12 Crimes of Christmas - "THE CIRCUS: JODI ARIAS'S 18-DAY TESTIMONY & LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE - PART 2"

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media, Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Tuesday, December thirtieth, twenty twenty five. Yesterday we covered Jody Arius's obsession with Travis Alexander and the brutal murder she committed on June fourth, two thousand and eight, twenty seven stab wounds, slit throat, gunshot to the head, three different lies, trying to explain it away. Today, the trial that captivated America, the testimony that went on for eighteen days, and the verdict Jody Arias said would never happen. January twenty thirteen, Maricopa County Superior Court, Phoenix, Arizona, Judge Sherry Stevens presiding prosecutor Juan Martinez for the state. Defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Wilmot for Jody Arias. The prosecution sought the death penalty first degree murder with aggravating factors. They argued Jody Arius premeditated the murder, drove over one thousand miles with a stolen gun and gas cans, and killed Travis Alexander in an especially cruel manner. The defense argued self defense, that Travis was an abuser, that Jody was a victim of domestic violence who had no choice but to fight back, that twenty seven stab wounds and a slit throat were reasonable force against a man who was trying to kill her.

1:24 What followed was a trial unlike anything America had ever seen. The courtroom was packed every day, hundreds of people lined up for the few public seats. Cable news covered it live, every objection, every sidebar, every dramatic moment. HLN's Nancy Grace made it a nightly obsession. Social media exploded with opinions, theories, hashtags. The Toronto Star called it what it was when the justice system becomes entertainment. And at the center of it all sat Jody Arius, twenty eight years old when she killed Travis Alexander, thirty two, when she took the stand, ready to tell her story for as long as it took.

2:06 Eighteen days. She testified for eighteen days, unprecedented in American legal history. I'm reed, Carter, this is Celebrity Trials Today, Part two. The trial, the testimony, the verdict, and the woman who said no jury would convict her sitting in an Arizona prison cell for the rest of her natural life. This is what happens when narcissism meets Justice. January second, twenty thirteen. Opening statements. Prosecutor Juan Martinez was aggressive from the first word. He laid out the case methodically. Jodiarius planned this murder, stole a gun from her grandparents, borrowed gas cans to avoid leaving a trail, drove one thousand miles to Travis Alexander's house, had sex with him, photographed him in the shower, then stabbed him twenty seven times times, slit his throat, and shot him in the head. Martinez showed the crime scene photos, the blood, Travis's body in the shower, the wounds. He wanted the jury to see exactly what Jody Arius had done. This is not a prior girlfriend, This is a prior stalker, Martinez told the jury, a prior stalker that had been told the relationship was over, but she just wouldn't leave. The defense told a different story.

3:28 Travis Alexander was not the victim. They argued he was an abuser, a man who used Jody for sex while treating her like a dirty secret, a man with dark sexual appetites who manipulated and controlled her. Jody Arius killed Travis Alexander. Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi admitted in his opening there's no question about it. The million dollar question is what would have forced her to do it. Their answer self defense. Travis attacked her on June fourth, when she dropped the camera. She had no choice but to fight back. It was kill or be killed. But here's where the defense had a problem. Twenty seven stab wounds, a throat, cut to the spine, a gunshot to the head. That's not fighting off an attacker. That's overkill. That's rage, that's murder.

4:17 Nurmi tried to address it. She's not proud that she had to take Travis's life. It was horrible, it was wrong, but it was also necessary necessary. The trial lasted five months, thirty eight witnesses for the prosecution, seventeen for the defense, Expert testimony about DNA, blood spatter, psychology, domestic violence, thousands of pages of exhibits, text messages, emails, phone records, the sex tape Jody had secretly recorded without Travis's knowledge. Yes, there was a sex tape. Jody recorded a phone sex conversation between her and Travis in May two thousand and eight, a month before the murder. The defense played it in court, explicit content, embarrassing details about their relationship, Travis talking about sexual fantasies. The defense wanted to show Travis was a hypocrite, a devout Mormon who publicly preached purity while privately engaging in explicit sexual behavior. They wanted to make him look like the villain, like someone who deserved what happened. But Martinez flipped the narrative. He pointed out that Jody recorded that call without Travis's consent, that she kept it as leverage, as a weapon. That's not the behavior of a victim.

5:33 That's the behavior of a manipulator planning ahead. Martinez also introduced evidence of Jody's stalking behavior, the slashed tires, the hacked accounts, the breaking into Travis's house, the friends who warned Travis she was dangerous. Text messages between Travis and Jody showed the deterioration of their relationship. Travis, you are the worst thing that ever happened to me. Travis a sociopath. Travis, you don't know what horror you have caused me. These weren't the words of an abuser. These were the words of a man trying to escape a relationship that had turned dangerous, But the most damning evidence came from Jody herself.

