Dateline NBC - Obsession: The Jodi Arias Story

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

In this Dateline classic, Josh Mankiewicz takes an in-depth look into the case and trial of Jodi Arias, the 32-year-old Arizona woman who admitted to killing her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander.  Originally aired on NBC on May 10, 2013.

Jodi became Travis's drug. He very much recognized how bad she was for him. But she kept showing up in his life, and just like a drug addict, he kept letting her right back in the door. The trial that riveted the country is finally over. We, the jury, find the defendant, ST count one, first degree murder, guilty.

Jodi Arias, who brutally murdered her lover, could face death herself. Did he ever think that she would do what she did? Who would think that? It was a steamy story of sex. We hang out, we have sex. Lies. She's able to tell a lie.

She believes the lie. And murder. He attacked me, and he defended me. You see any cuts on her? Tiny. Little cuts. He was very afraid of her, but every time he tried to break things off with Jodi, she would threaten to kill herself. Inside

the Jodi Arias trial. This isn't a ride at Disneyland, guys. This is somebody who was tragically murdered. I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Josh Mankiewicz. Mr. Alexander was stabbed. You would acknowledge that, right?

Yes. It would be you that did it, correct? Yes. The Jodi Arias trial never played as a murder mystery. Jodi, after all, had admitted to 12 jurors in open court and a few million viewers on TV that she was the one who shot, stabbed, and then stabbed some more,

her former boyfriend and secret sex partner. As to count one, first degree murder guilty. Why then did so many millions of trial followers stick around for the final act? And why did so many leave home and work to gather on the courthouse steps to await the final verdict? We'll take an in-depth look at the case,

into why Jodi Arias became so obsessed with Travis Alexander, and why so many of you became obsessed with this trial. We start with home video, played for the jury. It shows Travis holding court amid a circle of friends. A blonde tenderly nestled in his lap. Jody in much happier times when she and Travis first started dating. No hint then of what was coming. We were excited for Travis finding somebody that he was interested in.

Chris Hughes was Travis' mentor at work. Chris and his wife Skye were there when the two met. When we met her that first night, we liked her. Right off the bat, I thought she was someone that would be a good match for Travis. Aaron Dewey was a roommate of Travis'. Aside from the physical chemistry that was already there, there seemed to be a lot of emotional chemistry right off the bat as well. Jody Arias has been described as seductive, sexy, sultry.

And Travis Alexander, when they first met, probably felt he was every bit her counterpart. He was a successful insurance salesman, handsome, charismatic. Dave Hall worked with Travis and was close to him. Good friend? Close friend? Very good friend. Best friend? You know, it's funny because I've seen recently numerous people come forward and say, hey, he was my best friend. And that's just the type of guy Travis was. he made everybody feel like you were his best friend. According to his friends, Travis was more than a bit of a ladies man. But this time, Travis was out of his league. Jody became Travis's drug. He was able to get something from her that he couldn't get anywhere

else with the good, wholesome Mormon girls that he typically dated here in Arizona. Which was what? Not just sex, but crazy sex or sex that... Over the top. Over the top stuff. Jodi used sex to control Travis. At first, she tried to be like this good girl with morals and values, and then that didn't work. And so then she turned on the sex. And that had Travis, a devout Mormon, tied up in knots. Breaking the church's law of chastity, that is, having sex before marriage, is serious stuff. Mormons believe the sinner risks an eternity in hell if he or she fails to repent before death.

The result seems to have been that Travis kept his relationship with Jody in the closet. He wanted people to believe, especially the girls that he was dating, that he was still a virgin, that he was still worthy to have a healthy long-term marriage with a good Mormon girl. So this was a guy leading a double life? Yeah. Jody tried to resolve that conflict by converting to Mormonism, only to find it wasn't good enough for Travis. He summoned his will and broke it off with her. The moral equation may have been cruel, but to Travis, it was undeniable. Jody's lust, her willingness to have sex in all sorts of ways before marriage, might have made her the perfect secret girlfriend. But it simultaneously disqualified her as a wife.

