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Nancy Grace
Lights, Camera, Arias
Aired October 14, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The state of Arizona versus Jodi Ann Arias, verdict, count one. We the jury, duly empaneled and sworn in the above entitled action, upon our oaths, do find the defendant as to count one first degree murder, guilty. Five (ph) jurors find premeditated, zero find felony murder, seven find both premeditated and felony. Signed foreperson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this your true verdict, so say you one and all?
JURORS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number one, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number two, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number three, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number four, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number six, is this is your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number seven, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number nine, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 12, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 13, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 14, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 16, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number 18, is this your true verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED OF MURDER: No jury is going to convict me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
ARIAS: Because I`m innocent. And you can mark my words on that one, no jury will convict me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Arizona versus Jodi Ann Arias, verdict, count one. We the jury, duly empaneled and sworn in the above entitled action, upon our oaths do find the defendant as to count one first degree murder guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, lights, camera, Arias. Jodi Arias in front of the cameras. Even after being found guilty of murder one in the brutal slaughter of her lover, Travis Alexander, slashing him to death, leaving him in his own shower, Arias continuing to spew lies, dragging Travis through the mud, and of course, selling her T-shirts, the convicted killer still trying to call the shots from behind bars, asking for makeup, demanding hair and not to be seen in prison stripes, Arias giving the performance of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you want to happen on June 4th, 2008? You went to his house. What were you expecting was going to happen?
ARIAS: I really expected us to just hang out like we`d always done, and -- and that would be the day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it turned so horribly wrong. It really did.
ARIAS: Yes. That`s not what I was expecting at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you mentally, emotionally ready to meet your maker, if that`s their decision?
ARIAS: Well, I`m ready to meet my maker, but -- if that time should come, but if that`s their decision, it would drag on for years and years. So it`s not really contemporaneous, do you know what I mean?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re saying you have a lot more time. Even if you get death, you still have years live, is what you`re saying.
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why did you wait for so long to tell the truth?"
ARIAS: It took a long time for me to get to this point. I never wanted to admit to this. And I`d written out all my suicide letters. I sent my note -- I sent them all in an envelope to my grandmother`s, Do not open until November 10th, 2008. I was hoping to be dead by then. I was, like, giving myself a little to get my affairs in order.
That date rolled by, and then more time rolled by, and I was still here. So with the evolution of just time and the years, a couple of years that went by, it was a gradual process, and I began to feel not right about keeping it in instead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You say you waited two years to tell the truth because you were ashamed. Does that mean you are no longer ashamed?"
ARIAS: No, that doesn`t. I`m still very deeply ashamed. It simply means that it became more difficult to deal with holding it in because, like I said, the feeling of being fraudulent was so great, I couldn`t hold it any longer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Would you decide to tell the truth if you never got arrested?"
ARIAS: I honestly don`t know the answer to that question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At one point the jury had a question for you, and they said, If you hadn`t been caught, do you think you would have turned yourself in? And are you sorry you got caught? You said you couldn`t answer that at the time.
ARIAS: Well, I couldn`t answer that -- I don`t know if I would turn myself in. I`d like to think that I would because that would be the right thing to do. On the other hand, it`s -- can you imagine willingly giving up your freedom? That`s a difficult decision to make.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you wouldn`t have done it.
ARIAS: I can`t say that I wouldn`t have. I can`t say that I would have. I really -- I still don`t know the answer to that question. And as far as being sorry that I caught got, I wouldn`t couch it like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got to meet my daughter and hold her for the first time. He said she was the most beautiful little girl he`s ever seen. I never would have thought that would be the last time that I would see him.
The nature of my brother`s murder has had a major impact on me. It`s even invaded my dreams. I have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. When I wake up, I cannot establish what is real, what is a dream. I`ve even gone through the house searching through rooms, shaking my family to wake them up, to make sure that they are alive.
My wife has woken me up out of nightmares because I was screaming in my sleep. It may sound childish, but I cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore. I`ve had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days all alone.
I don`t want these nightmares anymore. I don`t want to have to see my brother`s murderer anymore. I don`t want to hear his name dragged through the mud anymore.
ARIAS: I just hope people can get closure. That`s the goal for me. I want them to be able to get closure, get peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Travis`s family.
ARIAS: Yes, very much. And I don`t even know if that`s possible. I hope it is. I hope it is for them. I don`t know if it`s possible. I wish I could just -- wave a wand and make it possible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That day in that bathroom, where you feared for your life as you say you did, before you dropped the camera, what were the last words Travis said to you?
