The court denied their requests, but admonished Martinez. The Court of Appeals stated that Martinez's cross-examination questions '"were so improper that we are compelled to conclude' that he 'either knew or should have known of the impropriety. The court called his questions "argumentative" and "disrespectful," and said some questions had "innuendo designed to prejudice the witness.
Martinez's lawyer told The Republic on Tuesday that cross examinations are naturally adversarial. The Court of Appeals said it strongly disapproved of Martinez's actions and that an attorney should not escape personal accountability. However, it went on to say that the court would not reverse convictions just to punish attorneys. Karen Clark, an attorney for Arias who is not involved in her appeal, has filed complaints against Martinez on other matters with the State Bar.
In a statement on Tuesday, she said the Court of Appeals "took the extraordinary step" of referring the misconduct issues to the State Bar. In a concurring opinion with the other two judges, Judge Kenton D. Jones made an even stronger statement about Martinez, calling his behavior, "persistent, pervasive, inappropriate and unprofessional.
He called Martinez's actions, "a clear abuse of his ethical duties" and said he is left dissatisfied by the serious questions raised by the prosecutor's misconduct, "which has previously been raised with the State Bar yet remains unanswered. Reach criminal justice reporter Lauren Castle at Lauren.
Castle gannett. Earlier this year, Martinez was reprimanded by the state Supreme Court for violating an ethical rule at three other death penalty trials. Arias is serving a life sentence for her first-degree murder conviction in the death of Travis Alexander at his home in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. Martinez was criticized for writing a book about the Arias case and for his courtroom tactics, such as disregarding court rulings by repeating questions after a judge had overruled them.
He apologized after an objection was made. Sections U. This charge carries a possible death sentence or life in prison. Prosecutors say Arias began plotting a murder several days in advance and made a road trip to Alexander's house intending to kill him. They say she stole a gun from her grandparents' home, removed her license plate to avoid detection and turned off her cellphone while she was in Arizona so law enforcement couldn't track her.
The defense said the killing was self-defense and noted there's no direct proof she ever brought a gun to Alexander's home. Now that she's been convicted, the trial will continue as the same panel decides whether Arias should get the death penalty. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence during a mini trial of sorts.
If the panel doesn't find the presence of aggravating factors, the judge dismisses them and sentences Arias to either the rest of her life in prison or life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years. She seemed to like him as much as he liked her. Hughes, another close friend of Alexander's, said Alexander was smitten. After the dinner, Alexander and Arias talked with each other until 4 a. I mean, I was, like, 'OK. I mean, like, good for you, Travis. After the convention, once Alexander and Arias began seeing more of each other, they traveled to popular sites in the Southwest.
Arias documented online their time together, posting photos to social media. In an email to Hughes, Alexander shared how deeply he cared for Arias.
She is amazing. It is not hard to see that whoever scores Jodi, whether it be me or someone else, is gonna win the wife lotto," Alexander said in that email. There was trouble, however, in the blossoming romance. Alexander was deeply involved in his faith and she was not Mormon. Unbeknownst to friends, the two were having premarital sex, breaking one of of the most important tenets of the Mormon faith. Your body was given to you by God. It's not just yours, it's not just your decisions to do with as you will.
God has given this to you and you must respect it," McDannell said. So before you marry and after you marry, you have to keep yourself sexually pure. Being true to his religion was incredibly important to Alexander, and the guilt he felt about their relationship started to weigh on him, friends said.
For example, he wrote about a difficult childhood while growing up in Southern California with his parents, who were addicted to drugs at that time.
We would eat what was there but before long what was edible would be eaten or rot and then what was rotten would be eaten too. Alexander's grandmother eventually took him and his siblings in, and began clothing and feeding them, Steven Alexander said. I mean, she was the greatest woman.
She got us all in church, you know, pointing us in the right direction," he said. Soon after Alexander met Arias, he sent missionaries to her home. He also talked about the Book of Mormon with her and quoted scripture to her. Within months of their meeting, Arias converted to Mormonism. He baptized her.
It was spiritual. It was powerful … it's a feeling that … like everything just comes right into alignment and nothing can go wrong," Arias said in a interview with ABC News. Hughes said that Alexander still struggled and suffered with guilt over the fact that he and Arias were having sex. Travis wanted to marry a virginal, pure Mormon girl, and by having sex with him, Jodi eliminated herself as ever being marriage potential for Travis," said Shanna Hogan, an author and journalist who wrote the book "Picture Perfect: The Jodi Arias Story.
Early on, Alexander's friends began noticing odd behavior from Arias, particularly her infatuation with their friend. You know, this is a time to chat and hang out.
Well, Jodi is, like, climbing on Travis while we're trying to have this conversation," Hughes said. I mean, like eighth-graders whose parents are out of town, like, straddling his lap and sucking on his neck. And Travis just kept pushing her off and he's like, 'Jodi
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