Jodi Arias returns to court this week as jury selection is beginning for the penalty phase retrial of her murder conviction. Arias was found guilty in the 2008 slaying of her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander in Phoenix, AZ. She insisted that stabbing Alexander 30 times, slitting his throat and then shooting him in the head was all done in self defense. During the original murder trial Arias changed her story several times and evidence left behind on a digital camera seemed to paint a totally different picture of the violent attack then what she had told law enforcement.
This morning 300 people are expected to show up in Phoenix as the prosecution hopes that they can somehow seat an impartial jury that has no real knowledge of this high profile case. That may be a tall order to fill because if potential jurors some how managed to dodge the overzealous news coverage on Arias then they may have caught the Lifetime movie that was made about her life story last summer.
If once seated, this new jury fails to reach a unanimous decision then the death penalty will be taken off the table and they will have to decide whether to keep Arias behind bars for life or to allow her to be eligible for parole in 25 years. This time around cameras will not be allowed in the court room. The penalty phase retrial is expected to last until mid-December and Arias won't be given the high-profile coverage that she has garnered in the past. Instead she's being treated like a normal convicted murder waiting to see whether they will live or die.
How hard do you think it'll be to find an impartial jury? Once they seat one do you think Arias will be sentenced to death or might she actually walk the streets again some day?
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