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Thread: Jodi Arias Sentenced to LWOP in 2008 AZ Murder of Travis Alexander

  1. #411
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jodi Arias' attorney disbarred over trial tell-all book

    By Jared Dillingham
    cbs5az.com

    PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) - The man who defended convicted murderer Jodi Arias is no longer allowed to practice law.

    Laurence "Kirk" Nurmi spent years on the Arias case, even though he asked to be removed and Arias asked for different counsel.

    After the trial, Nurmi published the first in what was to be a series of books on the trial.

    The bar complaint filed against Nurmi claims the book, called "Trapped with Ms. Arias," contained confidential and private discussions with his client, which she never approved for publication.

    The agreement specifically says Nurmi violated a rule, which says lawyers cannot reveal confidential information about a client for his or her own benefit.

    [ORIGINAL STORY: Jodi Arias' former attorney could face 4-year suspension]

    "What he did was knowingly and intentionally wrong. His book violates his duty to protect confidential information," attorney Karen Clark, who represents Arias in her bar charge against Nurmi, said in a statement Monday night.

    Prosecutor Juan Martinez, who gained fame and also wrote a book about the Arias trial, is also facing an ethics complaint.

    [RELATED: Jodi Arias prosecutor, defense lawyer write tell-all books]

    Martinez is accused of unprofessional behavior at trial.

    While Martinez is appealing his probation sentence, Nurmi will not fight the agreement which disbars him.

    Nurmi was diagnosed with cancer after the Arias trial. He's in remission now and appears to be focused on living a healthier lifestyle and promoting nutrition.

    Earlier in the fall, Nurmi appeared on "Good Morning Arizona" to talk about cancer and nutrition.

    Nurmi declined to comment on the agreement, which restricts him from practicing law.

    A communications officer with the Arizona State Bar says a presiding disciplinary judge still has the option of accepting, rejecting, or modifying the consent agreement.

    Arias' attorney's full statement is below:

    Mr. Nurmi's self-published book about his representation of Ms. Arias revealed confidential and privileged information, and violated his most basic ethical duties as a lawyer. What he did was knowingly and intentionally wrong. His book violates his duty to protect confidential information, and also contains lies about his client and other misstatements about the case. He wrote the book in a selfish and misguided attempt to "redeem" his public image and enrich himself. In doing so, he caused serious harm to the public's understanding of the role of lawyers in protecting their clients.

    Ms. Arias appreciates that the State Bar took this matter seriously, and that Mr. Nurmi has consented to disbarment concerning his misconduct. Mr. Nurmi previously entered into a consent agreement with the State Bar, for a 4 year suspension. Ms. Arias objected to the consent agreement for two reasons: (1) the consent did not address the lies he told about her and about her case in his book; and, (2) the conduct he admitted to, as well as the lies in his book, should have resulted in his disbarment.

    The fact that Mr. Nurmi has now been disbarred is appropriate based on his egregious violations of his ethical duties to his former client, Jodi Arias.


    http://www.cbs5az.com/story/33766989...-tell-all-book
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #412
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    Will Jodi Arias Ever Be Released From Prison? She Was Sentenced Years Ago

    By TAYLOR MAPLE
    Bustle

    One of the most notorious criminal cases of recent years will be brought to life through a new documentary on Investigation Discovery on Sunday. Jodi Arias, who was convicted in 2013 for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, according to USA Today, is going to yet again be thrust into the spotlight as the doc closely examines the events of the investigation. The trial ended nearly five years ago, but still remains scrutinized by the public to this day. Ahead of viewing Jodi Arias: An American Murder Mystery, many may be wondering if Jodi Arias will ever get out of prison.

    For now, it seems extremely unlikely. According to the same USA Today piece as cited above, Arias was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to "natural life in prison" after two juries failed to unanimously decide upon the death penalty. Essentially, Arias will be imprisoned for the rest of her life with no possibility for parole. For some jurors though, this wasn't enough — according to ABC News, only one juror was what stood between Arias and the death penalty when the sentencing was handed down in 2015. “Eleven of us strived for justice for Travis, but to no avail,” one of the jurors said in a group audio news conference following the verdict reading, according to ABC News. “We absolutely thought [the punishment] should be death.”