She was not going to be the one that he was going to spend the rest of his life with. And he communicated that to her. That would make anybody feel pretty bad and pretty hurt. Yeah. I think the way he put it was, we're going to be friends, but we both agree that it's time to start seeing other people. What Travis kept secret from his friends was that he and Jody were still having sex. What he didn't keep secret were his concerns that Jody was stalking him. He was very disturbed by her behavior, but every time he tried to break things off with Jodi, she would threaten to kill herself. Clearly, Jodi wasn't serious about suicide. We know that now because at the time she was making those threats, she was prowling sales conventions and on the phone at night, flirting with a guy named Ryan Burns.

She seemed like a cool girl. We exchanged numbers, but about two or three weeks after that, we started talking on the phone four or five times a week. During one of those calls, Jody promised to visit Ryan, and one morning in June 2008, she came knocking at his door. He had no idea what had just happened at Travis's house in Arizona. And he didn't know Jody had been there just one day before. How does she look? She looked fine. She just looked normal. You see any cuts on her? Tiny little cuts. She had a couple little bandages on one of her hands.

There wasn't a moment where I thought, you know, are you okay? Is anything wrong? We were laughing about simple little things. He seemed totally into the moment. Back in Arizona, Travis's friends found him dead, his home a bloody crime scene. In the washing machine, police found a waterlogged camera that would come to mean everything in this case. Some of Travis's friends, like Chris and Sky Hughes, suspected Jody from the start. I knew in that very moment that Jody Arias did it. He turned to me and said, Jody did this. Ryan Burns thought he knew Jody, and the girl he knew was no killer. I honestly and genuinely didn't believe that she could have had anything to do with it.

I thought there's no way. I mean, this girl wouldn't even let me kill a spider on the wall because she didn't want to hurt God's creature. But then you started hearing from other friends of yours and people who were friends of Travis that they suspected her. Right. People told me not to take her calls.

People told me not to talk to her. But at that point, she had become either a very good friend that this is a horrible time to turn the back on her, or it was just the situation where am I really talking to a murderer? Aaron Dewey wasn't sure what to believe. Jody, he said, played the role of the innocent perfectly. 13 days after Travis's murder, she volunteered to talk to the Mesa police, asking Dewey for a ride to the station. Tell me what happened in the car that day. Ironically, nothing out of the ordinary. She was acting like nothing was going on. And she came out and said, what, everything's fine?

We're good. Let's go home. What else did she say about Travis's murder? She claimed to know nothing about it. You know, she was saying that she wasn't there, that she hadn't seen him in months. That's the story Jody told police as well, and the one she stuck with for weeks. Up until the day police took her away in handcuffs. And that's when Jody's story started changing. When we come back, Jody's bizarre encounter with detectives and her last encounter with Travis Alexander. Love and death caught on camera for all the world to see.

Were there some that involved Mr. Alexander in the shower? Yes. A former boyfriend of hers, an individual that she was in love with. On January 2nd, 2013, four and a half years after the slaughter of Travis Alexander, the prosecutor opened the first-degree murder trial of Jody Arias by talking about a love that had gone very, very wrong. She rewarded that love by sticking a knife in his chest.

Juan Martinez laid out his case for Jody's guilt as detectives, technicians, and analysts, one by one, took the stand and connected Jody to the crime. Her hair and DNA at the scene. So this hair that you examined, who did that match? The root matched Jody Arias. A crime scene specialist testified she found Jody's bloody handprint on the wall. Martinez had that part of the wall brought into court. What is it?