ARIAS: I don`t remember the -- it was just idle chit-chat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like what?
ARIAS: We were talking about pictures. You know, Oh, no, that one`s good. We`ll keep that one. We`ll delete that one. Oh, OK. You know, just common stuff pertaining to that situation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You went from that to, I`m going to kill you, over a camera?
ARIAS: It wasn`t instantaneous. It built within a matter of minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, you regret what happened. Other than that, what other regrets to have pertaining to all of this?
ARIAS: I regret -- well, I don`t know if I was in a state of mind at that time to have the perspective that I have now. So it`s hard to have that regret, if it wasn`t even a possibility then. But I wish -- if anything, I wish I`d had the perspective that I have now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What state of mind were you in? He invited you in, once again confusing, muddying the waters, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you just so frustrated with him and so angry with him?
ARIAS: No. I don`t feel like I was ever angry with Travis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were never a scorned bitter woman, jealous by these other women?
ARIAS: I had no knowledge of it. I assumed there was other women because that`s -- that was his modus operandi, but we weren`t in a relationship, so I can`t -- I can`t dictate. I don`t think I could ever dictate, even if we were in a relationship, what he does. That`s his choice. And I was moving on in my area (ph), and it was just hard to completely break away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you had just gone your separate ways?
ARIAS: I think about that a lot. What if I had just -- when I moved a thousand miles away from him, what if I just crossed over that border into California and never looked back, never answered the phone again, never responded to another e-mail or text message, just stopped. I think about that a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the jury comes back and they give you death, do you think about what that moment would be like, when they put the needle in your arm? Have you thought about that?
ARIAS: I haven`t thought about that, no, not at all, not in great detail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What have you thought about pertaining to that?
ARIAS: I thought about more, like, the moments immediately following the announcement of the verdict. I have a pretty clear idea of what`s going to happen at that point. So at that point, it`ll just be taking it day by day and seeing where things go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you really mentally haven`t even gone there.
ARIAS: I haven`t. It`s more like I`ll cross that bridge if, when I come to it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you did say that you preferred death at one point. And then today, because of your family, you said, I wouldn`t want to put them through that. So -- at one point, it seemed as though you were thinking about death...
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and preferring the death penalty.
ARIAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you -- you have thought about it.
ARIAS: Well, to that degree, yes, just the fact that, I mean, I believe we`re eternal, and in a sense, it`s kind of, like, well, if my life is over, why be a burden to my family? Why be a burden to the system? Why not just remove myself from this picture and move on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who convinced you? Did your family say, Look, you have -- you have a life worth living?
ARIAS: My cousin convinced me. She`s -- the way she said it...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did she say to you?
ARIAS: She said, Regardless of what happens, there`s still a lot of hope and a lot of things that can be done, and don`t do that to your mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To this day, my mind paints a picture of what happened the night Travis was taken even though I try not to let it.
Upon standing in the same, exact spot where this horrific tragedy happened, when we had to go to Travis`s house after the investigators were done, I felt the same sickening feeling. My ears ringing, burning stomach. My eyes were filled with tears to where I could barely see, the thoughts of what Travis must have went through that day, the pain, the agony, the screams of fear that Travis must have felt when he was brutally being taken.
We have been at this trial every day since it started. We have heard every detail about the crime and the injuries Travis suffered. I am a police officer, and some of these photos are more gruesome than I`ve ever seen in my 11 years of law enforcement.
Our minds are permanently stained with the images of our poor brother`s throat slit from ear to ear! Our lives are stained with the image of Travis`s body slumped dead in the shower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Samantha Alexander said, We will never get those images of our brother`s neck being slit out of our minds. How have you gotten that out of your mind?
ARIAS: It`s not out of my mind. But mostly, I`ve avoided looking at it, but it`s there. I`ve seen it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you go on living with that?
ARIAS: I think it`s suppressed a lot of times. And I think it comes out in nightmares.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have nightmare?
ARIAS: I`ve been told that I scream and cry in my sleep. And several times, I`ve woken myself up screaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You can see more of this interview on ABC15.com.
Well, it`s obvious the jury doesn`t believe Arias`s lies. Just look at the guilty verdict. But as you will see, she just can`t help herself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have nightmares?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. I`ve had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days all alone.
ARIAS: I`ve been told that I scream and cry in my sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pain, the agony, the screams and fear that Travis must have felt...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much did he suffer? How much did he scream? What was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Alexander, he is dead.
