Jodi Arias Sentencing Retrial: Defense Rests Its Case
Jodi Arias' defense attorneys have rested their case in the penalty phase of the convicted killer's retrial in Phoenix without calling her back to the witness stand.
Arias faces the death penalty for the 2008 killing of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, who was found in the shower of his Phoenix home. He was stabbed 27 times, his throat slashed and was shot once in the face.
Arias spent two days in October and November testifying before jurors in Maricopa County Superior Court without the public or the media present for the proceedings. The state's highest court later ruled that judge Sherry Stephens was wrong in closing the courtroom and that any additional testimony should be made in the open, and last week a transcript of her testimony was released to the public.
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Officials said that the jury will consider Arias' partial testimony. Prosecutors did not get the opportunity to cross examine her, but they began making their own case and calling their own witnesses.
According to Fox10Phoenix, Prosecutor Juan Martinez called Deanna Reid to the witness stand. Alexander dated Reid before he dated Arias.
The defense previously made much of a claim from an unnamed witness that Travis threw Deanna down to the ground and said, "Get this through your [expletive] head, I am not going to marry you." Reid said that the alleged incident never happened and denied that Alexander abused her in any way.
Abe Abdhelhadi also testified for the prosecutors. Abdhelhadi said that he was a higher-up in the multi-level company that Alexander worked for.Abdhelhadi said that he met Arias at the company, that they had dinner, "made out" with her, and after that they no longer got in touch. He said that Arias contacted him a year later, said that she was dating Alexander and that she told him about Adhelhadi and that Alexander got mad.
The trial is scheduled to start on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon.
