After several delays, defendant Jodi Arias will probably take the back seat once again as one of the jurors was asked to drop from the case.
This is the third time that a juror was asked to leave Arias' case. The first one was during the first day of the retrial due to a family emergency. The second one was booted out because she talked to a reporter who she initially thought was HLN's Nancy Grace.
The third juror, however, was removed from the case after she was arrested for issuing a bad check on Black Friday. The 36-year-old Melissa Lenette Garcia, was arrested on Nov. 28 because of the charges. Her removal from the controversial retrial was announced silently on Monday.
But despite the recent change in the line-up of jurors for the sentencing retrial of Jodi Arias' murder case, the hearing pushed through Thursday so that the judge handling the case could decide if the defense motion to strike out Arias' murder conviction will be granted.
The defense team for Arias claimed that the police officers who handled several important evidences found on the personal computer owned by Arias' deceased boyfriend and victim Travis Alexander deliberately destroyed the files.
Judge Sherry Stephens will also have to decide whether the request of the defense team to allow three of their witnesses to testify behind closed doors and to protect their identities from public and media exposure will be allowed.
The judge asked the jurors to take the week off while she deliberates on her decisions to grant the motions of the defense team. The remaining jurors, excluding the three who were removed after they were replaced by three of the six substitutes, are asked to report on Dec. 15.
The Jodi Arias retrial to determine her penalty for murdering her former lover is expected to last until January 2015.
