Jury starts deliberating in Jodi Arias murder trial

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PHOENIX, May 3 (UPI) -- A jury in Phoenix deliberated for an hour Friday in the murder trial of Jodi Arias, accused in the stabbing and shooting death of her ex-boyfriend.

With no verdict reached in the first hour of its deliberations, the panel of eight men and four women was sent home for the weekend and will resume their efforts Monday, HLN.com reported.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez told the jury in his final arguments that Arias, 30, "slaughtered" Travis Alexander, 32, on June 4, 2008.

"She slashed his throat, she stabbed him in the heart and then she shot him in the face, and all of that, thinking about it in advance," he said.

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi countered that Alexander and Arias engaged in violent fight and she acted in self-defense.

"What this evidence shows it is that either what happened is that Jodi Arias defended herself and didn't know when to stop, or she gave in to a sudden heat of passion .... Ultimately, if Miss Arias is guilty of any crime at all, it is the crime of manslaughter and nothing more," Nurmi said.

Arias has admitted she killed Alexander by shooting him in the face and stabbing him more than 20 times.

Martinez has argued Arias drove thousands of miles just to kill Alexander after he broke up with her and began dating someone else.

Defense attorneys maintain Arias killed Alexander to save herself and that he demeaned and abused her throughout their relationship.

Arias testified for 18 days and told the jury Travis lunged at her before she killed him.