Jodi Arias Trial Update News 2015: Jurors Say Holdout Juror Voted to Spare Arias's Life Due to Personal Bias, 'Pride'
The 11 jurors who voted to executive convicted killer Jodi Arias for the brutal murder of her lover Travis Alexander in 2008 are speaking out against the one juror who saved Arias' life.
After a five-month retrial, jurors in the high profile murder case deadlocked on March 5 on whether to sentence the 34-year-old boyfriend killer to death or life in prison. According to HLN, the jurors were split 11 to 1 in favor of the death penalty. As a result, Arias will automatically receive a prison sentence rather than capital punishment.
Now, angry members of the panel have expressed frustration over the hung jury, which they say failed to give the victim's family the justice and closure that they deserve. The jurors also revealed that they feel Juror 17 refused to sentence Arias to death because of her own bias.
According to USA Today, the unidentified holdout was a 20-something-year-old Hispanic woman and domestic abuse survivor. ABC15 also reports that her first husband has a lengthy criminal history in Arizona and was prosecuted by the lead prosecutor in the Arias trial, Juan Martinez, in two separate cases.
"She was life and she wouldn't explain to us why," said one juror speaking about Juror 17, according to AZ Central.
The jurors said that they asked for her to be removed from the case after she admitted to watching a Lifetime movie about Arias' first trial. However, their request was denied.
Another female juror said that she thinks Juror 17 didn't side with the majority due to her pride.
"I feel like it turned into more of a pride thing of standing her ground," she said.
Members of the jury also spoke out during a recent interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."
"Eleven of us strived for justice for Travis, but to no avail," said one of the jurors in a video clip. "We absolutely thought [the punishment] should be death."
One female juror added that, "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."
In addition, a male juror said that he was angry with Juror 17.
"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," he said.
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