Jodi Arias Trial: Prosecution Attacks Defendant's Contradicting Claims

Prosecutors continued to focus on the many inconsistencies in Jodi Arias' stories during their cross examination, drawing particular attention to her numerous admitted lies surrounding the 2008 killing of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in his Arizona home. 

Prosecuting attorney Juan Martinez tried to portray the defendant as incredible, attacking Arias for her numerous contradictions and outright lies in her versions of events. 

A photographer from California, Arias is charged with the the gruesome first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Alexander in his Arizona home in June 2008, in which she allegedly stabbed the then 30-year-old man 27 times, before slitting his throat and shooting him in the head. Arias has changed her story of Alexander's death several times already. She first insisted she was never at Alexander's home that day, then blamed masked intruders for his killing, and finally backtracked to claim she killed the victim in self-defense when he attacked her in the shower, forcing her to fight for her life. Arias faces the death penalty if convicted, the Associated Press reported.

Arias has wavered back-and-forth between giving explicit details surrounding the murder to claiming she has little to no memory of certain aspects of the case, such as the actual act of killing Alexander, saying her memory of the fateful day has "huge gaps," according to The Tri-City Herald. Martinez pounced on Arias' seemingly convenient memory loss of the most important aspect of the trial, sniping that it was interesting her memory of killing Alexander was so spotty, yet you "can tell us what kind of coffee you bought at Starbucks sometime back in 2008."

Arias has contended that she killed Alexander in self-defense when he became enraged and attacked her during a nude photo shoot at his home. While taking the photos, Arias says she accidentally dropped Alexander's camera, he became infuriated, and the next thing she knew, he slammed her into the floor of the bathroom.

"At that point, Travis flipped out," Arias said, and called her a "stupid idiot," USA Today reported.

Soon after, Alexander was chasing her down the hall of the bathroom and she ran into a walk-in closet where she remembered he kept a gun. "He had already almost killed me," she said.

Attempting to poke even more holes in Arias' claims, and establish evidence of pre-meditated murder, Martinez noted the entire idea that Alexander owned a gun in the first place was suspect. Authorities have reportedly also said they don't believe Alexander owned a firearm, and no one has testified in court to support Arias' story that Alexander kept a gun in the closet, according to The Herald. Martinez drew attention to the fact that Arias' own grandparents had a .25 caliber handgun stolen from their home in northern California just one week prior to Alexander's death, the same caliber used in the killing. 

Arias continued to stonewall, insisting she never brought weapons to Alexander's home.

Arias has testified throughout the trial about her lover's supposed double life: a devout Mormon virgin on the surface, but a "sexually deviant" abusive control freak underneath. Among her other salacious accusations, she said she discovered Alexander pleasuring himself to photographs of naked young boys Jan. 22 2008. She was so upset after discovering Alexander in the act, she claimed, that she vomited in disgust, drove "aimlessly" in shock for hours, and refused to answer his many phone calls throughout the day. 

Arias' accusations of pedophilia are an integral piece of the defense's portrait of Alexander as a "sexual deviant." 

Attempting to contradict Arias' portrayal of Alexander, Martinez asked her to explain a diary entry from two days after the pedophilia incident allegedly took place.

"I haven't written because there has been nothing noteworthy to report," wrote Arias, according to The Huffington Post.

The defense has argued throughout the trial that Alexander became increasingly hostile in the weeks leading up to his murder, and that he tried to control Arias in an equally violent and sadistic relationship, claiming he abused her and was "emotionally detached." 

Alexander's friends claim that Arias was stalking him and was "possessive and jealous." The prosecution has alleged that the pair had become distant in the weeks before the killing, and Alexander was trying to get Arias to leave him alone.

Prosecuting attorneys will resume their cross examination of Arias Monday.