    “I feel that the one holdout had her mind made up from the beginning and what angered me was the biggest thing that angered me was that she alluded that the death penalty would be a form of revenge," another juror said in the same piece. According to the ABC News report, this sole juror who had disagreed with the death penalty began as an alternate juror, coming into the process late and even telling other jurors that she had seen "bits and pieces" of a Lifetime original movie detailing the Arias case, which some thought may have influenced her decision-making. “I think she came in and expected to see a monster in there because of what she saw on TV and the news and when she came in and saw it wasn’t,” another juror said, according to the same ABC News story.

    According to a 2015 AZ Central report, the law in Arizona states that after a second trial with a hung jury regarding the death penalty, Arias could not be tried again and must receive life in prison. The rest of the jurors, it seems, were not the only ones disappointed with the sentencing. The victim's family also handed out a statement to media following the sentencing, expressing their dismay.

    "Travis Alexander's surviving brothers and sisters Gary Alexander, Dennis "Greg" Alexander, Tanisha Sorenson, Samantha Alexander, Hillary Wilcox, Steven Alexander and Allie Iglesias are saddened by the jury's inability to reach a decision on the death penalty," part of the statement read, according to the same AZ Central report. "However, they understand the difficulty of the decision, and have nothing but respect for the jury's time."

    To this day, Arias' case remains a developing one. Though she has been in prison for years, she still plans to appeal the first-degree murder conviction, according an article from the Associated Press published as recently as this past October. However, clerical issues and transcript errors are delaying the process even further, the outlet reported, so it still seems like it'll be some time before any further progress is made for Arias' appeal. For now, she remains in Perryville Women's Prison in Goodyear, Arizona, according to the New York Daily News, serving her life sentence.

    https://www.bustle.com/p/will-jodi-a...rs-ago-7863081

  3. #413
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    Extension Sought in Appeal of Jodi Arias' Murder Conviction

    Lawyers for Jodi Arias are seeking a three-month extension in appealing her 2013 murder conviction in the death of her ex-boyfriend.

    U.S. News & World Report

    PHOENIX (AP) — After missing the deadline to appeal her 2013 murder conviction in the death of her ex-boyfriend, lawyers for Jodi Arias are asking for an extension.

    The attorneys filed a request Thursday for three more months to hand in their appellate brief.

    Her attorneys cited several reasons for an extension, including a computer problem, a staff shortage in the lawyers' office and one lawyer's chronic health issue.

    The appeal had already been delayed by about a year after problems were discovered in transcripts of Arias' trial.

    Arias was found guilty of attacking Travis Alexander in 2008 at his suburban Phoenix home. Prosecutors said he wanted to end their affair and had planned a trip with another woman.

    Arias acknowledged killing Alexander, but claimed it was self-defense after he attacked her.

    The guilt phase of Arias' trial ended in 2013 with jurors convicting her but deadlocking on punishment. A second sentencing trial began in late 2014 and stretched into early 2015, also resulting in a jury deadlock. That required the judge to impose a prison sentence of natural life

    She is serving the life sentence at the Perryville state prison near Phoenix.

    The Arizona Court of Appeals last April declared the trial record complete but then had to wait several additional months for additional transcripts to be filed. The court then set deadlines for this year for the defense and prosecution to file legal briefs in the appeal. After all the briefs are submitted, a three-judge panel will consider the appeal.

    Lawyers use trial transcripts to identify and document grounds for appeals. In Arias' case, the state Court of Appeals had to repeatedly prod some of the trial's 22 court reporters to finish transcripts, and at one point even ordered that dozens of transcripts be destroyed and redone because of errors and omissions.

