Jodi Arias Case 2015 News: Judge Sentences Arias to Life Without Parole for 'Especially Cruel' Crime

The trial of 34-year-old Jodi Arias for the murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander finally came to a close on Monday, April 13, when Judge Sherry Stephens of Arizona's Maricopa County Court pronounced that she would spend the rest of her natural life in jail.

The judge arrived at the verdict after taking into consideration the appeals made by the victim's relatives and Arias who sought the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Stephens said Arias' crime, which attracted national attention, was "especially cruel ... (and) involved substantial planning and preparation."

Arias' was found guilty of murdering Alexander in 2013 almost five years after the crime was committed. Her first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to decide if she would receive the death penalty.

Last month, a second jury was formed to decide on the penalty, but a lone juror refused to back the death penalty after five days of deliberations, resulting in another mistrial.

After two mistrials, Judge Stephens decided to impose the sentence herself after hearing testimonies from Alexander's sisters and from the mother of Arias.

In her statement in court, Arias pleaded for the possibility of parole after 25 years in jail.

Shackled and wearing prison clothes, Arias said she had long wanted to be put to death for the crime. "But I had to fight for my life just like I did on June 4, 2008, because I realized how selfish it would be for me to escape accountability for this mess I created," she said.

She recalled the moment when she drove the knife into Alexander's throat. "He was conscious. He was still trying to attack me. It was I who was trying to get away, not Travis, and I finally did," she said. "I never wanted it to be that way."

Alexander, 30, was found in a shower at his Phoenix-area home. He had been shot in the face and stabbed more than 20 times, and his throat was slashed almost from ear to ear.

After the second mistrial, Stephens had to choose between sentencing Arias to life in prison or to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

"The defendant did not render aid to the victim ... (and) destroyed evidence at the crime scene. The defendant went to great lengths to conceal her involvement," Stephens said.

"The court finds the mitigation presented is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency and that a natural life sentence is appropriate."

Samantha Alexander, a younger sister of the victim, told the court Arias deserved to be put to death. "She continuously makes atrocious lies about my brother, dragging his name through the mud like she dragged his body through his own blood," she said.

"I wouldn't waste my time addressing her because she isn't worth my breath," she added.

Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott pleaded for leniency, saying Arias was remorseful. "Ms. Arias is not a monster," Willmott said. "For two minutes in her life she did something reprehensible ... she is disgusted by what she did."

The prosecutor, Juan Martinez, called for life without parole, noting that what happened to Alexander was nothing less than a butchering and that his relatives only wanted justice for him and did not want to be vindictive.

Following her sentencing, Arias was placed in the Perryville State Prison Complex in Goodyear, near Phoenix, Arizona. She is currently appealing her conviction.