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Conflicting testimony emerges in Arizona murder trial

Jodi Arias is accused of killing her lover in 2008. During her cross-examination by the prosecution this week, contradictions in her descriptions of her relationship with the deceased, and of his death have come to light. If convicted, Arias could face the death penalty. 

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AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, David Wallace, Pool
Prosecutor Juan Martinez cross examines Jodi Arias during her trial in Phoenix on Wednesday. Arias is charged in the June 2008 death of her lover in his suburban Phoenix home. She says it was self-defense, but police say she planned the attack on Travis Alexander in a jealous rage.

| PHOENIX

An Arizona court heard how a woman charged with capital murder felt "like a goddess" with her slain lover, as prosecutors on Wednesday cited contradictions to previous testimony in which she said the relationship made her feel "like a prostitute."

Jodi Arias, 32, could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found in the shower of his Phoenix valley home in June 2008. He was shot in the face, stabbed 27 times and had his throat slit.

Arias, in frequently explicit testimony, has admitted to killing him but said it was in self-defense after he attacked her when she dropped his camera while taking pictures of him in the shower. The prosecution has said she killed him in a jealous rage.

During frequently combative cross-examination on Wednesday, prosecutor Juan Martinez sought to poke holes in Arias' previous testimony that her relationship with Alexander left her feeling "like a prostitute," noting how in a sex tape she said she felt "like a goddess" with him.

"You tell us you felt like a prostitute," Martinez said. "It seems to be contradictory."

Arias admitted to enjoying parts of her sex life with Alexander.

In four days of hostile questioning, Martinez has picked at numerous contradictory accounts Arias gave to friends, family and police investigators of both her relationship with Alexander and the manner he met his death.

On Wednesday, he played a television interview Arias gave from jail in which she said intruders killed Alexander - a version she later dropped when police forensic evidence placed her firmly at the crime scene. "I couldn't keep my stories straight," Arias said, when confronted with differing accounts.

Martinez has also produced text messages exchanged by the couple that apparently contradicted her version of their relationship as one characterized by violence and emotional abuse.

"You lied to a lot of people, but you're saying that just because you are sitting here in this courtroom, there has been, for the lack of a better term, a conversion," Martinez said to Arias. "For the lack of a better term, yes," she replied.

Alexander was found some five days after he was killed. Authorities pinned the death on Arias after sexually explicit photos were discovered in his camera's memory card.

The trial is set to continue on Thursday.

(Editing by Tim Gaynor, Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)

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