Arizona Judge Refuses To Spare Life Of Jody Arias
An Arizona judge won’t remove the death sentence of Jody Arais.
Maricopa Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens said in a ruling that defense attorneys were wrong in claiming that a state law that allows for Arias to face a second penalty phase was unconstitutional and represented cruel and unusual punishment.
Arias, 33, was convicted by a jury in May 2013 of murdering Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. He had been stabbed multiple times, shot in the face and slashed in the throat.
But the jury deadlocked on whether the former California waitress should be executed or face life in prison.
In a three-page ruling, Stephens made it clear the death penalty was still a possibility when a new jury reconvenes on March 17 for a second penalty phase of the trial.
