PHOENIX, July 16 (UPI) -- Convicted murderer Jodi Arias made a brief appearance in a Phoenix courtroom Tuesday, but no new date for the sentencing phase of her trial was determined.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens said she had hoped to set a trial for September but was unable to do so Tuesday.
Attorneys previously requested an extension because they will be out of their offices during certain weeks in July, and one, Jennifer Willmott, has five other criminal trials scheduled for the summer. They also requested additional time to prepare the case for mitigation, which is evidence presented to convince a jury to choose a life imprisonment over the death sentence, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic reported.
The next conference in the case is scheduled for Aug. 26.
Arias, 32, was found guilty in May of first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision of whether to sentence her to death or to life imprisonment. Stephens then set a tentative date of July 18 to seat a new jury to reconsider the sentence.