6:28 February fourth, twenty thirteen, Jody Aarriheas took the stand in her own defense. She would testify for eighteen days direct examination, cross examination, questions from the jury. Arizona allows jurors to submit written questions for witnesses, hundreds of questions over nearly three weeks. Criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos called it unprecedented. No defendant in memory had ever testified for that long. It was a calculated gamble by the defense. Let Jody tell her story in her own words, make the jury see her as human, as sympathetic. On direct examination, Jody was composed, soft spoken, detailed. She walked through her childhood, her relationship with Travis, the alleged abuse she suffered. She claimed Travis had physically attacked her multiple times, choked her until she passed out, kicked her, hit her. She claimed he was obsessed with anal sex because he believed it didn't violate Mormon law. She described their sexual encounters in graphic detail. She held up a survivor T shirt she said she was selling to benefit domestic violence victims. She told the jury she donated her hair to Locks of Love.

7:44 She presented herself as a woman who had survived abuse and was now trying to help others, and she told her version of June fourth, two thousand and eight. According to Jody, she was photographing Travis in the shower, dropped the camera. Travis became enraged a linebacker. She said, he body slammed her onto the tile floor, threatened to kill her. She ran to the closet grabbed a gun, Travis's gun. She claimed, he chased her, came at her. She raised the gun and fired. Then her memory went blank. She didn't remember the stabbing, didn't remember cutting his throat, had no memory of anything until she was driving in the desert covered in blood. I just remember noise, she testified, and then I remember driving in the desert. The problem.

8:29 None of it made sense. The medical examiner testified that the gunshot wound was likely inflicted last after the stab wounds. The bullet trajectory suggested Travis was already incapacitated, possibly dead, when he was shot. He didn't attack her after being shot. He was already on the ground dying from twenty seven stab wounds when she put a bullet in his head, and there was no evidence Travis owned a gun. His friends and family said he never had one. The only gun connected to this case was the point two five calibers stolen from Jody's grandparents weeks before the murder. Then came Juan Martinez's cross examination. Martinez was relentless aggressive. He paced the courtroom, shouted questions, demanded answers. His style was controversial.

9:16 The Appeals Court would later call some of his tactics egregious and self promoting, but it was effective. He confronted Jody with her lies three different stories. First, she wasn't there, then intruders did it, now self defense? Which one was true? Why should the jury believe this version when she'd lied twice before? Ma'am? Were you crying when you were shooting him? Martinez asked, I don't remember. Jody replied, were you crying when you were stabbing him? I don't remember. How about when you were slitting his throat? Were you crying then? I don't know. Martinez showed the autopsy photos the stab wounds to Travis's back, nine of them. How do you stab someone nine times in the back in self defense when they're running away from you. He pointed out the defensive wounds on Travis's hands. Travis didn't attack her. Travis tried to defend himself against her attack. The evidence showed he was the one fighting for his life. Jody had an answer for everything, but her answers didn't add up.

10:22 The jurors submitted over one hundred and fifty questions for her, more than any other witness. They were skeptical. They wanted clarity, and Jody couldn't provide it. On redirect the defense tried to rehabilitate her, but the damage was done. Eighteen days of testimony and Jody Aarius had failed to convince the jury she was anything other than what the prosecutor said. She was a stalker, a liar, and a murderer. We'll be right back with the verdict Jody Arius said would never happen and the life sentence she said was worse than death. May eighth, twenty thirteen, after fifteen hours of deliberation, the jury returned to the courtroom. All twelve jurors found Jody Arius guilty of first degree murder, five jurors found her guilty of premeditated murder, seven found her guilty of both premeditated murder and felony murder. Every single juror rejected her self defense claim. When the verdict was read, Travis's family smiled, hugged each other, cried with relief. Outside the courthouse, crowds cheered, chanted, celebrated. Jody Rheus sat expressionless. The woman who'd said, no jury is going to convict me had just been convicted by a unanimous jury of the most

11:53 serious charge she could face. But the case wasn't over. This was a capital case. The prosecution sought the death penalty, and under Arizona law, the same jury had to decide whether Jody deserved to die. The aggravation phase came first. The prosecution had to prove the murder was especially cruel, that Travis suffered, that he experienced physical pain and mental anguish before he died. The medical examiner testified described the wounds, the defensive cuts on Travis's hands he'd grabbed at the knife blade, the stab wound to his heart that didn't kill him immediately, the terror he must have felt as he was being butchered by someone he knew. The jury agreed unanimously the murder was especially cruel. Jody Arius was eligible for the death penalty. Then came the penalty phase, life or death. The jury had to decide. Travis's family gave victim impact statements. His siblings described the brother they'd lost, the hole in their family, the nightmares, the trauma. Stephen Alexander, Travis's brother, addressed Jody directly, you took away our brother's life.