This is the piece of wall that was cut out and collected as item number 77LB. And this is what we're looking at in this photograph? While it's still in the wall, yes. Perhaps the most damning evidence came from a Sony camera discovered in Travis's washing machine. After weeks of work, technicians restored photos that were once deleted. And with regard to the items that were deleted, were there some that involved Mr. Alexander in the shower? Yes. What made the pictures key to the case had to do with a feature built into the camera. These images, when you take them

with this camera, it embeds the date and time that the camera has set on it to the file itself. Meaning, for the prosecution, those photos, along with the other evidence, told a story that Jody showed up at Travis's home around 4 a.m. on June 4, 2008. They had steamy sex until about 5 p.m., photographing each other as they did so. Between 5.22 and 5.29, Jody took time-stamped photos of Travis in his shower. Maricopa County Medical Examiner Kevin Horn testified that cuts on Travis' hands help explain what happened as he was stabbed 27 times, nearly decapitated, and shot in the head. I believe the wounds to the hands must have occurred before the fatal injuries, either of the head or of the throat. At 5.31, the camera snaps what seems to be an accidental photo of the

bathroom ceiling. The next photo, taken at 5.32, shows Travis on the floor, bleeding profusely around the neck. In the foreground is what looks like a woman's pant leg. According to the prosecutor, it could only be Jody's. Ryan Burns testified, telling the court the same story he told us about how Jody visited him in Utah one day after killing Travis. She got on top of me pretty aggressively and we were kissing. Martinez then played for the jury powerful video of Jody lying outright to Mesa police detective Esteban Flores just before her arrest. Why won't you admit to it? I just can't. I didn't kill Travis.

You killed him. No. Jody, you did. I did not. An accusation that would make many people crumble. But Jody persistently stuck to her story. What's so remarkable looking back is that even in the face of immutable evidence, Jodi can lie seamlessly and deftly and very creatively.

Because the next day, after being booked and charged with Travis's murder, Jodi had a completely different story to tell the police. Admitting she was there that night. Travis was screaming. But that masked intruders had burst in and killed Travis. And that she'd been too afraid to say anything. And I turned around. There were two people there. One was a guy and one was a girl. And it was through those videotapes that the jury heard in Jodi's own words how her story

had evolved. But it's the outtakes from the recordings, the parts the jury didn't see and hear, that may also give insight into how Jodi Arias operates. Let's go back to the exchange between Jodi and Detective Flores, just before he confronted her with the photos from Travis's camera. I was like, no. Yeah, that's him. Typical. If Jodi was nervous, she didn't show it. Maybe because a giggle and a head toss had worked on so many guys so many times before. I'm Christian. I just live my life by the Ten Commandments, and those are my rules. You know, thou shalt not this or that, but it doesn't say thou shalt not fornicate. So I just used to joke about that.

Then, after her flirtatious routine fell flat, and she was about to be arrested, Jodi still seemed completely unworried. She laughed. Goodness. And sang, apparently to herself. And I can't breathe until you're resting here with me. Facing murder charges, many of us might think the world had turned upside down.

But for Jodi Arias, it was a chance to get into a headstand. In yoga, it's called Salamba Shirsasana, a cure for whatever's ailing you. Then finally, before being led away, she made one last request. This is a really trivial question, and it's going to reveal how shallow I am. But before they book me, can I clean myself up a little bit? She wanted to look her best, apparently.

You should have at least done your makeup, Jodi. For a cheerful mugshot. In control and out to win over an audience, no matter how big or how small. Which might explain why, when the defense was ready to put on its case, the first witness they called was Jodi Arias. Coming up, Jodi's new defense, self-defense, as she takes the stand and almost won't get off. We hang out, we have sex. When Dateline continues. Like the color of her hair, Jodi Arias' account of the death of her boyfriend changed over time. First, she told police she wasn't there. Were you at Travis' house on Wednesday?

Absolutely not. Next, that masked home invaders had killed Travis. Then in court came version number three. This time, she swore she was telling the whole truth. Did you kill Travis Alexander on June 4, 2008? Yes, I did. Why? The simple answer is that he attacked me, and I defended myself.

