Prosecutors are seeking the execution of Jodi Ann Arias

Prosecutors are seeking the execution of a woman accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend 27 times in Mesa and shooting him in the face.The Maricopa County Attorney's Office on Friday filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Jodi Ann Arias in the slaying of Travis Alexander, 30, a legal-insurance salesman and motivational speaker.The notice, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, accuses Arias, 28, of committing first-degree murder "in an especially cruel, heinous or depraved manner." Arias, who claims innocence, said she watched as two people entered Alexander's east Mesa home and attacked him. She was unable to identify either attacker."God knows I'm innocent. I know I'm innocent," Arias said in a jailhouse interview with The Arizona Republic on Sept. 12.
Arias also appeared on Inside Edition, a nationally syndicated television show aired locally on KTVK, Channel 3.The case made a splash when Mesa police revealed that nude photos of Arias and Alexander were recovered by the city's crime lab from a digital camera found in a washing machine.One photo depicted Arias posing naked on Alexander's bed at 1:40 p.m. on June 4, Alexander posing naked in the shower, then Alexander bleeding profusely on the kitchen floor.Police also found a bloody palm print on the bathroom wall, with DNA matching that of Alexander and Arias."This was conclusive evidence that Jodi was present at the time of Travis' death or a least at the time of the initial attack," a police report concluded. Arias had told detectives she hadn't since Alexander since April. Arias' case is assigned to Superior Court Judge Sally Duncan. Arias would become the third woman on Arizona's death row if she were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the state's ultimate punishment by jurors.

Posted in: Maricopa County Attorney's Office