ARIAS: And sometimes I woke myself up screaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Jodi Arias has told lots of lies, and a murder one conviction isn`t stopping that. Give her a little makeup, give her some hair, turn on the camera, and oh, yes, don`t dare show her prison stripes, and the Jodi Arias show goes into full speed ahead.
Watch and see what, if any, truth you can find in what Arias says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We touched on the mental illnesses. Most people think what you did to Travis Alexander is insane. Juan Martinez said you killed him three times. Why didn`t do you an insanity plea?
ARIAS: I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t you think the jury would have really believed that, I mean, after looking at all of the evidence? You even said you don`t know -- you kind of dabbled. You feel you have several things going on with your psyche.
ARIAS: Yes. I just -- I don`t know that -- I don`t know why that decision was made. I really don`t.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you get life in prison with parole, do you think you could be rehabilitated? Do you think you need rehabilitation?
ARIAS: Well, as far as being a law-abiding citizen, I don`t think I need very much rehabilitation because I`m not somebody who goes out and breaks the law. I`m not -- contrary to what everything thinks, I`m not dangerous to society.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that you deserve to die but you don`t want to put your family through it? Is that what I`m hearing here?
ARIAS: Well, I don`t know that it`s about deserving because we all do, eventually. I just don`t know -- I mean, I don`t -- I can`t say what I deserve because it sounds so entitled, and that`s not really my attitude. I just know that I just don`t want to hurt people anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you talking to the media on the -- what could be the eve of your verdict, death or life?
ARIAS: My agenda at this point is to bring awareness to domestic violence because I feel like -- I mean, I`m here for my own bad choices, but in part, I`m also here because of that. If I could say one thing, I just really want people to document what they go through because if I had documented what I went through, there would be proof of it. And that`s one of the big issues in my case is that there is no physical proof.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that what all the recording was about? Were you documenting at that point?
ARIAS: That`s just something we did. I`ve never done that with any guy before, and he wanted to. And at that point, I was probably willing to -- I was really a dumb girl at that time. I was probably willing to do anything for him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the outside looking in, the world looking at Jodi Arias at this point, they think that you love the attention. You`ve allowed us to do interviews with you on the eve before the verdict. Are you enjoying the attention, for the record?
ARIAS: No, not this kind of attention, not the kind of attention that I -- well, I`m not really aware of the attention. I`m very insulated where I am. And so, I mean, I get a lot of support now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me about that. What kind of support?
ARIAS: Hundreds and hundreds -- I have, like, 200-plus postcards right now that I don`t even think that it`s logistically possible to respond to every one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are they saying to you? Just give me an example of, you know, Joe Blow down the street.
ARIAS: Jodi, I listened to your testimony and I believe you. I`m in your corner. Or the best ones are when women write me and say, I was in a situation like yours before, and I totally understand. Or, Thank you for your testimony. I`ve left the relationship that I was in because of what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You can see more of this interview on ABC15.com.
The jury didn`t buy Arias`s lies, but apparently, she still thinks somebody will. Up next, more stories from Arias herself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Jodi Arias, guilty of murder one in the brutal slaying of her lover, Travis Alexander, but she`s still playing the victim, claiming she`s bringing awareness to domestic violence, a lie even this jury didn`t buy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You told the jury today you want to start a book club, you want to start a recycling program, you want to help with domestic violence education. Are those good enough reasons for them to spare your life?
ARIAS: Well, I think that if you look at those isolated by themselves, maybe not. But -- I don`t know because everyone`s different, and each juror might feel differently about each cause. And some of those might sound very trivial, but those -- I`ve never been to prison. I don`t know what is available there, what needs to be done there, what I`m even able to do there, if I can even -- how much change I can effect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jodi, the fact that you talked to me, you know, 20 minutes after you were convicted, and you know, the fact that you`re talking to all of us again now, are you trying to use the media for something? Why are you talking to us?
ARIAS: Why are you talking to me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we`re interested in what you have to say. But the bigger question is why you have an interest in talking to us.
ARIAS: Well, I was interested in talking to you so that -- well, one, I wanted to keep my deal that I made with you, that I regret. I regret making that deal with you, but contrary to what everyone things, I`m a person of my word and I wanted to keep that and honor that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from KSAZ, Jodi Arias, defiant to the end.
Up next, the convicted murderer still trying to get others to feel sorry for her. She wants mercy. She wants attention. But she wants the mercy particularly, the mercy she didn`t give Travis Alexander when she stabbed, slashed and shot him to death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: (INAUDIBLE) that there was blood on my hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re the person that actually slit Travis Alexander`s throat from ear to ear.