13:05 You took away our future, You took away our joy. Jody gave an elocution, a statement pleading for her life. She acknowledged that asking for life in prison was a reversal from earlier comments where she'd said she preferred death. Each time I said that, I meant it, but I lacked perspective, she said. She held up the survivor T shirt again, said she'd donate the proceeds to domestic violence victims. Said she'd donate her hair to charity. Tried one last time to present herself as sympathetic, but the jury couldn't agree. After days of deliberation, they were deadlocked. Eight voted for death, four voted for life. Not unanimous mistrial on the penalty phase.

13:49 A new penalty trial was ordered for twenty fourteen. A new jury same evidence, same questions, life or death. March twenty fifteen, the second jury, also deadlocked, couldn't reach a unanimous decision. Some voted death, some voted life, no consensus. Under Arizona law, when two juries fail to agree on the death penalty, that option is removed. The judge decides between life with possibility of parole after twenty five years, or life without parole. April thirteenth, twenty fifteen, Judge Sherry Stevens announced her decision life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

14:31 Jody Arius would die in prison. She would never be free, but she would also never face execution. At sentencing, Jody apologized, I wish there was something I could do to take it back, she said. Travis's sister Samantha responded, Jody took Travis's life, but we are the ones suffering. Jody Arius was transported to the Arizona State Prison Complex, Perryville in good Year, Arizona. She was thirty four years old. She would spend the rest of her life behind bars. As of December twenty twenty five, Jody Arius is forty five years old. She's been in prison for over ten years, still serving her life sentence at Perryville, still claiming she's the victim. She lost her appeal. In March twenty twenty, the Arizona Court of Appeals acknowledged that prosecutor Juan Martinez's conduct was egregious and self promoting. He was later disbarred for unrelated misconduct. But the court upheld Jody's conviction anyway, citing overwhelming evidence of her guilt. In November twenty twenty, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to review her case. Her conviction stands, but Jody hasn't given up. In twenty twenty five, she signaled she's pursuing post conviction relief, another legal avenue to challenge her conviction. She claims the trial was unfair,

16:01 that media coverage prejudiced the jury, that she deserves a new trial. Meanwhile, she's found ways to stay in the spotlight from prison. She works as a library aid, teaches creative writing classes, sells artwork online, paintings and drawings that reportedly sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars. She has a substack blog where she posts about her life behind bars. Some of the artwork proceeds go toward her legal fund, some go toward restitution. She owes over four hundred sixty eight thousand dollars to Travis Alexander's estate, and she still has fans supporters who believe she's innocent, or that she was abused, or that she was treated unfairly. She allegedly receives marriage proposals weekly from men who've become obsessed with her.

16:45 The irony is lost on no one. Jodiarius was a stalker who murdered her ex boyfriend because she couldn't accept that the relationship was over. Now she has stalkers of her own, people who've become fixated on her the way she was fixated on Travis. Travis's family continues to advocate for victims' rights through the Travis Alexander Foundation. They've spoken publicly about the toll the trial took on them, the years of hearings, the appeals, the endless media coverage that forced them to relive their brother's murder over and over. Stephen Alexander said he wasn't concerned about Jody's latest legal efforts. None of it affects the fact that she murdered my brother and she's admitted to it. She did admit it on the stand for eighteen days. She just tried to claim it was justified. The jury disagreed, the appeals court disagreed, and Jodyarius will spend the rest of her life in a prison cell because of it. No jury is going to convict me, because I am innocent, and you can mark my words on that. We marked them, Jody, The jury marked them too. That's part two of our Jody Aarrias Special Travis Victor Alexander, thirty years old, salesman, motivational speaker, a man who'd survived a terrible childhood and built a good life. Stabbed twenty seven times, throat slit, shot in the head by the woman he'd warned his friends about.

18:11 Jody ann Arius, convicted of first degree murder, sentenced to life without parole, still claiming she's the victim, still selling artwork from prison, still trying to overturn her conviction. The trial became a circus, a media spectacle, a daily soap opera that America couldn't stop watching. But underneath all the drama was a simple truth. A woman couldn't accept that a relationship was over, so she drove one thousand miles with gas cans and a stolen gun, had sex with the man she was about to kill, photographed him in the shower, and butchered him. That's not self defense. That's not love. That's obsession taken to its most horrific conclusion.

18:53 Travis's friends warned him, his family worried about him. He knew something was wrong. Don't be surprised if you find me dead one day. He was right, and Jody Aarius proved him right. She'll spend the rest of her life in prison. That's not closure for Travis's family. That's not justice. It's just the law doing what it can with what it has. Travis Alexander would be forty eight years old today. Should be living the life he worked so hard to build. Should be married, should have children, should be inspiring people the way he did before. June fourth, two thousand and eight. Rest in peace, Travis. Someone has to say your name.

19:33 I'm read Carter tomorrow, continuing our Twelve Crimes of Christmas with Oscar Pastorius. This is celebrity trials.