Jodi Arias escapes death penalty after Arizona jury deadlocks

BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
PHOENIX Thu Mar 5, 2015 12:52pm EST

(Reuters) - A jury in Arizona failed to reach a verdict on Thursday in the sentencing retrial of Jodi Arias, sparing the former waitress from the death penalty for murdering her ex-boyfriend in 2008.

Arias, 34, was found guilty of the murder in 2013 but jurors at that trial deadlocked on whether to give her the death penalty. A new jury of eight women and four men was seated in October to hear a sentencing retrial but announced on Thursday it could not decide on a punishment.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens said the jury was hung and declared a mistrial. The judge now will sentence Arias to life in prison or to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

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