ARIAS: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That you`re the individual that stabbed him in the upper torso.
ARIAS: Yes!
(INAUDIBLE) my actions, and it`s my responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should have at least done your makeup, Jodi, gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jury seemed (inaudible). That`s not for me to decide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to count one of first-degree murder, guilty.
ARIAS: (Inaudible) the ultimate judge (inaudible). I defended myself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely innocent. Planning the (inaudible) trying to --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First-degree murder, guilty.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will be the only person who will ever be able to say what happened that day.
GRACE: Jodi Arias speaks from behind bars, going on a satellite TV tour after she`s convicted of murder one, continuing to trying to trash Travis Alexander, the lover said she loved but slashed to death and leaving a painful hole in the hearts of the family that loved him, but does Arias show remorse? She goes under the spotlight, makeup and all, and continues on. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problems in your relationship (inaudible) starts pretty much immediately or was it three month s into it or help us to understand that.
ARIAS: It was pretty much -- our relationship, it was just an average -- I don`t want to say average. Nothing was average with Travis. But any problems that we had, they occurred really right towards the end, and that signaled the end of our relationship. It`s nothing we continued to dwell on or tried to work out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) the one thing that finally you said (inaudible) he said it?
ARIAS: It was just a breach of trust.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jodi, take us to that day when you found out that he had been killed.
What do you remember about that day?
ARIAS: I really don`t remember the day at all. I just remember when I got the phone call and it was late, 10:30, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who called you?
ARIAS: A mutual friend of ours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did he or she say?
ARIAS: He didn`t say much. He didn`t know much. And he just said, something has happened and I don`t have a lot of details, and I said, well, what can you tell me? I mean, again, I just don`t have a lot of details and I thought, well, maybe it`s a mistake. Are you sure?
And he said, I`ll let you know when I know more, but you`re the first person that I thought to call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was going through your mind?
ARIAS: It was a shock. A feeling of shock and sort of disbelief, and there wasn`t -- it was a real restlessness because I didn`t know, and I felt -- I don`t know. You just don`t know until I actually got confirmation of what had happened. That`s when things really began to sink in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do at that point once you got more information? What did you do?
ARIAS: It was over the phone and so I just remained as calm as possible, and -- well, I got confirmation from his bishop, who actually confirmed it, and at that point it was just about me holding it together over the phone and crying as silently as possible while he told me what he knew and then I hung up with him and.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you here in town or were you.?
ARIAS: I was in Eureka (ph), California.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When was the last time that you saw Travis?
ARIAS: It was sometime in early June.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How far (inaudible) is that? Do you remember?
ARIAS: I don`t remember exactly. But it was very close to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) you were mentioning in the interview before the pictures that had been recovered of the two of you.
(Inaudible) mentioning what was in those pictures that the detective showed you (inaudible)?
ARIAS: He -- well, it`s not -- it`s -- it`s all public information, but it`s nothing I really am comfortable talking about, and it`s nothing that he nor I ever intended to be made public. It`s something that we intended to keep private.
But now that all of this has been pressed under a microscope, everybody knows about it, so part of it -- part of me says why bother trying to skirt around the issue and another part of me says, you know, have a little discretion.
But, again, it`s public information, and they`re just photos that we took and that we deleted with the intention of -- and it -- that wasn`t -- that wasn`t a one-time incident. I mean, there were many times where, you know --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took pictures?
ARIAS: Yes. Pictures, whatever, and any kind of media, and it was deleted because it`s just something that we didn`t intend to ever keep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk about some of the -- your love for photography and this general type of photography that you did?
ARIAS: Yes. I`ve loved photography since I can remember, since I got my first camera. I`ve taken pictures of everything you can think of, and I think when I really began to enjoy and settle in on was people.
I really enjoy nature and sunsets, but people and their expressions, moments. Especially weddings, when you, you know, you can just see expressions on people and emotional moments. I love capturing that sort of thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In police reports, (inaudible) the police department, it states that some of his family and his friends told the detectives that you had become obsessed with Travis.
Is that true?
ARIAS: His family and friends said that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to the police report.
ARIAS: Oh, the police report.
Well, I think that, I`d only met his grandmother. So I don`t think that that`s accurate at all for his family to say.
But I think that if I were in their shoes I would be going very much off of what police were telling me. I don`t -- I wouldn`t use obsession. I would say -- I don`t know.
