Jodi Arias, who has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander, but has not yet been sentenced, filed motions in Maricopa County Superior Court this week to fire her main defense attorney.
Arias said Tuesday in a 12-page handwritten narrative that her lead attorney, Kirk Nurmi, had not seen her since May23, the day the jury reached an impasse on whether to sentence her to life or death. She claimed that she attempted to fire him in June, as well, but Judge Sherry Stephens did not grant her request.
Arias writes that Nurmi has an “utter poverty of people skills” and “has little to no tolerance for my emotional and psychological shortcomings.” She offered, as an example, her emotional reaction when the defense played in open court a lurid recording of a phone call between Arias and Alexander.
Arias said she wanted the tape to be played in a closed courtroom only to the jury and not to the general public.
Nurmi could not immediately be reached for comment on Arias’ motion.
Arias, however, speaks kindly of her second-chair attorney, Jennifer Willmott, who she said has borne the brunt of the work in the case.
Arias was in court Thursday for a settlement conference before retired Superior Court Judge James Keppel. A court representative relayed the message that no agreement had been reached and that Keppel was referring the case back to Stephens.
The lack of a deal was not surprising, given that there is not much room for negotiation.
Arias is already convicted of first-degree murder, which carries the options of a death sentence, natural-life sentence or life with a chance of release after 25 years.
A death sentence can be imposed only by a jury, so the only discussion points would have been whether the County Attorney’s Office would drop the intent to seek the death penalty and whether Arias would waive further appeals.
Earlier, Nurmi declined to comment on the settlement conference, as did County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
In his regular news conference on Wednesday, Montgomery explained that he did not attend the settlement conference as he had intended, because the “case is no different than any other case,” he said.
“I don’t see it as an important enough case to where I have to be personally involved to where I can’t have the prosecutor who’s responsible for the case take care of it himself,” he said.
Arias, 33, was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Alexander in June 2008. Alexander, 30, was found dead in the shower of his Mesa home. His throat was slit, he had been shot in the head and there were nearly 30 stab wounds on his body. Arias admitted killing him but claimed she acted in self-defense.
Because the jury could not reach agreement on whether to sentence her to life or death, Arias faces a sentencing retrial.
Arias has another court hearing scheduled for next Friday.
Republic reporter JJ Hensley contributed to this article.
