Jodi Arias Trial Latest News: Avoids Death Penalty as Mistrial is Declared After No Agreement on Sentence

Virginia D'Cruz Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Jodi Arias at her second sentencing trial in the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 5, 2015. | REUTERS/Tom Tingle

The second sentencing trial of Jodi Arias ended in a mistrial on Thursday in the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona, when a jury failed to agree on the imposition of a death penalty for her crime.

This was the second time that a jury failed to agree on a death penalty for her case. Subsequently, Arias, who was found guilty in 2013 of the murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander, could end up spending the rest of her natural life in jail or be released after serving a life term of 25 years.

Judge Sherry K. Stephens, who announced the mistrial, will decide by April 13 on what type of sentence the 34-year-old Arias should serve. If she is sentenced to a life term she would become eligible for parole in 25 years. In deciding the appropriate sentence, Judge Stephens can take any evidence into account, including statements made by Alexander's family.

In the first sentencing trial which was also declared a mistrial, the jury was split 8-4 with the majority in favor of imposing the death penalty. Under Arizona law, the case was then assigned to a second 12-man jury. On Thursday, 11 of the jurors voted for the death penalty but one opposed it, leading to the declaration of another mistrial.

The juror who opposed the death penalty was criticized by the others as soon as the trial was over. They said the opposing juror viewed the imposition of the death penalty as some sort of "revenge." The jurors who supported the death penalty also told reporters that prior to the voting they tried to get the lone holdout removed from the jury, but their request was denied.

The intense media scrutiny of the trial and details about the relationship between Alexander and Arias caused one section of the public to ask for the death penalty while another defended Arias' actions. This even led to the holdout juror's name leaking on a Twitter site as soon as the mistrial was announced, after which she requested police to provide her with security.