Jodi Arias Trial Live Stream: Jury In Tears From Alexander Family Testimony

When Jodi Arias murdered Travis Alexander, she didn't just rob the young man of his life, she turned his family's reality into a "nightmare," the victim's brother revealed in court Thursday, bringing many in the jury to tears.

A 32-year-old waitress and aspiring photographer from California, Arias was found guilty last week in the grisly first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in June 2008. Arias admitted to killing her former lover, so her guilt wasn't up for debate - but her intent was. Arias' defense revolved around on the beliefs that she could not premeditate murder, or fully comprehend or take responsibility for her actions because Alexander abused her so intensely that it fractured her psyche, and Arias was forced to kill Alexander in self-defense because she feared for her life due to his alleged habitual physical and emotional abuse.

The same 12 jurors that convicted Arias of premeditated first-degree murder determined she was eligible for the death penalty during the "aggravation phase" Wednesday. Arizona is one of a few states where jurors are first tasked with judging whether someone is eligible for the death penalty. After just three hours of deliberation, the jury decided Arias killed Alexander in a "cruel, heinous, or depraved" manner that would warrant the death penalty. Arizona law defines "cruel manner" as when a victim suffers physical and/or mental pain.

Following four month's of emotional testimony, Alexander's family members delivered especially heartbreaking statements in court as the trial's penalty phase began Thursday. Having sat with the grief of Alexander's death for the last five years, his younger brother and sister emphasized the impact he'd had on their lives, the void his death had created, and the full weight of Arias' actions.

"I cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore. I've had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower -- thrown in there to rot for days ... Now when I want to talk or see my brother ... I have to go to a hole in the ground," Steven Alexander told the court.

"I don't want these nightmares anymore," he added. "I don't want to see my brother's murderer anymore."

Alexander's brother read portions of a blog entry that the victim had written in April 2008, mere weeks before he was savagely murdered.

A section of the blog post read: "This is the year that will eclipse all others. I will earn more, learn more, travel more, serve more, love more, give more and be more than all the other years of my life combined ... This year will be the best year of my life."

"Travis Alexander was my big brother," Steven Alexander said to jurors. "He was killed ... How much did he suffer. How much did he scream?"

Alexander's sister, Samantha, focussed on the explicit cruelty evident in her brother's murder. She described how the trauma of being shown photos of the crime scene had surpassed even the worst cases she'd handled as a cop.

"I am a police officer and some of these photos are more gruesome than any I have ever seen in my 11 years of law enforcement," she explained to the jury as many began to tear up. "Our minds are permanently stained with images of our poor brother's throat slit from ear to ear. Our minds are stained with images of Travis' body."

Medical examiners found that Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, primarily in the back, as well as the torso and the heart, slit Alexander's throat from ear to ear with so much force it almost decapitated him, shot him in the face, and dragged his bloodied corpse to the shower where she left him crumpled over - all in under two minutes.

Samantha Alexander told jurors the pain her brother's death had caused her was unimaginable. "To have Travis taken so barbarically is beyond any words we can find to describe our loss," she said.

Arias' lawyers closed out the day attempting to dampen the piteous testimony provided by Alexander's family. Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi feebly suggested that, despite the heinous nature of the crime, Arias still deserved leniency because she had no criminal record prior to murdering Alexander. He said Arias did not deserve the death penalty and that she was a "talented artist."

"Life is the appropriate penalty," Nurmi said.

State's attorney Juan Martinez remained resolute in his insistency for the death penalty.

"What does that have to do with what happened on June 4, 2008? ... The fact that she's talented ... indicates nothing more than the defendant trying to gain sympathy ... The only appropriate sentence is death," Martinez said.

If jurors determine that Arias deserves the death penalty, she will become the fourth woman on Arizona's death row, and the first to be executed in the state since a woman was hanged in 1930. A unanimous vote is required to reach the death penalty. Were the jury to deadlock or rule in favor of a life sentence, Judge Stephens could take over in imposing a sentence, and would then have two options. Either sentence Arias to life in prison with no possibility of parole, or sentence her to life in prison with parole possible after at least 25 years behind bars.

Arias is expected to discuss the mitigating factors of Alexander's death in an attempt to save her life when the trial picks up again next week. The penalty phase of the trial resumes Monday at 1:30 p.m. EST.