Defense attorneys in the trial of an Arizona woman who stabbed and shot her ex-boyfriend to death — and later claimed self-defense — tried to portray the victim as a possessive sexual deviant who called his one-time love a “whore” and a”slut” in emails.
Jodi Arias, 32, could face the death penalty for the murder of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, 30, who was found in his Mesa home in June 2008 with his throat cut, 27 stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the head.
After initially denying that she was there and later claiming that two men attacked Alexander, Arias eventually admitted to killing her ex.
EARLIER: JODI ARIAS COULD FACE DEATH PENALTY FOR BRUTAL SLAYING OF EX-BOYFRIEND
On the second day of trial on Thursday, prosecutors showed the jury pictures of Alexander’s slain body lying in a pool of blood in his own shower, ABC News reported.
The prosecution also released emails the couple exchanged.
During cross examination, defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked Mesa police detective Esteban Flores whether Alexander had called Arias a “whore” and a “slut” in any of the exchanges.
Flores said he had, ABC News reported.
Flores also testified that Alexander once wrote to Arias after their break-up, “I think I was little more than a (sex toy) with a heartbeat to you.”
The couple first met at a work convention in Las Vegas in 2006 and dated for several months before breaking up in June 2007.
Though brief, the relationship appeared to be serious.
The two traveled the country together and Arias even converted to Alexander’s Mormon faith.
During opening statements on Wednesday, the defense tried to paint Alexander as a possessive and controlling lover, showing a jurors a T-shirt they said he forced Arias to wear.
The shirt said, “Travis Alexander’s.”
“That T-shirt is the perfect example of how Travis treated her,” defense lawyer Jennifer Willmott said.
Though Alexander complained to friends that Arias was jealous and not “marriage material,” the two continued to have sex after the break up.
On the day he was killed, Alexander invited Arias to his place, where the two had sex and took X-rated photos of one another, including one showing Alexander in the shower moments before he was killed, according to police.
Arias initially told police she wasn’t at the house at the time.
After her June 2008 arrest, she changed her story, telling “Inside Edition” in a jailhouse interview that she witnessed two met attack Alexander.
She eventually admitted to killing Arias after cops found a water-logged camera in Alexander’s washing machine that contained photos from their final tryst on June 4.
One photo recovered by forensic experts showed Alexander after he had been killed.
Another showed Arias dragging his corpse across the floor, ABC News reported.
After coming clean, Arias claimed she killed Alexander after he attacked her for dropping his camera.
Prosecutors charged that the brutal slaying was brought on by jealousy over Alexander’s relationships with other women.
“She rewarded that love by sticking a knife in his chest,” prosecutor Juan Martinez said during opening statements. “She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man.”
With News Wire Services