    The court reporter responsible for most of the transcripts told the court his production was hindered by a computer malfunction, his own cancer treatment and the amount of work involved in Arias' case and others. Other reporters cited workload issues.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...der-conviction
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  4. #414
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    Arias attorneys make new allegations against prosecutor Juan Martinez

    The new allegations go beyond ethical issues raised in the initial complaint against Martinez.

    By Brahm Resnik
    KPNX 12 News TV

    Attorneys for murder convict Jodi Arias are making startling new allegations as they appeal the State Bar’s dismissal of an ethics complaint against Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez.

    In January, the Bar rejected allegations that Martinez violated the code of ethical conduct by having a sexual relationship with two female bloggers covering the Arias trial and contacting a dismissed female juror while the trial was going on.

    The complaint was dismissed despite Martinez’s admission that he contacted the juror and his statement that he could neither confirm nor deny whether he had a sexual relationship with two trial bloggers.

    In a more than 400-page filing this week with an Arizona Supreme Court committee reviewing the dismissal, ethics attorney Karen Clark argues that the Bar misapplied ethical rules, disregarded key evidence, and failed to contact key witnesses.

    The Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee, a nine-member panel of citizens and attorneys, meets monthly behind closed doors to review State Bar disciplinary actions. It could review the complaint against Martinez, a deputy Maricopa County attorney, as soon as Friday.

    Martinez’s ethics attorney, Scott Rhodes, did not respond to a request for comment.

    In a letter to the State Bar and the review committee, he urges the committee to ignore the letter as an “improper attempt to influence your judgment through the presentation of opinions and new allegations that were not part of the original Bar charge.”

    “There can be no doubt that the (Clark letter) was intended to exert improper influence and sway your decision.”

    Arias is serving a life sentence in the brutal 2008 murder of ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home

    Clark’s letter includes expert opinions on Martinez’s conduct from death-penalty attorneys, as well as new information that appears to corroborate allegations about Martinez’s sexual relationships with two trial bloggers and improper contacts with a juror.

    In both instances, Clark argues, Martinez was both sharing and seeking information that could give him an edge in persuading jurors to impose a death sentence on Arias. Martinez ultimately failed to obtain a death sentence.

    “His actions as described in the Bar complaint, if true, are unprecedented,” wrote

    Phoenix attorney Larry Hammond, who has almost 40 years of experience in death penalty cases.

    “The judge presiding over the trial had clearly expressed concern about the extensive publicity surrounding this very high profile trial. Indeed, she had taken steps to prevent members of the press and media from sending out electronic messages during courtroom proceedings - a restriction which itself engendered opposition from the press.”

    “Yet, at the same time, Martinez was providing, in private, the same types of information that the court was trying to moderate.”

    “It may be overstating the obvious to observe that had there been nothing improper about his communications there would have been no reason to proceed in a clandestine way.”

    Amy Armstrong, an attorney with the Arizona Capital Representation Project, wrote that Martinez’s alleged misconduct may have violated Arias’ constitutional rights.

    “Martinez's pursuit of the death sentence against Ms. Arias at almost any cost … violates the public faith in the prosecution's duty to ‘seek justice, not merely convict,” Armstrong writes.

    “Any competent post-conviction attorney would aggressively investigate whether Martinez's behavior violated Ms. Arias's constitutional rights."

    Ethics attorney Karen Clark provided new information from the dismissed juror, who alleges she sent a nude selfie to Martinez and they engaged in sexual banter while the trial was going on. The dismissed juror also alleges Martinez sought information on how the remaining jurors viewed the case, according to Clark’s letter.

    In dismissing the initial Arias complaint, filed one year ago, the State Bar concluded that there was no evidence Martinez shared confidential information with the two bloggers, and that it didn't know what was said between Martinez and the dismissed juror.

    The new allegations in Clark’s filing go beyond ethical issues raised in the initial complaint against Martinez:

    -Clark alleges that Martinez is a “serial sexual harasser of women.” Clark writes that she was contacted by a female member of the court staff who alleged she was sexually harassed at work by Martinez. The woman can provide the names of several other current or former Maricopa County employees who were sexually harassed, according to Clark.

