Judge Sheri Stephens denied a defense attorney's request for a mistrial in the death penalty phase of Jodi Arias' capital murder trial, after a long-time friend declined to testify as a character witness citing death threats, Reuters reported on Monday. The jury has already convicted Arias of murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.
Arias' defense attorneys hoped to call her friend Patricia Womack to testify on her behalf to jurors, in an effort to lessen the chances of death penalty for the already convicted murderer. Defense counsel Kirk Nurmi, however, told the court that Womack received death threats, which stopped her from testifying.
Saying Womack's absence would deny the jury a full picture of Arias' life prior to meeting Alexander in 2006, he requested a penalty phase mistrial. This would have affected the sentencing portion of the trial while leaving her murder conviction intact.
"Miss Arias has the right to present this full picture. She is being precluded from doing so, and therefore a mistrial at this stage of the proceedings is the only lawful remedy," Nurmi said. Judge Stephens promptly ruled there was not basis for a mistrial, and denied a subsequent request by Nurmi to withdraw from the case. She then adjourned the court.
The trial is set to continue at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The jury ruled last week that Arias acted with extreme cruelty and ruled her eligible for the death penalty. Those jurors are deciding whether Arias - who already expressed a desire to be executed than a life in prison - will get the death penalty.
Also on Monday Prosecutor Juan Martinez told the court that, in a prior interview with Womack, she had refused to answer questions about her drug use. He said that "her refusal to incriminate herself would have precluded her from testifying," the Huffington Post reported.
Last Thursday, Alexander's two siblings stood in open court and described the emotional devastation caused by his murder.
