Former Arizona Attorney General Analyzes Jodi Arias First-Degree Murder Trial

As the nation watches the Jodi Arias first-degree murder trial in morbid and lurid fascination, former State Attorney General Grant Woods is weighing in, saying that the defense has yet to present any evidence that she fatally shot and stabbed then-boyfriend Travis Alexander in self-defense, and they may never be able to do so.

Woods has been on both sides of the courtroom, as both a prosecutor and a public defender, and he doubts Arias’ defense team will be able to pull an acquittal out of their hat.  

In fact, Woods doubts that defense attorneys Kurt Nurmi and Jennifer Wilmott even believe Arias, noting that he only ever thought a handful of his defense clients were innocent.  

Arias has told police three very different versions of events on that fateful night in June of 2008, saying she was never there and then saying she was there but mysterious intruders killed Alexander and then finally admitting to killing him herself but only because he attacked her. 

Forensic evidence includes her bloody palm-print on the wall and pornographic photos of the both of them on a camera found at the crime scene.  And then there is also Alexander's body, found in the shower, nude, stabbed dozens of times, shot twice in the head and with his throat slit from ear-to-ear.  

The coming week of testimony promises tell Arias' own story of the events that transpired the night she killed him and X-rated phone sex audio between herself and Alexander.  

Woods says that, looking at the testimony from a laundry list of witnesses including Arias herself, so far, the only real hope for her is that her lawyers can put enough reasonable doubt in jurors' minds to convince at least one of them that she may be innocent.  

Woods notes that the defense strategy is also likely looking ahead to Arias’ eventual sentencing to paint a sympathetic picture of a mousy girl, abused by her parents and sexually overwhelmed by the bad-boy Mormon elder who was keeping her "his dirty little secret", so as to convince jurors to be lenient and spare her the death penalty.  

The trial resumes in Maricopa County Superior Court, in Phoenix, at 10:30am Monday February 11.