    -Clark’s filing includes a statement from a woman who worked for adult probation services in the courts. She described an episode in 2005 when Martinez invited her into a courtroom after a trial had adjourned for the day, opened a box containing clothing worn by a murder victim, and forced her to smell the clothing by pushing her face into it.

    Martinez’s attorney dismissed the new Arias filing as criminal defense lawyers “calling for mob justice” against Martinez.

    “A convicted murderer has succeeded in co-opting lawyers, almost none of whom had anything to do with her case, into joining into a chant that her prosecutor is unethical,” Rhodes wrote.

    The Arias filing includes supporting letters from six private attorneys. One of them is Richard L. Lougee, a criminal defense attorney in Tucson who is also the brother of Dave Lougee, president and chief executive officer of TEGNA Inc., which owns KPNX-TV.

    http://www.12news.com/article/news/l...z/75-527074794
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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  5. #415
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Jodi Arias continues her quest for secrecy with murder conviction appeal

    By Michael Kiefer
    The Arizona Republic

    Jodi Arias' two murder trials were conducted partly behind closed doors or at the judge's bench, out of earshot of the press and public.

    That's the way her current attorneys would like to conduct her appeal.

    They didn't really explain why, other than to mysteriously say in their motion to file their opening brief under seal that it was "in the interest of protecting the safety of certain parties."

    And if the court wants to know more, the attorneys would be happy to discuss it — "in a forum where sealed information may be addressed freely" — behind closed doors.

    An international circus

    It's been 10 years since Arias, now 37, killed her sometime-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, 30, by shooting him in the head, stabbing him 27 times and slitting his throat in the bathroom of his Mesa home.

    Her trial became an international circus, live-streamed across the universe, embellished in the media, viral in the Twittersphere, until it devolved into a reality-show parable of good and evil. Spectators lined up daily at the courthouse to wait in line to get in. Witnesses and attorneys were harassed and threatened. Blogs and websites and tell-all books popped up like mushrooms after a rain.

    After a raucous trial, Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013. But the first jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict as to whether she should be sentenced to death or to life in prison.

    Her second trial, in 2015, was so hyped that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens banned all video airings until the trial ended. Stephens frequently made the press and public leave the courtroom to discuss matters of law, and at one point tried to hold testimony from Arias herself in a closed courtroom.

    The Arizona Republic, 12 News and other media outlets took her to court and prevailed, but Arias subsequently refused to testify further. Other witnesses refused to take the stand as well, fearing for their safety.

    The second jury also failed to agree on a death penalty, and so, by law, Arias was sentenced to life in prison.

    And even if much of the record remained sealed, the name of the sole holdout juror who kept Arias from death row was leaked to the public, and she was hounded to the point that she needed police protection.

    Ironically, the case prosecutor, Juan Martinez, has been accused in State Bar complaints of leaking trial information through bloggers with whom he may have been romantically linked.

    'Protecting the safety of certain parties'

    And now, as Arias prepares to file the opening brief of her appeal, her attorneys, Peg Green and Cory Engle, in a motion dated May 11, want the record to stay closed and her opening brief to be filed under seal. It would be, as they write, "In the interest of protecting the safety of certain parities..."

    That vague explanation was not enough for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, which will represent the prosecution in the appeal. In its response May 15, that agency wrote that Arias' motion "made no argument at all for why any records should be sealed on appeal."

    Arias countered on May 16.

    "The court must also consider the absurd level of interest that this case inspires in the public," it said.

    The attorneys laid out bullet points:

    • Trial and appellate counsel have consistently fielded requests from the media (national and local) for information about the pending appeal;

    • “Interested parties” routinely request public prison records regarding appellant’s commissary purchases (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant) and her visitor list. The information garnered from these requests is then shared on the internet;

    • An inordinate amount of attention and energy is given by the media to routine motions that accompany her appeal;

    • These circumstances are a continuation of the events that led to the sealing of the record in the first place.

