Jodi Arias gets life without parole in brutal slaying of ex-boyfriend
After two juries deadlocked on whether or not she should get the death penalty, the ultimate punishment was no longer an option for Jodi Arias.
An Arizona judge had to decide whether to give her a life sentence with or without the option of parole after 25 years. Judge Sherry Stephens on Monday opted for a natural life sentence without parole in the Maricopa County Superior Court case. ABC News, the Associated Press and USA Today have stories.
Arias, who is now 34, initially denied that she was present when Travis Alexander was killed at his home in 2008. In a a lengthy 2009 interview with 48 Hours that was used in evidence at her 2013 trial, she pointed the finger at others she claimed were responsible for the slaying.
But at trial she admitted that she had killed Alexander. In the 48 Hours interview, she discussed her love of photography; photos taken of the crime scene were found on a camera in the washing machine at his Arizona home.
A jury rejected her claim that she had shot Alexander and stabbed him more than two dozen times in self-defense. Prosecutors said Arias committed the crime in a jealous rage over the couple’s on-again, off-again relationship.
“To this day I cannot believe I was capable of doing something that terrible,” Arias told the judge on Monday. “I’m truly disgusted and I’m repulsed with myself. I wish there was some way I could take it back.”
Alexander’s survivors sought the maximum possible penalty. One sister, Tanisha Sorenson, said she and other relatives were harassed by Arias supporters during the trial: They “send me pictures of my brother’s dead body, his autopsy photos, his blackened face and slit throat, to my email and my Facebook page,” she said in court, adding, “I did not ever think we would be victimized.”
Arias is expected to appeal her murder conviction.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Mistrial saves Jodi Arias from death penalty; will she get life with or without parole?”