I think that it -- that when more evidence comes out it will be very telling that it was a two-way street and Travis was a wonderful person, but he was also very persuasive and he was hard to say no to. And he wouldn`t allow me to not answer a text message. If I didn`t respond, he would keep calling and calling until I did.
And so to me that wasn`t obsessive behavior on his part, it was just -- I took it as a compliment and he wanted to talk to me, OK. That`s great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But were you obsessed with him? Those are the allegations they made?
ARIAS: No. No, not at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jodi, you`re pretty calm sitting here. Somebody who`s been arrested, accused of murdering somebody, how are you managing to stay so calm?
ARIAS: Through my faith and through the knowledge of my own innocence. That`s the only thing.
I would be shaking in my boots right now if I had to answer to God for such a heinous crime but I`m very grateful that this is one thing that I will never have to answer to, when I stand or sit (inaudible) before the judgment seat someday and all of my actions, my thoughts, my words, things I`ve done and said are called into account, this is not one of those things that will be brought up.
I`ve done many things that are shameful, but this is not one of them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You, of course, said that some of the evidence that investigators have is damning. (Inaudible). How are you able -- how are you going to move past that? How are you going to get beyond this and prove your innocence?
ARIAS: That`s just -- that`s a defense strategy that we`ll have to work out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you want to speak out today?
ARIAS: I (inaudible) feel like since I`ve been incarcerated it`s almost like there`s been (inaudible) duct tape over my mouth and I haven`t been able to say anything. There have been a lot of people that have been speaking out and saying things, you know, on their side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When we come back, more of Jodi Arias behind bars. The jury never saw this. Here she`s still in control, creating her own reality, one that simply is not rooted in the truth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ARIAS: Other than arguments, no anger issues.
None that I can remember.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That moved to the heart of his throat was slit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His body was dragged to the shower and he`s shot in the head along the way.
ARIAS: So far as making comparison of physical injuries, him versus mine?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) from here to here. His face was dark purple, almost black. The rest of his body was a very pale white and he was kind of crammed in the bottom of a shower stall.
ARIAS: I don`t even hurt spiders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you agree you came away rather unscathed?
ARIAS: Yes. I would have to say that`s a relatively accurate assessment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) the Ten Commandments, thou shall not kill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first hit, if you will, was to the heart area. And he was walking around. He was grabbing the knife. He was trying to defend himself.
ARIAS: I would be shaking in my boots right now if I had to answer to God for such a heinous crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: "All the world is a stage, and the men and women are merely players," says Shakespeare. Arias seems to be taking it to the extreme, putting on the Jodi Arias show, a show that includes lies, betrayal and a brutal murder.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell us about Travis` fate.
ARIAS: Travis is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints; he became more active in that -- in the church when he was about 16 years old, and you know, he told me that, you know, he began to really begin to question things.
And that`s when, you know, that`s when he prayed about it, that`s when he knew that was the path that he wanted to take in his life and he was determined to go on a mission and that sort of thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You admired that about him. Didn`t you?
ARIAS: I admired that because, yes, he was a very determined person. When he set his mind to something, he set out to achieve it. I`m a little bit more of a procrastinator. He would live his life by lists (ph) and he really enjoyed checking those off. It gave him a sense of accomplishment and I think it really kept him focused and he seemed to accomplish more in one day that some people do in a month.
So one day it would be, I think I want to paint this room, and I would come over the next day and it was painted. He wouldn`t put things off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned that you really respected his opinion?
ARIAS: I did. Yes, especially when it came to, just knowledge of the Gospel, things like that. All of that -- all of the resources that one needs can be found on a website, like elias.org, but he kind of gave me a more personal perspective on things. There were some questions where I just was like, why? Why this? Why this? And he was able to answer those.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you in love with Travis?
ARIAS: I think that being in love and loving someone are two different things, and there was a point in time where we in love, but it was short- lived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you guys break up?
ARIAS: There was sort of a breach of trust in our relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On your part or his part?
ARIAS: Both.
And when I think of the ones who are capable of doing this, you know, I like to think that I could be the bigger person and, you know, what I believe -- and this is something that comes from my faith, my religion -- is that it`s commanded of us to forgive all people.
And I don`t know I would be big enough to stand before the person who did this and say, I forgive you. I don`t think I`m ready for that by any means, but I think that one day I`ll reach that point as I grow and develop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But to know that this report is basically pointing all blame to you, it`s as if police have stopped investigating anyone else?
ARIAS: Yes, and that really bothers me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think you`re being set up or framed or anything?