    The motion is pending. Don't expect any quick determination as to whether Arias' sentence and conviction will stand. The deadline for filing her opening brief was pushed back to June 6. The state does not need to respond to the opening until Nov. 13, at this point, and Arias gets another reply, due Dec. 28. Those dates could change.

    That means that the Court of Appeals will not hold a hearing on the appeal until some time next year.

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...eal/625131002/
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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  6. #416
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Jodi Arias can't file murder appeal in secrecy, Arizona Court of Appeals rules

    The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Monday that convicted murderer Jodi Arias cannot file the opening briefs of her appeal under seal.

    A three-judge panel of the court also ordered that the briefs be filed by Friday, July 6.

    Arias, 37, who was found guilty of the 2008 murder of her sometime boyfriend Travis Alexander, had repeatedly petitioned the court to keep the details of the appeal secret because it was "in the interest of protecting the safety of certain parties."

    The briefs were initially supposed to be filed in February, but Arias' attorneys, Margaret Green and Corey Engle, sought extensions and then asked to file under seal. When pressed for an explanation of why the files should be secret, they responded that:

    "The court must also consider the absurd level of interest that this case inspires in the public."

    The attorneys then provided bullet points:

    Trial and appellate counsel have consistently fielded requests from the media (national and local) for information about the pending appeal;

    “Interested parties” routinely request public prison records regarding appellant’s commissary purchases (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant) and her visitor list. The information garnered from these requests is then shared on the internet;

    An inordinate amount of attention and energy is given by the media to routine motions that accompany her appeal;

    These circumstances are a continuation of the events that led to the sealing of the record in the first place.

    Alexander, 30, was found dead in the shower of his Mesa home in June 2008. He had been shot in the head, stabbed 27 times and his throat was slit. The investigation led quickly to his on-again, off-again lover, Arias, who was arrested at her grandparents' house in northern California.

    After a raucous trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, she was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2013, though the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether to sentence her to death or life in prison. A second jury impaneled in 2015 also reached impasse when a single juror refused to impose the death penalty. Under state statutes, Arias was sentenced to natural life in prison by default.

    The formerly media-friendly Arias has since remained quiet and inaccessible. Using money from her many supporters (surpassed by the number and rabid passion of her haters), she retained attorneys to file Bar ethics complaints against her lead defense attorney, Kirk Nurmi, and the prosecutor, Juan Martinez.

    Nurmi was disbarred as a result of the charges; proceedings continue against Martinez.

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...als/757072002/
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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  7. #417
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Appeal claims Jodi Arias denied fair trial, alleges over-the-top media coverage, misconduct

    By Michael Kiefer
    The Arizona Republic

    Months after the original due date, attorneys for convicted killer Jodi Arias filed their opening brief with the Arizona Court of Appeals in the appeal of her murder conviction and life sentence.

    Arias, 37, who was found guilty of the 2008 murder of her sometime boyfriend Travis Alexander, had repeatedly petitioned the court to keep the details of the appeal secret because it was "in the interest of protecting the safety of certain parties."

    Who those parties are is not immediately apparent in the 342-page document filed Friday morning.

    But in the new filing, attorneys Peg Green and Cory Engle reiterate Arias' story at trial that Alexander persuaded Arias to detour to Mesa to visit Alexander while on her road trip from northern California to Utah in June 2008.

    After sex and arguments, Arias claimed, Alexander became enraged when she dropped his new camera while she was photographing him in the shower of his home. She claimed that she was afraid for her life and grabbed a gun from his closet. The gun discharged when she pointed it at him, she claimed, and he kept attacking her.

    Arias claimed that the next thing she remembered was driving in the desert, where she discarded the gun.

    That version of events was rejected at trial by the prosecution and the jury. The trial is, of course, the subject of the appeal.

    And though it is listed last among the alleged causes for reversal, much of the argument (and the appendices) of the appeal focuses on prosecutor misconduct.

    "This was not a trial which merely included pervasive misconduct, but was a trial built upon pervasive misconduct," Green and Engle wrote.

