Escorted into the courtroom by three armed guards (one with a shotgun) wearing protective vests, Jodi Arias showed up wearing her prison stripes and shackles.
The Judge had a meeting in chambers with Arias and her attorneys. When they came out into the courtroom. Judge Stevens decided that all parties would reconvene in court on August 26 for a pretrial conference.
Judge Stevens wants to start the trial at the end of September. This will be the penalty or sentencing phase. For a new jury to make such a decision, they will need to hear a lot of this difficult and graphic trial.
The last trial took five months. I doubt the judge will allow that, but I don’t think this is going to be an especially short trial. Hopefully, the Defense will not put Arias on the stand for eighteen days.
Crime and Literature 