Attorneys representing convicted murderer Jodi Arias filed a motion requesting that Judge Sherry Stephens require all of the jurors serving in the upcoming retrial to give the court their Twitter information if they are enrolled in the social media site, according to ABC News.
Arias was convicted of the grisly murder of her former boyfriend Travis Alexander in May but the jury was unable to decide whether or not to sentence Arias to death. Arizona law allows for the state to make a second attempt at obtaining the death penalty in the event of a hung jury. Defense attorneys had been attempting to delay the start of the retrial until early 2014 but it appears as if it should start by September.
Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott, Arias' defense attorneys, have requested that the all jurors for the retrial be required to "disclose any Twitter accounts, if any, that they may have and/or any Twitter handles, if any, that they may use to the court prior to the commencement of the upcoming retrial as disclosure of this information is essential," according to ABC News.
It is common for the judge in a trial, especially one that is receiving the high level of media attention that the Arias trial has received, to tell the jury to refrain from talking about the trial on their phone or on the Internet while serving on the jury.
Arias' lawyers believe that one of the people who served as an alternate member of the jury that convicted the 33-year-old used social media during the trial. The motion claims that Tara Kelley, Juror 17, had contact with a member of the media over Twitter, according to ABC News.
"Twitter provides those who would like to influence Ms. Arias' jury with the means to do so in a way that could go undetected should this motion be denied," Arias' attorneys argue in the motion.
A member of the jury could also be influenced over Twitter by Arias herself; since being imprisoned Arias has been tweeting about life in prison.
It is not known when Judge Stephens will rule on the motion filed today on Wednesday but a hearing to check on progress for the upcoming retrial is scheduled for Aug. 26.
Commissary didn't arrive this week. It's like waking up on Christmas morning and discovering that Santa skipped your neighborhood.
— Jodi Arias (@JodiAnnArias) May 4, 2013
Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird, which I managed to avoid reading in HS. I understand now why it's a classic. Good read. — Jodi Arias (@JodiAnnArias) June 27, 2013
