Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Jodi Arias Asks To Keep Her Appeal Documents Secret From Public
Arias' salacious capital murder trial included references to child abuse, bondage, oral sex, anal sex and Little Red Riding Hood.
Jodi Arias, whose murder trial and conviction captivated the country, has asked the Arizona Supreme Court for permission to file her appeal under seal, preventing the public from viewing it.
Her salacious trial included graphic testimony detailing child abuse, bondage, oral sex, anal sex and Little Red Riding Hood, among other things.
The brief had been due to be filed on Wednesday, but the court pushed that back to June 6, while it considered her motion for secrecy, according to court records.
In the motion, obtained by Oxygen.com, Arias’s lawyers argue that revealing the contents of her appeal brief could "endanger some members of the public, given the continuing interest in this case by the public and the media.”
“In an abundance of caution,” they continued, “Appellant believes that it is appropriate to file the Opening Brief under seal.”
But prosecutors from the Arizona Attorney General’s office, who are charged with opposing Arias’ appeal, countered in a court filing of their own that her concerns were “conclusory” and “speculative” and do not justify denying the public access.
“We oppose her request for secrecy,” Mia Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General, Mark Brnovich, told Oxygen.com.
Arias was charged with capital murder for killing her lover, Travis Alexander, on June 4, 2008, inside his Mesa, Arizona apartment. He was stabbed almost 30 times, and shot once in the head. Arias admitted killing Alexander at her trial, but testified she did it in self-defense.
“The simple answer is he attacked me, and I defended myself,” Arias testified.
A jury rejected that defense, and convicted her of first degree premeditated murder. The jury could not, however, unanimously agree on the death penalty, and Arias was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
“I’m very sorry for the enormous pain I caused the people that loved Travis,” she said before she was sentenced. “I never thought I would cause so many people so much pain. I live everyday wishing I could undo what I did to Travis, and wishing I could take away their pain, and put it onto myself.”
[PHOTO: Getty]
