In June 2008, Jodi Arias murdered her lover. Travis Alexander suffered over two dozen stab wounds, his throat was slit, and just for good measure he was shot in the head, apparently after death.
Arias claimed first that she had nothing to do with the crime, then claimed she was present when Travis was murdered by (obviously unidentified) assailants, and finally admitted killing him but tried to paint herself the victim, claiming she did so in self-defence. The quantity of evidence against her was staggering; it included time stamped photographs taken immediately prior to and indeed during the murder recovered from a digital camera that she had tried to trash. There was also evidence that the gun had been stolen in advance, which indicated not simply premeditation but planning.
By the time this case came to trial, it was never a whodunnit but a whydunnit. Arias had told so many lies that a guilty verdict was more or less inevitable. She was convicted of capital murder but at the time of writing, the penalty phase of the trial has not been completed.
This documentary covers not simply the trial but the media coverage, which was intensive. Although there has been saturation coverage of trials before, the one that really kicked off this trend was the OJ Simpson trial. The trial of Casey Anthony was broadcast live on the Internet, and the Arias trial followed in its footsteps with commentary by pundits, "fans" queueing for their places in court, and almost a carnival atmosphere, although not one that boded well for Arias. As is often the case, most of those jeering were women, and unlike the Casey Anthony trial there was a distinct absence of young men who keep their brains in their trousers.
A forensic psychiatrist said Arias was the 21st Century equivalent of the "femme fatale" from the film "Fatal Attraction". An old friend of the victim said she was a chameleon; the same was said of child killer Myra Hindley, and indeed Arias exhibited this trait during her testimony. She spent 18 days on the stand; her testifying being really unavoidable. Interestingly, in Arizona, jurors are permitted to question an accused through the judge; the questions put to Arias did not bode well either.
The "Dateline" team covered pretty much all the angles in the time allotted, but the Jodi Arias saga is one that will run and run.