Having a client that's lied in the past makes it very difficult for a defense attorney. You're trying to play catch-up the entire time, trying to prove that your client's credible. Ulysses Farragut is a Phoenix defense attorney who's tried death penalty cases, but isn't part of the Arias trial. He said Jody's defense team was right to put Jody on the stand, risky as it was, to try to connect with the jury. They do need to have the jury feel

some sense of sympathy, some sorrow for her. It was very important to humanize Jodi. The defense started with the claim that Jodi had suffered long-term physical and emotional abuse, first around the age of seven from her parents. I think that's the first year my dad started using a belt. My mom began to carry a wooden spoon in her purse. Jody's parents, who were there for much of her testimony, won't say whether her claims are true.

The defense theme of Jody as a victim continued with her accusations that she felt used and debased by Travis Alexander. What do you mean, though, that you felt used? He gets a hotel room, I show up, we hang out, we have sex. I'm getting a lot of attention, but only while we're engaging in sexual activity. I kind of felt like a prostitute, sort of. The graphic sexual testimony really goes to the heart of the question as to whether Travis was physically and emotionally abusing her through the sexual relationship they had. The jury heard a recording Jodi made, she said, at Travis's request of a steamy phone call. You're mad. You make me feel so dirty.

You are dirty, baby. Did you and Travis ever videotape yourself while having sex? Yes. And whose desire was for that to take place? That is. Defense expert Alice LaViolette, who co-authored a book about battered women, suggested emails from Travis's friends to Jody show Travis took advantage of women. They advised her to move on from the relationship that Mr. Alexander has been abusive to women. That testimony, heard by millions and the jury, was stricken by the judge. Jody's defense lawyers never called to the stand the authors of those emails, Chris and Skye Hughes, who say their words were twisted by the defense. It doesn't exist. The abuse does not exist. What's it like to see your words used as a murder defense when

the victim was your friend? It's gut-wrenching. You know, they're using our words to make Travis like somebody that he absolutely was not. He called me a bitch and he kicked me in the ribs. During her marathon 18 days on the stand, 11 coming under friendly defense questioning, Jodi said Travis had once become enraged after they'd argued over money. He went to kick me again and I put my hand out. What happened after that second kick? I screamed really loud. I think I yelled out my finger or my hand or something to that effect. Jodi showed the jury the misshapen finger she claimed was the result of Travis's outburst. But whatever concerns she may have had about violence,

she and Travis didn't stop seeing each other. He seemed very happy to see me. Jodi came to Travis's house early one morning in June 2008. That day, the day he died, there was sex. Lots of it, she acknowledged. After all, there was no denying all the photos they took. We were trying out different poses. Jodi herself described a happy, playful, erotic day.

Until Travis's brand new camera slipped out of her hands. He was screaming that I was a stupid idiot. And he body slammed me again on the tile. Jodi testified that she remembered Travis kept a gun in his closet and ran to get it. I grabbed the gun. I ran out of the closet. He was chasing me. She described Travis lunging at her, the gun going off without her even knowing it. She said Travis then kept coming, even with a bullet in his head. And we fell, and I got up, and he's just screaming angry.

And after I broke away from him, he said, F***, kill you, bitch. Do you remember stabbing Travis Alexander? I have no memory of stabbing him. Do you remember stabbing Travis Alexander? I have no memory of stabbing him. Do you remember dragging him across the floor? No. Do you remember placing him in the shower? Jodi had lied so many times before

that she must have hoped she'd get away with it one last time with the 12 people who mattered the most, the jury. But so many people watching on TV and the Internet had by now heard enough of Jodi's stories that they'd already reached their own verdicts. Coming up, the Jodi Arias trial goes viral with its own Twitter account, ticket scalpers, and an unexpected new cable star.

People ask you for your autograph. Yes, they do. Right? People want to take a picture with you. They do. The many faces of Jodi Arias and a steamy four-month saga of sex, lies, and videotape quickly made her trial the hottest show in town. Every morning at daybreak, people would line up, hoping to get a seat for a close-up look at moments like these. Mr. Martinez, I think... Yes or no? My question is, are you talking yes or no? Mr. Martinez, are you angry at me?

