Jodi Arias Sentencing Retrial News: Arias' Former Attorney Denies Deleting Explicit Files From Alexander's Computer
The sentencing retrial of Jodi Arias on Thursday had one of her former lawyers, Maria Shaffer, on the stand as she denied suggestions from the prosecutor that she may have deleted explicit files from Travis Alexander's computer.
Schaffer did say that she and her co-counsel looked at the computer in a closed room with Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Juan Martinez and Mesa police detective Esteban Flores on June 19, 2009 as they prepared the case for their client.
"It was physically impossible for us to delete the files," said Shaffer. "We were never left in the room alone."
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She mentioned that the visit was not for a forensic evaluation of the computer but for "an initial foray to see what was seized from the house."
Arias' defense team said that police or prosecutors may have deleted thousands of pornographic files from a computer seized from the home of Alexander, who was killed by Arias in 2008.
Arias' attorneys, Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott, fought to get another look at Alexander's computer and got approval only the day before the retrial began.
Nurmi claimed that a forensic computer expert found that thousands of pornographic files were erased from the computer during a three-hour period on the date when Schaffer had access to it. He alleged that there was prosecutorial misconduct and asked that the intent to seek the death penalty be lifted.
The files would have strengthened the defense case as Arias' lawyers presented Alexander as a man with a voracious and unusual sexual appetite. Meanwhile, Martinez portrayed Alexander as a devout Mormon who was a virgin and who was saving himself for marriage.
Defense witness L.C. Miccio-Fonseca, a psychologist, said "There's a mastery here of deception. He was a committed Mormon. He was a spiritual man. I think he really struggled with this."