ARIAS: I can`t think of any enemies that I might have that would want to do that. I think -- no, I don`t think that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you think family and friends are pointing the finger at you?
ARIAS: I don`t know who did or said it first, but I know that some things were said because I was on the road that week.
So -- you know, I think that because, you know, as much as Travis and I told ourselves and everyone that we were just friends, I think that our behavior was not as clandestine as we tried to make it.
So there were times when people would see certain ways we would behave and maybe wonder. I know that he got -- he lamented a lot that he got a lot of grief from his friends about the amount of time that we spent together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they not like you?
ARIAS: I don`t know that it was so much that. I think they were more concerned with his future prospects for marriage and where his focus was, and his focus definitely was on that, and marriage is -- he viewed marriage as an important step in his spiritual progression and I think he took it seriously, but, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the relationship ever violent?
ARIAS: Pass on that question.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: The jury didn`t buy Arias` lies but apparently she still thinks somebody will.
Up next, more stories from Arias herself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Samantha, Travis is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven, Travis is dead.
ARIAS: I never meant to cause them so much pain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Images of our poor brother`s throat, slit from ear to ear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought my brother was bulletproof.
ARIAS: I hope it is for them. I don`t know if it`s possible. I wish I could wave a wand and make it possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Jodi Arias loves the spotlight, there`s no doubt about that, a spotlight she found after stabbing and slashing her lover, Travis Alexander, to death.
What about the Alexander family?
Does she show remorse for stealing Travis away from them forever?
What do you think? Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARIAS: I just hope people can get closure. That`s the goal for me. I want them to be able to get closure, get peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Travis` family?
ARIAS: Yes, very much. And I don`t even know if that`s possible. I hope it is. I hope it is for them. I don`t know if it`s possible. I wish I could just wave a wand and make it possible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Travis was our strength, our constant beacon of hope, our motivation, and his presence has been ripped from our lives.
His giving spirit, his determination for accomplishment, and his endless strength as the foundation of our family has been taken from us and never can be replaced. Something that we have all missed and will for the rest of our lives missing are our times together, especially during the holidays.
Travis always gave us motivational books, books which were about saving the planet, 1,000 places to see before you die. It is sickening to think that he motivated us with topics he will never be allowed to live out. It`s not just the holidays. But every day will never be the same. Our lives will never, ever be the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis used to write out his day on a flashcard. The last one he wrote said to call Steven. I never got that call. He had been concerned about my health and wanted to fly me to his house and help me quit smoking. I never got to go. Now when I want to talk or see my brother, I have to go to a 31/2 foot, 8-foot long and 6-foot deep hole in the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They will never get those images of their brother`s neck being slit out of our minds. How have you gotten that out of your mind?
ARIAS: It`s not out of my mind, but mostly I have avoided looking at it. But it`s there. And I have seen it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you go on living with that?
ARIAS: I think it`s suppressed a lot of times, and I think it comes out in nightmares.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have nightmares?
ARIAS: I have been told that I scream and cry in my sleep. And several times I have woken myself up screaming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: You can see more of this interview on abc15.com.
Coming up, Arias is asked more questions, but be careful what you ask a convicted killer; you might be called a hater.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We remember American hero Marine Lance Cpl. Nate Schultz, 19, Safety Harbor, Florida, Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, parents Dwayne and Lisa, five sisters, Nate Schultz, American hero.
And now, back to Jodi Arias.
Can anyone believe anything she says?
If you thought a guilty verdict would change her, you`re mistaken. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It -- I`m sure Jodi oversimplifies it to say that you`re a good girl gone bad.
But when you cut away everything, is that your story?
ARIAS: I think I was and still am a good person and I made some very horrible choices. So if I went bad, you know, it`s not that I went that way and stayed that way. And I don`t think that Travis was a bad person, either. We just made really awful choices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You put the bad in quotation marks. I`m not trying to put words in your mouth.
ARIAS: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you characterize the story of Jodi Arias if not good girl gone bad?
ARIAS: I would say I was -- I didn`t have a very strong sense of myself, and I was very impressionable. I still made my own sovereign choices, but I think they were highly influenced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What if it`s undecided? How do you feel about the prospects of a new jury?
ARIAS: Well, I don`t think there is an untainted jury pool anywhere in the world right now. That`s what it feels like. But I still believe in the system to a degree. So we`ll just go through that, if that happens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: That`s Jodi Arias` interview from KPNX.
Good night everyone. Thank for you being with us. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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