Ma'am, is that relevant to you? Is that important to you? Please refrain from laughing in the courtroom. One early-rising regular even sold her spot in line to a latecomer for 200 bucks. The judge, unhappy to hear tickets to her trial were being scalped, ordered the money refunded. And a juror, dismissed for reasons unknown, returned to court the following day. Apparently, she was hooked on the action.

I knew that my life was pretty much over, but... As were millions of people who just couldn't get enough of a story of boy meets girl, girl kills boy. It wasn't just televised, but streamed live, raw, unfiltered, across the Internet. People aren't content to just watch. They want to participate. They're doing research on the players. Arizona Republic reporter Michael Kiefer covered the trial and said many were ready with their verdicts long before the testimony was over. Anyone who takes less than an approach of, well, she deserves a death penalty,

she deserves it now, is considered biased. And any perception of bias for the defense, even by defense witnesses, could bring a hostile reaction from Jody haters. This all became dangerously interactive when psychotherapist Alice LaViolette testified for the defense, supporting Jody's claim she'd been sexually used by Travis. And what does he do after he gives her the Book of Mormon? He tells her that he's horny and they have oral sex. She performs oral sex on him.

While LaViolette's testimony was calm and measured, the vitriol thrown at her on the Internet was anything but. She was personally and professionally attacked. A petition was started to stop her from speaking at conferences. And her book about why battered women stay with their accusers was hit with hundreds of online mudslinging reviews. She got hundreds and thousands of those kinds of remarks over the Internet. People calling her office, threatening her. They had to call the police. If I were to walk up to her in the hallway of the courtroom and say, you know, I don't like your testimony, and I may hurt you, and I'm going to try to ruin your career,

that's a felony. And she wasn't the only target. Michael Kiefer reported Jody's lawyer, Jennifer Wilmot, also received threats. Jody herself also took to social media with a Twitter account that drew more than 51,000 followers. She did it through a friend she met in jail. Donovan Baring became Jodi's unofficial spokeswoman and Twitter administrator. You actually operate the Twitter account. Yes. But those are Jodi's words. Everything that's on there comes from Jodi.

You know, those are her thoughts, those are her opinions. Jody used Twitter to sell her own original artwork and to make points she couldn't make on the witness stand. In one, she needled Prosecutor Martinez. Hmm, anger management problems, anyone? Another tweet was more snarky, intimating that Martinez was afflicted with little man syndrome. That comment has since been deleted.

But all of this attention helped elevate the public persona of Juan Martinez, a once anonymous bulldog of a prosecutor, now a prominent co-star in the Jodi show. Just ask some of the trial tourists, the mostly women who traveled from around the country, to witness the trial firsthand. Juan Martinez, you never know what he's going to pull out of his hat. He's Travis's voice and we admire him for that. Oh, yeah. Sisters Amy Markham and Dawn Johnson both took the week off from their jobs in St. Louis in hopes of getting a ringside seat here and maybe meeting some cable TV celebrities. Once you go into the courtroom, it's so surreal, like you've been seeing all these people on TV. And here they are in person.

Yeah, this is like our Hollywood. One of the stars the sisters were hoping to spot was Katie Wick. Oh, Dr. Drew, what a crazy day. Every night, Katie gave her take on the trial during HLN's Dr. Drew show. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Juan Martinez. She wasn't an anchor, reporter, or an attorney. Just a regular spectator who caught the eye of a cable news booker. And voila. People want to take a picture with you. They do. I mean, to the audience that is fixated on the Jodi Arias trial, you're a celeb.

What I have people tell me is, Katie, I love that you're just, I don't want to say average person, but in essence I am. I'm not going in there as a lawyer or a doctor. I'm just going in there as just a person. Just a regular person in the Jodi Arias show. This is not Jersey Shore. This isn't like, did you see it last night when JWoww popped Mike the Situation in the eye?

This is life and death. This is a death penalty case. And America's reacting to it like it's a reality show. Like it's a reality show. This reality show was about to get real. The Jodi Arias trial may have played like entertainment to millions of devoted viewers hooked on the daily drama unfolding on cable. I'm serious. You may come forward and take a seat, please. But this wasn't a TV show. It was a murder trial.

The stakes were literally life and death. What are you trying to say? Am I allowed to tell you what I'm trying to say? Looking back, the four-month trial really came down to this. A showdown between the Bulldog prosecutor and the woman whose image changed at trial from sexy wannabe photographer to plain Jane admitted killer. Prosecutor Martinez set the tone from the beginning of his cross-examination. He found a crack in Jodi's trademark composure

when Jodi appeared to have a perfect memory of her sexual escapades, but not of stabbing Travis 27 times. I have no memory of stabbing him. At first, Jodi gave as good as she got in sparring with the prosecutor. What factors influence you're having a memory problem? Usually when men like you are screaming at me or grilling me or someone like Travis doing the same. So that affects your memory problems, right? It does. It makes my brain scramble. And then there was the matter of the gun Jody used to shoot Travis. She testified she found it at his house.

Because now he's in the closet. Martinez presented evidence that a gun of the same caliber was stolen from the home of Jody's grandparents in Huayrica, California, just before the killing, while Jody was living there. You brought the gun from Wairika, didn't you? No. The implication?

This was premeditated murder. After all the lies and the tweeting by Jody Arias, finally, after days of cross-examination, Prosecutor Martinez seemed to break her down. that did it, correct? Yes. So if he is being stabbed in the back, would you acknowledge at that point that he's no threat to you, right? I don't know. Well, if he's already been shot,

according to you, and he's facing away from you, how could he have possibly beat any threat to you? How could he have possibly beat any threat to you? I could only guess. I don't know what you're asking me. Jody's claim of self-defense was being whittled away. Would you agree that you're the person who actually slit Mr. Alexander's throat from ear to ear? Yes. Would you also agree that you're the individual that stabbed him in the upper torso?

Yes. And you're doing all of this to, according to your version of events, you're doing this to this individual after you have already shot them, right? Yes. Jodi initially tried to lie her way out of this jam. But was she now trying to cry her way out of it on the witness stand? She's manipulative, she's cunning, and I suspect she can be extremely seductive. Stephen Pitt did not examine Jodi Arias, but he was a forensic psychiatrist who was familiar with the case.

He saw a woman who was good at manipulating others, but not so good with the idea of being rejected. I saw her diagnosed by the prosecution's expert witness as having borderline personality disorder. What does that mean? What could be the understatement of this particular case? They do not do real well with rejection or abandonment. Jodi Arias is essentially the 21st century version of the character that Glenn Close played in Fatal Attraction. If there was any time during the trial when jurors tipped their hand about how they felt about Jodi Arias, it came over the course of two days when they questioned her

directly. Arizona is one state where jurors can actually ask questions of the defendant. The judge reads them. Did police ever find your grandfather's gun? While the tone was not as biting as that of the prosecutor, those jury questions were overwhelmingly full of skepticism and disbelief. Why did you place Travis's body back in the shower? Why not just tell the police the truth from the start? After all the lies you have told, why should we believe you now? The lies that I've told in this case can be tied directly back to either protecting Travis's reputation or my involvement in his death in any way, because I was very ashamed.

And that's what this would all boil down to, all of Jodi's lies. She was a chameleon. She read people really well, really well. And she would adapt to whatever situation she was in. Jody's old friend, Aaron Dewey. She would reflect back to you whatever it was that you wanted to hear, whoever it was that you wanted her to be. Jody Arias spent 18 days on the stand, an almost unheard of stint for a defendant in any murder trial. But was that part of the defense's grand strategy? Keep Arias on the stand so long that jurors would never vote to execute someone they'd gotten to know so well in such intimate detail?

