Jodi Arias Sentencing Retrial Update: Fifth Day of Jury Deliberation Ends With No Verdict
The jurors at the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial have left the court without deciding whether the convicted murderer should be sentenced to death or life in prison for killing her boyfriend, Travis Alexander.
The deliberations entered their fifth day on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered jurors to keep deliberating after her lawyers said that the panel had reached an impasse on whether to sentence her to death or life in prison. Arias, 34, was convicted of first degree murder in 2013 after a lengthy trial that made headlines with its shocking revelations about her relationship with Alexander. The jury on that trial deadlocked on her punishment.
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Alexander was found dead in the shower of his home after Arias shot him in the head and stabbed him repeatedly.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens denied a request by Arias' attorneys for a mistrial last Tuesday and instead read additional jury instructions to the jury in her sentencing retrial.
Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said in court that jurors were at an impasse, though the judge and the prosecutor Juan Martinez never confirmed that in open court.
According to Daily Mail, jurors posed two questions to Stephens, who didn't reveal any details. The judge and lawyers held closed door discussions shortly before the jurors were brought into the courtroom. Stephens told them that she didn't intend to force a verdict and said in her instructions that jurors shouldn't weigh evidence based on the views of other jurors.
If jurors can't decide on a sentence, the death penalty would be removed as an option and the judge would decide if Arias gets life in prison or gets a chance for parole after 25 years.
