Jodi Arias Guilty: Death Penalty Could Be Given (WATCH VIDEO OF GUILTY VERDICT BEING READ OUT)
Jodi Arias has been found guilty of first degree murder in the trial for the murder of Travis Alexander. The verdict was read out in court just before 5 p.m. ET after three days of deliberations by the jury team of twelve people.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court room after news spread that the jury had reached a verdict two hours earlier, and many were heard cheering and clapping as the guilty verdict was read out.
Arias could now face the death penalty, and jurors will now go back and discuss what precise sentence should be handed to Arias.
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Eight men and four women had been deliberating as the jurors in the case throughout this week, in what has been described as a relatively long deliberation period.
Alexander was found dead in his Mesa house, in the bathroom, with 27 stab wounds around his body, as well as a slit throat and a gunshot wound to the head.
Prosecutors have said that Arias planned the brutal killing of her boyfriend, and was fully aware of what she was doing. However, Arias has claimed the killing was committed in self defense, and the defense team has tried to portray her as the victim.
They had pointed to Travis Alexander as a type of bully and hypocrite, who had long imposed his own will on Arias and forced her into the killing by making her fear for her own life.
But the prosecution highlighted that Arias has changed her story multiple times. She initially told authorities that she had nothing to do with the killing and was not even with him at the time.
However, she later changed that story to blame the death on masked intruders. Finally her defense team admitted that she had killed Alexander but put forward the self defense explanation.
Here is a video of the guilty verdict being read out to Jodi Arias:
Here is a video player with a live stream to the developments in the Jodi Arias trial:
