PHOENIX — The same jury that convicted Jodi Arias of murder one week ago took about three hours on Wednesday to determine that the former waitress is eligible for the death penalty in the stabbing and shooting death of her one-time lover in his bathroom five years ago.
The decision was made after a day of testimony in the “aggravation” phase of the trial, during which prosecutor Juan Martinez hoped to prove the June 2008 killing was committed in an especially cruel and heinous manner.
Family members of victim Travis Alexander sobbed in the front row as Martinez took the jury through the killing one more time. He described how blood gushed from Alexander's chest, hands and throat as the motivational speaker and businessman stood at the sink in his master bathroom and looked into the mirror with Arias behind him.
“The last thing he saw before he lapsed into unconsciousness ... was that blade coming to his throat,” Martinez said. “And the last thing he felt before he left this earth was pain.”
The trial will move into the final phase, in which prosecutors will call Alexander's family and other witnesses in an effort to convince the panel that Arias should face the ultimate punishment. Arias' attorneys will call witnesses, likely members of her family, in an attempt to gain sympathy from jurors so they give her life in prison. That phase is scheduled to start on Thursday morning.
The aggravation phase played out in quick fashion, with only one prosecution witness and none for the defense. The most dramatic moments occurred when Martinez displayed photos of the bloody crime scene for the jury and paused in silence for two minutes to describe how long he said it took for Alexander to die at Arias' hands on June 4, 2008.
