Matt MorenoConvicted murdered Jodi Arias will not receive the death sentence after an Arizona jury failed to reach a decision Thursday.
"In my assessment, we are hung and additional time will not change this," Maricopa County Judge Sherry Stephens said.
This announcement came after jurors deliberated for 26 hours over five days.
Arias was first convicted of the first-degree murder of former boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2013, but her sentencing was up in the air after a hung jury in May 2013. Judge Sherry Stephens declared a mistrial for the penalty phase at that time, and Thursday's sentencing is the result.
Alexander was found brutally murdered in 2008 after he didn't show up for work. He was stabbed 27 times, shot once and his throat was slit. (Video via HLN)
Arias claimed she killed Alexander in self-defense, but the jury decided the killing was premeditated.
The jury was tasked with deciding between the death penalty and life in prison.
In this interview with KSAZ after her murder conviction in 2013, Arias said, "I believe death is the ultimate freedom," though she wavered on that statement later.
Judge Stephens says Arias will receive sentencing April 13. Our partners at KNXV in Phoenix report she will choose between life in prison without parole or the possibility of parole after 25 years.
