In the hopes of dodging the death penalty, Jodi Arias was recurrently depicted by her legal team as a sufferer of mental illness and emotional and physical abuse in day 20 of the her retrial in Maricopa County Superior Court.
On his fourth consecutive day in the witness stand, psychologist Dr. Robert Geffner examined page by page and related to the court all the journal entries, e-mails and text messages exchanged between Arias and her lover and murder victim Travis Alexander. This was to attest that the 34-year-old murderer had a personality disorder, which may be rendered sufficient for the jury to keep her close to life in prison and away from death penalty.
One text message from Arias sent to her slain ex-boyfriend read "I'm very sorry for all the pain we've caused each other. Most of it is my fault. I never meant to hurt you," as reported by CBS 5. Also, reports stated that the doctor was tactically put to the stand by the defense to dart cross-examinations by prosecutors, giving the jury to mull over his statement during the trial's holiday break.
"They are trying to get compassion for Jodi," Jen Wood from jenstrialdiaries.com said via KPHO. "They do want the jurors to be sympathetic to her because she was in an abusive relationship. What they are trying to do is translate this to the jury, that Jodi is a victim of Travis Alexander," she added.
Back in May, Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, who was found bloody and dead in his Phoenix home. The victim was found lifeless in the shower, with 27 stabs, a slit in the throat and a shot in the face. However, the jury failed to unanimously determine her sentence. The retrial that reopened in October had Arias fighting for her life ever since.
