Jury selection begins in Arias penalty phase retrial in Arizona

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Jury selection began in Arizona on Monday to decide whether convicted murderer Jodi Arias will be executed for the 2008 slaying of her ex-boyfriend in a case that drew a national audience with its sex-laced and gory testimony. A pool of 300 potential jurors started to be called into Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix to see if a dozen of them can succeed where an earlier trial jury failed to determine a punishment for the former waitress from California. The process of picking the 12-person jury plus alternates will likely last several weeks. Of the first 200, roughly half were dismissed. "The big key (for prosecutors) is being able to convince the jury that this was a depraved woman seeking a vengeance killing against her ex-boyfriend and that it is sufficient for the death penalty," said Brent Kleinman, a local criminal attorney who attended most of the original trial. The 34-year-old Arias was convicted by an eight-man, four-woman jury in May 2013 of killing Travis Alexander, whose body was found in a blood-stained bathroom at his Phoenix-area home. Police said he had been stabbed 27 times, his throat was slashed, and he had been shot in the face. The five-month trial featured lurid testimony and grim crime scene photographs, drawing many U.S. television and Internet viewers with the aid of live-streamed broadcasts. Arias took the stand for 18 days, saying she acted in self-defense when grilled by prosecutors. Following the guilty verdict, jurors found her eligible for the death penalty but deadlocked on what punishment to give her, forcing Judge Sherry Stephens to declare a mistrial. Since then there has been a flurry of motions, mostly from Arias' lawyers, that have been dealt with largely behind closed doors as the judge apparently seeks to counter critics who said the original trial had elements of a circus-like atmosphere. Stephens has turned down requests for the proceedings to be streamed live or broadcast the same day, ruling footage can be shown only after the verdict. The new jury should begin hearing the case next month, with the trial now due to conclude Dec. 21. If they deadlock also, a judge will decide if Arias gets life in prison, or life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. (Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Eric Beech)