Jodi Arias Trial Latest News: Mistrial Declared Over Juror 17 Holdout, Death Sentence Withheld
A mistrial was declared on the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial when the jury deadlocked over Juror 17, whom they accused of holding out and not deliberating with the rest of the jurors.
Jodi Arias' murder sentencing retrial was declared a mistrial after the jury accused Juror 17 to be holding out and having a separate agenda. They also pointed out the lone juror's failure to deliberate.
According to Court documents released just two days before the mistrial was declared, Juror 17 informed the court she felt she was being harassed by her fellow jurors.
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"I don't feel that I'm being given a shot," she told the court. "My opinion is not being heard."
According the lone juror in question, she felt undervalued where the other jurors' opinions were being written down and taken into account.
Her fellow jurors claimed Juror 17 had previously watched a movie on the Lifetime channel featuring Arias' first murder trial, and claimed she was unable to give a rationale for her support of a "life" decision, making them believe she had her own agenda.
Juror 17 admitted to the Court she had watched parts of the movie, but didn't stay up to watch it to the end, or conjectured as to which part of the film was made up of facts or opinion.
The State filed to strike Juror 17 for having viewed "The Secret" and did research on "The Law of Attraction World" as evidenced by her "Likes" on her Facebook account. Juror 17 responded that she had read "The Secret" and watched the corresponding movie two years prior to the trial. The Court declared it found no evidence of misconduct on Juror 17's stand on the issue.
A mistrial was declared March 5, sparing Arias from the death penalty for the 2008 stabbing, throat-slashing and shooting murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. However, she will still be receiving a life sentence with a chance of parole after 25 years.
