Jodi Arias Found Guilty Of First-Degree Murder

The jury is in: The jury panel consisting of eight-man, four-woman have found Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend in Arizona after a four-month trial that captured headlines with lurid tales of sex, lies, religion and a scandalous relationship that ended in a blood bath.

Arias is accused of stabbing 30-year-old Travis Alexander nearly 30 times, shooting him in the head and cutting his throat from ear to ear in his Mesa home on June 4 , 2008.

Arias was charged with first-degree murder in the June 2008 death of Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home. Authorities said she planned the attack in a jealous rage after being rejected by the victim while he pursued other women. Arias initially denied involvement then later blamed the killing on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense.

The deliberations took 15 hours, following a trial that began on January 2. The next stage is the sentencing process, and it is unclear whether the jury is likely to condemn her to death. According to CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, ”Now the odds, I think shift somewhat in her favor, because it’s a very different thing to sentence someone to die than to convict them.”