Friday 3 May 2013

Prosecution gives closing arguments in Jodi Arias death penalty trial

Prosecution gives closing arguments in Jodi Arias death penalty trial, Prosecutor Juan Martinez gave his closing arguments in the case of 32-year-old Jodi Arias, accused of stabbing, slashing, and shooting her lover Travis Alexander. Arias claims that she killed Alexander in self-defense, however the prosecutor warned the jury not to fall for Jodi's scams like Travis Alexander did.

Moreover, Martinez pointed out the fact that despite the attempts of Arias to portray herself as a victim that she is a victimizer and used an example of Jodi hitting her own mother. He also poked holes in her story that Alexander abused her by stating that in the summer of 2007, Jodi moved to the same state and town as Alexander. If he was abusive why was she moving closer to him?

Martinez also told the jury that Arias failed to document any of the alleged abuse she faced at the hands of Alexander in her diary.

The themes that prosecutor Juan Martinez hit home to the jury during his closing arguments is that Arias is manipulative, a liar, and that the murder of Travis Alexander was premeditated.

Martinez pointed out that despite the fact that Arias wants to portray the victim as a sexual deviant, that the tapes played in court where the two discussed sex, showed that Arias introduced new sexual positions to Alexander. Martinez claims that Arias used sex to manipulate Alexander.

Moreover, Martinez painted Arias as a jealous stalker. He pointed out how she snuck into his home, spied on him, and became angry when she watched him kiss another woman.

During the closing argument Martinez also quoted Alexander saying that Jodi Arias was the worst thing to ever happen to him. He also quoted Alexander calling Arias a sociopath.

Premeditation was also a theme that Martinez hit on during his closing argument. He pointed out that Jodi's grandparents had reported a gun stolen from their home right before Travis was killed. The same type of gun that was stolen, was the same type used to shoot Alexander.

To further his argument of premeditation Martinez discussed how Arias rented a car to drive to Arizona to kill Alexander, and how she lied to the car rental company and told them she was only going to be driving around town.

During the closing arguments photographs of Alexander were shown that depicted the injuries he suffered at the hands of Arias. The victim's family became emotional and started sobbing in court.

The defense is expected to give their closing arguments tomorrow. If convicted, Arias could face the death penalty.

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