Phoenix criminal defense attorney Ulysses Farragut followed the Arias case. I think that was the defense strategy. The longer we keep her on the stand, the more they hear from her, they will hopefully ingratiate themselves with her to a certain extent and hopefully spare her life. Jurors had four months to think about all the questions. Now it was time for answers and a verdict. As the end neared, the spectacle that was the Jodi Arias trial spilled out of the courtroom and off the

flat screens and onto the street. Did you kill Travis Alexander? This trial started with Jodi Arias admitting she killed Travis Alexander, and yet she testified in her own defense for weeks as if she still thought she could talk her way out of trouble. You saw her crying on the witness stand. If anybody debated the reason she was crying, it's because she cries for herself. If there was one point Juan Martinez wanted to drive home in his closing arguments to the jury, She's such an ornate liar. it was that Jodi Arias had spent the last four months running a con on them.

Are you going to buy her lies? Are you going to believe what she tells you? In his summation, defense lawyer Kirk Nermey didn't ask for an acquittal. Even he seemed to acknowledge that jurors were likely to convict Jody of something. If Ms. Arias is guilty of any crime at all, it is the crime of manslaughter and nothing more. And he pointedly reminded the jury that this wasn't a reality show, that their decision shouldn't be about whether they approve of the woman whose sexual escapades have been part of their daily routine for four months.

Nine days out of ten, I don't like Jodi Arias. It was a phrase that resonated, if not with the jury, then certainly with his client, who responded via Twitter, Nine days out of ten? That sounds about right. If you think it's strange that a murder defendant would laugh it up via social media,

even while a jury deliberates her fate, then you don't know Jodi Arias. But of course, that was kind of the issue throughout this trial. Who was she? I don't know. If you looked closely at Jodi during cross-examination, no matter how much she sobbed, while strategically perhaps covering her face,

there seemed to be no teardrops falling from her eyes. Forensic psychiatrist Steve Pitt was struck by Jodi's ability to lie with confidence. That's a terrific sociopathic skill. She's able to tell a lie. She believes the lie, and she's narcissistic enough and entitled enough to believe that she's so good that she's going to pull the wool over someone else. If that's true, this jury didn't fall for it in their assessment of Jody's state of mind. Ladies and gentlemen, I understand you have reached a verdict. Their judgment? That it was premeditated. We, the jury, do find the defendant as to count one first-degree murder guilty. Outside, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Inside, a much different mood. Jodi Arias sat in silence as each juror was individually polled. This time, her tears were definitely real. And while Travis's family quietly cried and hugged, his old friend Dave Hall took to the courthouse steps. I'm just glad that the jury realized Jodi is a pathological liar and gave her what she deserves. While Travis's friends were relieved Jodi will be held accountable, they also held fast to their Mormon faith. I'm required to forgive her. It's going to take me some time. Forgiveness will come, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with her.

It has to do with me. I feel like I've forgiven Jodi, but along with that, I'm grateful that justice was served today. And just after her conviction, the rarely silent Jodi made clear what kind of punishment she'd like to receive in an interview with Phoenix TV station KSAZ. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it. After those words, the sheriff's department announced it was placing Arias on suicide watch. Her family members left the jail that night in stunned silence. And the next phase of her murder trial,

to determine if the level of brutality met Arizona's death penalty standards, was unexpectedly postponed. No explanation, although the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office confirmed she'd been transferred to a jailhouse psych ward. Turns out, two juries deadlocked on whether Arias should be executed, leaving the decision to a judge. In April 2015, Jodi Arias was sentenced to life without parole. As for the man who prosecuted her, in March 2019, Juan Martinez was hit with a misconduct complaint filed by the State Bar of Arizona. It alleged in part that he leaked information to a blogger during the penalty phase of the Arias trial, and that he had inappropriate communications

with a dismissed juror. In February 2020, Martinez was dismissed from the county attorney's office. In July, he agreed to give up his license to practice law in the state of Arizona, ending the misconduct complaint. Martinez's attorney said that although he agreed to be disbarred, he was not admitting misconduct. Meanwhile, Jodi Arias remains behind bars. After being the center of attention for so long, she's serving her sentence and living her own reality.