    In the opening brief, they assert that:

    • The over-the-top media coverage, including livestreaming the initial trial, denied Arias a fair trial and an impartial jury. The brief details how spectators inserted themselves into the case by harassing witnesses, and how SWAT teams accompanied jurors to their cars and law enforcement swept the attorneys' cars daily, looking for explosives. And the brief accuses the media of filming jurors and screening evidence that was leaked.

    • The judge allowed "hearsay" testimony about a gun stolen from Arias' grandparents' house; the gun in question was of the same caliber as the gun used on Alexander. The grandparents were not called to testify, the filing avers, but prosecutor Juan Martinez still used the hearsay about the gun to argue premeditation.

    • The prosecution's mental-health expert witness testified as to Arias' mental state in violation of the rules of testimony.

    • The stun belt and leg braces that Arias wore during trial (as do most murder defendants) violated her constitutional rights and may have prejudiced the jury. The brief alleges that Martinez tried to entice Arias to step down from the witness stand to demonstrate something, which would have exposed the restraints.

    • Martinez barred six women from the potential jury in a discriminatory manner, saying it was because they were against the death penalty or had been victims of domestic violence.

    • Martinez engaged in "pervasive and persistent prosecutorial misconduct," including calling Arias and her expert witnesses liars during closing arguments; improperly questioning witnesses; ignoring court orders regarding witnesses and evidence; seeking publicity; and asking jurors to sympathize with the victim. He shocked one of Alexander's former girlfriends while she was on the stand by showing her a photo of Alexander's slit throat. Martinez also posed for photos with his fans on the courthouse steps during trial, which could have been seen by jurors — though none claimed they had.


    In conclusion, Green and Engle ask that the conviction be overturned.

    The state, represented in the appeal by the Arizona Attorney General's Office, has until Jan. 4, 2019, to respond. Arias will then be allowed to reply to the state's counterargument before the case goes before a three-judge panel for oral argument.

    Alexander, 30, was found dead in the shower of his Mesa home in June 2008. He had been shot in the head, stabbed 27 times and his throat was slit. The investigation quickly led to Arias, his on-again, off-again lover, who was arrested at her grandparents' house in northern California.

    According to the appeal brief, Arias was on her way to Monterey, California, to kill herself when she was arrested. (At trial, the evidence suggested she was on her way to a camping trip with male friends.)

    She went to trial in Maricopa County Superior Court and was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2013, though the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether to sentence her to death or life in prison. A second jury impaneled in 2015 also reached an impasse, and so Arias was sentenced to natural life in prison by default.

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...der/760616002/
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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  8. #418
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    Court to hear appeal of Jodi Arias' murder conviction

    By Jacques Billeaud
    Associated Press

    PHOENIX -- Lawyers are scheduled to make arguments Thursday before the Arizona Court of Appeals as Jodi Arias seeks to overturn her murder conviction in the 2008 death of her former boyfriend.

    Arias argues a prosecutor's misconduct and a judge's failure to control news coverage during the case deprived her of the right to a fair trial.

    A lawyer defending the conviction on behalf of the state said overwhelming evidence of Arias' guilt should outweigh mistakes that were made by the prosecutor who won the case.

    Arias, who will not be in the courtroom during her appellate hearing, is serving a life sentence for her first-degree murder conviction in the death of Travis Alexander at his home in Mesa.

    Prosecutors said Arias violently attacked Alexander in a jealous rage after he wanted to end their affair and planned a trip to Mexico with another woman. Arias has acknowledged killing Alexander but claimed it was self-defence after he attacked her.

    The guilt phase of Arias' trial ended in 2013 with jurors convicting her but deadlocking on punishment. A second sentencing trial ended in early 2015 with another jury deadlock, leading a judge to sentence Arias to prison for life.

    The case turned into a media circus as salacious and violent details about Arias and Alexander were broadcast live around the world.

