising the Jury did not impose the death penalty. One wonders if they felt guilty of returning a Murder 1 verdict. Was it the only way they could say ‘We are sorry.’ Please understand that we feared for our own safety.’

The Jodi Arias Show Went On

There was to be an Evidentiary Hearing, followed by Oral Argument a week later. Then there was a Settlement Conference scheduled three weeks after that. Then there was the lengthy appeal process which was sure to follow.

All this time the supporters of Travis Alexander continued baying for blood, while Arias supporters kept on saying it was self-defence. And the media continued fleecing the public of their hard-earned cash as they made sure the show rolled on.

The made for TV movie Dirty Little Secret was shot in sixteen days, classified as a drama, and released while the first trial was still in progress. The prejudicial media trial within a trial was in such bad taste. But no-one was surprised by anything where the Arias trial was concerned.

Sentencing – Jodi Arias Pre-trial Hearings Held in Private

Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in Maricopa, Arizona in May 2013. But the jury did not reach agreement when it came to the sentencing phase. They were undecided regarding whether she should be executed.

So, the judge ordered sentencing pre-trial hearings on 5 Oct and 18 Oct 2013, to be held in private. It is unusual for a hearing of this nature to be closed. But the judge felt there were extenuating circumstances and it was the right course of action.

Defence Requests Ignored

The defence lawyers wanted the retrial moved out of the Phoenix metropolitan area because of the publicity. But it proved to be too much to expect the judge to move the location outside Maricopa County. It always looked unlikely, and proved to be so, when the request was turned down.

Meaning they couldn’t go home during the trial and would be monitored as closely as kindergarten schoolchildren. Numerous television news programmes, and newspapers covered the proceedings, so it was virtually impossible for jurors not to be aware of public opinion and not to be influenced in some measure.

Jury sequestration in murder trials is relatively rare, while it is not uncommon in high-profile criminal cases. The O.J. Simpson murder trial was sequestered for nine months, indicating that sequestration can occur in high-profile murder cases, but it is not a standard practice.

However, there was good cause in the Arias case. But the judge refused the defence request. They also wanted the judge to compel all jurors to reveal their Twitter user names, so their accounts could be monitored to ensure they weren’t communicating about the case. She refused.

Dirty Little Secret – Left a Bad Taste

The TV movie Dirty Little Secret, which was made during the trial, is said to have attracted 3.1 million viewers. Releasing it before the outcome was known was reproachful, but undoubtedly profitable. It was argued, the same intense publicity and media scrutiny would be prevalent in the second penalty phase as well. Thereby making a fair trial nigh on impossible.

How was a Fair Trial Possible?

Rational thinking people continued to wonder how Jodi Arias could get an impartial jury?

Although some people believed it was possible, as there were three million residents in the Maricopa County, the odds were against it. Even with that many people, it would be hard to find anyone in Maricopa who knew nothing about it, as it was such big news.

One positive was that potential jurors are normally interviewed collectively by the prosecution and defence attorneys. They were interviewed individually in private. And it took a long time but offered the possibility of a better outcome in the selection process.

The judge was under huge pressure to allow live media coverage of the death penalty phase. It was expected she would allow media coverage, with strict controls

Would a Plea Bargain Bury the Truth?

The prosecution sought the death penalty, but there was a feeling of a plea bargain deal in the air, which  would definitely have ruled out an appeal. And Life with no possibility of parole seemed to be the likely scenario if a plea bargain was struck. A deal would probably bury the truth, if not forever, for a very long time.

When the Fate of Jodi Arias was Unknown

We can postulate about the Jodi Arias case, but unfortunately for all parties, it was a monumental mess from the start. Whichever side of the fence you sat on, you were probably as dazed and confused as you could be.

It seemed easy to forget she was convicted of First Degree Murder when her fate was still unknown?

What must it have been like for Arias, her family, and the family of Travis Alexander?

To be convicted of murder in any degree must be a terrible feeling. But when the State’s incompetence adds further torture to the convicted and the victim’s family, it becomes unbearable for everyone.

A system whereby a person’s fate cannot be decided for years is flawed.

Rational Decisions Seemed Impossible

Procrastination was the order of the day. It seemed, looking on, that no-one was capable of making a rational decision.

How can it be acceptable or morally right for a judiciary, made up of professional legal experts, to hand the responsibility of deciding whether a person should be executed or not, to a handful of lay folk who don’t have the necessary legal experience.

Because the Pre-Trial sentencing hearings were closed by the Judge and held in private we were not privy to what happened. We had no idea what the authorities would tell the press, and I assumed the families had no details either.

News at March 2022

• In 2021, Jodi Arias took a college English course which she completed with a 4.0 grade-point average.
• The fight to overturn her conviction entered the post-conviction relief phase (PCR) in the same year.
• Her attorney spent much of 2021 combing through more than one hundred boxes of files and CDs. Many of them came from several different offices and at least five different attorneys.
• The boxes were apparently mislabeled and poorly organised.
• So, trying to arrange and make sense of them has delayed the process.

Final Thoughts

The following abstract is from – Jodi Arias Is Innocent.com.

The website is a good source for Jodi Arias news. But it is primarily a site for those who believe the conviction of Jodi Arias was wrong. And it continued to promote the collecting of donations which were still being accepted from the public to support her legal struggle.

Eventually, following two mistrials, Jodi Arias was sentenced to the longest term, life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Court of Appeals decided Prosecutor Martinez’s courtroom behaviour was unprofessional and he was disbarred. But it did not influence the outcome of the case. They determined the guilty verdict was a result of overwhelming evidence of guilt, not as a result of prosecutorial misconduct, and upheld the conviction.

But there were many people who continued to have serious misgivings about the outcome of the Jodi Arias case. And the JAA Appellate Fund continued to collect donations to fund further appeals and protestations.

The Jodi Arias show may go on for years to come and who knows what the eventual result will be. What is certain is that by the time the Jodi Arias show becomes an historic event, we may still not know the truth.

Related Posts

• The Jodi Arias case – still rumbling after 10 years
• Was Jodi Arias confession true? Was she the killer?  
• What was the secrecy about Jodi Arias appeal fund?

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Updated May 2024