Breaking: The Jodi Arias Verdict Is In

If it seems like the Jodi Arias murder trial has lasted for weeks, that’s because it has — the courtroom drama began on January 2, 2013, and the proceedings have dragged on until today. HLN legal commentator Nancy Grace has had a field day with all of the allegations in this “who-done-it” murder mystery, just as Grace did in the earlier murder trial of Casey Anthony.

Arias originally blamed the killing of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, on masked intruders. Years later, she admitted that she killed him, but chalked it up to self-defense — in the form of 27 stab wounds, one gunshot wound to the head, and a slit throat.

Lo and behold, after more than 15 hours of deliberations, the jury has finally reached a verdict….

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One of Jodi Arias’s lawyers, Kirk Nurmi, was “optimistic” before the jury announced its verdict, but it seems that his faith in the jury was a bit misplaced, because his client was just convicted of first-degree murder. Five of the jurors voted for premeditated murder, and seven of them voted for both premeditated and felony murder. Nancy Grace must be putting on her dancing shoes!

The next phase of the trial, the aggravation phase, begins tomorrow, where the same 12 jurors will decide the degree to which Arias intended that Travis Alexander suffer physical pain or mental anguish. Given that Alexander was killed in such a “humane” way, we don’t think the aggravation phase will go well for Arias.

The death penalty is still on the table, but what does this split verdict mean for Jodi Arias? We’ll see what happens when the case moves into the penalty phase, because a death sentence would require unanimous agreement from all of the jurors.