Jodi Arias Case Study and Analysis of Due Procedure

The case I will be talking about is the Jodi Aries case and what happens If I was the judge in the retrial, and whether or not the outcome will be the same. Jodi Arias was born in 1980 in Salinas, California to parents Bill and Sandy Arias. She has one older half-sister, plus one younger sister and two younger brothers. Arias dropped out of high school, later obtaining her GED, and moved around often as a young adult. The first-degree murder trial of Jodi Arias, who is accused of the brutal killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, will outline the twists and turns in the investigation into his 2008 death, as well as Arias different versions of exactly what happened during their brief relationship.

Now calling Jodi Arias to the stand. She was charged with the murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008. After the gruesome murder was revealed, Arias testified during the 2013 trial that she had killed Alexander in self-defense which the juror didn’t really believe her. Jodi felt like she was treated like an object by Travis and she didn’t like that. She stalked him and even moved into the same neighborhood he was in to see who he was seeing when she is not around. She and Travis were together for 5 months before going their separate ways but was still in sexual relations which caused Jodi to be extremely jealous. According to Juror “Alexander got killed on June 4th, 2008 but was found dead in his shower on June 10, 2008 by friends who began to search for him after the salesman had missed two appointments. The crime scene was exceptionally gruesome. Alexander had been stabbed over 30 times, his throat had been slit, and he had been shot in the head”. Her jealousy led to her killing Travis but denied it saying they were attacked by two masked killers and she escaped but one of them killed her ex-lover.

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On Oct 5 and then Oct 13, 2013 the Pre-Trial hearings in the Jodi Arias murder case are held in private after I (the judge) closed them to the public. It is extremely unusual for a hearing of this nature to be closed to the public. But I (the judge) obviously felt there were extenuating circumstances attached to the case, which I believe was true and therefore the right course of action. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in Maricopa, Arizona in May 2013, but the jury was unable to reach an agreement when it came to the sentencing phase, regarding whether or not she should receive the death penalty. In the pre-trial, she was denying ever being involved with the murder of Travis Alexander. She was still sticking to what she said first about the two masked killers who took them, and she escaped, and Travis didn’t. Later, Jodi Arias confesses to killing her ex-lover Travis Alexander. At first, the jury was adamant about giving her life with the possibility of parole after 25 years but after what Jodi did and how she goes about doing the murder they decided to not give her the parole and wanted to include the death penalty.

Due process means fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen entitlement. In the United States, due process is outlined in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The specific aspect of due process law in arresting and trying persons who have been accused of crimes and also to any other government action that deprives an individual of life, liberty, and property. No one can be deprived of anything without due process. After my evaluation there definitely was the due process associated with Travis Alexander murder and the charges Jodi Arias will be facing. Arias claimed she didn’t get a fair trial, but the court and I think she did. She had the opportunity to defend herself, but she wasn’t really sure what to say because she didn’t have sympathy for killing him. Jodi Arias is getting a fair trial because she killed someone, and she is going to be charged with first-degree murder and most likely will be found guilty. The court follows the fifth Amendment about the due process because Miss Arias is going to get deprived of life, liberty, and property after being convicted.

The 5th amendment of the constitution states that “any U.S citizen who has been accused of a criminal offense has the right to have his or her case tried Infront of a judge or jury”. Because you are innocent until proven guilty, the court must prove you are guilty. Jodi was saying she was innocent and that someone else killed Travis Alexander, but the jury needed the right evidence to prove she was guilty. This is where the burden of proof comes in. The burden of proof means the obligation to prove one’s assertion. Assertions mean a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief. In other words, you must be able to prove that the person is guilty of the crime they supposedly committed. Anytime a person is accused of a crime, the state becomes responsible for proving his or her guilt in court. To do this, a prosecutor must be able to submit evidence to support the state’s charge which in this case they did. The camera that was used to capture every detail of the crime was later found in the washing machine of Travis Alexander’s home. Some footage was damaged because of the water but the crime scene investigator worked hard to recover this damaging footage and there they saw Jodi Arias all on the camera leading up to the murder she committed. As a result, the responsibility of proving the case or the burden of proof lies completely on the prosecution. We never want to see somebody do bad but in everything, we do we have to follow the amendment and do the job we are here to do.

You cannot be tried for the same crime- I agree because by law no one should be tried with the same crime more than once according to the fifth amendment. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that no person shall “be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. This protection against “double jeopardy” is intended to prevent the government from retrying the same defendant over and over until prosecutors can get a conviction” (Balko. R, 2011). Even though Jodi Arias stabbed Travis Alexander over 30 times, slit his throat and shot him in the head she can only be charged for 1 count of murder. You can charge someone with the crime and also with the conspiracy to commit the crime, but you can’t charge them with the same exact crime. Secondly, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government can charge a defendant with both crime and the conspiracy to commit that crime without violating the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy. This gives the government two opportunities to convict Arias for essentially the same offense. But people that work for the government sees this differently. They believe that whenever they make a conviction, they are making their career and becoming better at It which can stray away completely from the case and remembering what we are all here to do.

I, however, feel like Jodi Arias should’ve gotten the death penalty since the crime happens in Arizona and we have the death penalty here. Some people think life without the possibility of parole is a good thing for her, but others think she should’ve gotten the needle. How can someone so willingly kill an individual in three different ways; stabbing him over 30 times, then proceeds to slit his throat and after all that still took a gun and shot him in this head. A crime like that was with intent and you Jodi Arias deserves to die by the needle.

In conclusion to this Jodi Arias trial shouldn’t/ and will not be happening again, she needs to do her sentenced in prison and remained there. If she is going to get a new trial, she needs to be put on the death penalty instead of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jodi Arias got what she deserved, and she shouldn’t be thinking she didn’t get a fair trial when she actually did. Ms. Arias should be grateful she didn’t get the death penalty that Arizona has to offer, and the state of Arizona later feels like this was a mistrial because they strongly believe she should get the death penalty and I do too.

Reference

1. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/identifying-criminal-justice-stakeholders.html
2. Burden of Proof. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.burdenofproof.org/.
3. Cadwallader, B. (2018, November 13). How long does a motion take to be answered by a judge if a lawyer filed it? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-a-motion-take-to-be-answered-by-a-judge-if-a-lawyer-filed-it
4. Due Process of Law - Substantive Due Process, Procedural Due Process, Further Readings. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://law.jrank.org/pages/6315/Due-Process-Law.html.
5. King, J. (2019, April 24). Jodi Arias pre-trial hearings • JAMES KING. Retrieved from https://jamoroki.com/jodi-arias-pre-trial-hearings/.
6. What Happened To Travis Alexander? The Jodi Arias Murder Case Stunned The Nation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/p/what-happened-to-travis-alexander-the-jodi-arias-murder-case-stunned-the-nation-7860043