Jodi Arias Trial Opens With Competing Descriptions of Suspect as Nancy Grace Predicts 'Guilty' Verdict

By Sami K. Martin, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 03, 2013

Jodi Arias' trial began yesterday in Arizona, and attorneys wasted no time painting very different images of the victim, Travis Alexander, and the defendant, Jodi Arias. If found guilty of capital murder, Arias could face the death penalty. Meanwhile, HLN host Nancy Grace has expressed concern that Arias could get off because of her good looks.

"This is not a case of whodunit," Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Juan Martinez said in opening statements, according to the Associated Press. "The person who committed this killing sits in court today – Jodi Ann Arias."

Martinez then described Alexander as a "good man" who was a devout Mormon until Arias "stuck a knife in his chest. She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man," he added.

Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott then turned the tables and said that Alexander had "lunged at Jodi in anger. Her life was in danger. He knocked her to the ground in the bathroom where there was a struggle. If she did not have to defend herself, she would not be here."

Alexander was found dead in his home in June 2008; he had been stabbed 27 times, had his throat slit, and was shot in the face. Police arrested Arias and have kept her behind bars for the past four years. She has changed her explanation of Alexander's death at least three times, a fact that could hurt her odds of escaping death row.

HLN host Nancy Grace has been following the case and opined that she is "always concerned about someone's physical characteristics influencing a jury and a judge. [She] is not too pretty for the death penalty!" Grace has said, according to Radar Online.

Jurors will likely see footage of Arias' time behind bars: the interviews she held, her participation in an "American Idol" like contest. Grace thinks that regardless of the defense, Arias will be found guilty and choose the "needle, where she will just drift of to sleep like she's getting a facial or a massage."