    Arias had actively courted the spotlight since her 2008 arrest. She did interviews on TV's "48 Hours" and "Inside Edition" after her arrest and was on the witness stand for several weeks during the trial in which she was found guilty of murder.

    Arias' lawyers said prosecutor Juan Martinez improperly questioned witnesses, courted journalists and disregarded court rulings by repeating questions after the judge had overruled them.

    They also said Judge Sherry Stephens let news organizations turn the trial into a "circus-like atmosphere" and was slow to restrict journalists even when they broke the court's media-coverage rules.

    Terry Crist, an attorney for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, has said in court records that the publicity didn't cause any prejudice against Arias but acknowledged instances in which Martinez was argumentative with Arias and a psychotherapist who testified on her behalf.

    Crist has said when issues of publicity popped up during the trial, jurors repeatedly said they hadn't seen news coverage of the case and could remain fair and impartial.

    Crist has said Arias generated publicity by giving TV interviews before the trial and spoke on camera to a reporter on the day of her guilty verdict, even though her attorneys didn't want her to do so.

    After Arias' attorney filed their appeal, new complaints were made against Martinez, though none of those have been raised in her appeal.

    This summer, a judge who handles disciplinary cases against attorneys threw out allegations that Martinez made sexually inappropriate comments to female law clerks in his office and had inappropriate contact with a woman who had been dismissed from Arias' jury and later texted nude photos of herself to the prosecutor.

    The remaining allegations against Martinez in the attorney disciplinary case included claims that the prosecutor leaked another juror's identity to a blogger with whom Martinez was having a sexual relationship.

    Martinez was reprimanded by the county prosecutor's office in 2018 for inappropriate and unprofessional conduct toward female law clerks.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/court-t...tion-1.4642222
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #419
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    Somewhat related

    Harassment claims reinstated in ex-prosecutor’s ethics case

    PHOENIX - The Arizona Supreme Court has reinstated sexual harassment allegations in an ethics case against a former prosecutor best known for winning a conviction in the Jodi Arias murder case.

    The ruling Monday reversed an earlier decision by a disciplinary judge who threw out claims that then-prosecutor Juan Martinez made sexually inappropriate comments to female law clerks at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

    Unlike the disciplinary judge, the state Supreme Court justices concluded the unprofessional conduct that lawyers are prohibited from engaging in includes sexual harassment of staff or subordinates.

    “Our decision here is consistent with our prior cases stating that sexual harassment by lawyers in other professional contexts is unethical,” the justices wrote.

    In the ethics case, Martinez is accused of leaking the identity of a juror in the Arias case to a blogger with whom he was having a sexual relationship and lying to investigators about it. He also is accused of frequently staring at a court reporter during the Arias trial and making comments about her appearance that made her feel uncomfortable.

    The ethics complaint alleged Martinez would stare at the chests of some female employees in the county prosecutor’s office and look them up and down as they walked away. The complaint said some female employees would hide in the bathroom, duck into cubicles or engage in busy work to avoid encountering Martinez.

    Donald Wilson, an attorney representing Martinez, didn’t immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment. In court records, Wilson has said much of what his client is accused of in the harassment allegations was making people feel uncomfortable or that the claims were based on an accuser’s subjective opinion, not on overt actions.

    Two years ago, Martinez was reprimanded by then-Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office for inappropriate and unprofessional conduct toward female law clerks. Montgomery now serves on the state Supreme Court and recused himself from considering the ethics case.

    If a three-person panel of the Arizona disciplinary court finds that Martinez violated the rules of conduct for attorneys, he could face a wide range of punishments, including a reprimand, suspension or disbarment.

    Martinez was fired earlier this year after 32 years as a prosecutor and is appealing his termination.

    Earlier this year, Martinez was reprimanded by the state Supreme Court for violating an ethical rule at three other death penalty trials. The court had concluded that Martinez’s efforts to elicit sympathy for victims and fear of defendants, and his failure to follow court rulings had jeopardized the integrity of the legal system.

    https://kdminer.com/news/2020/jul/15...cutors-ethics/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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