9 Most Shocking Moments of the Jodi Arias Trial (As Told Through the Lifetime Movie)
June 23, 2013— -- intro: In 2008, Jodi Arias killed her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, by viciously stabbing and shooting him in his Arizona bathroom--and what followed was rife for a TV movie. During her four-month trial, testimony revealing religious confessions, lurid stories about their sex life and horrifying details of the murder were splashed across the headlines and immediately, Lifetime got to work on a movie: "Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret." The movie, which focuses almost exclusively on Arias's relationship with Alexander, premiered this weekend with an encore on Monday night.
Here's a look at how true-to-life it really is.
Check Out ABC News' complete coverage of the Jodi Arias murder trial.
Take a look back at the nine most shocking moments of the Jodi Arias trial, written by ABC News's Collen Curry--and learn how it's all portrayed in the film.
quicklist: 1category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi and Travis' Phone Sex Conversation is Played in Court url: text:
IN REALITY A raunchy 40-minute phone call between Arias and Alexander that was filled with references to rape, porn, and Alexander's crude fantasies was played in court in front of both Arias' and Alexander's families.
"I'm going to tie you to a tree and put it in your a**," Alexander can be heard saying.
"Oh my gosh, that is so debasing, I like it," Arias responded.
IN THE MOVIE Much of the movie focuses on the creepy relationship between Arias and Alexander rather than the trial, but a snippet of a similar conversation is featured toward the end of the movie. There is one slight variation, however. Here, Alexander says, "I'm going to tie you to a tree and stick it all the way in."
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quicklist: 2category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Arias Claims Travis Alexander Was a Pedophileurl: text: IN REALITY Arias said that in January 2008, she walked in on Alexander masturbating to pictures of young boys and that he confessed to being attracted to children. He then convinced her to sleep with him to cure him of his "deviant urges," she said.
"When I walked in, Travis was on the bed masturbating," she said. "He started grabbing at something on the bed,and I realized they were papers, and one kind of went sailing off the bed in the chaotic way paper falls, and it fell at my feet, and it was a photograph. It was a picture of a little boy... in underwear or briefs."
She also said that he once sent her a package in the mail containing items of clothing: a t-shirt and pair of underwear emblazoned with the words "Travis's" and a pair of Spiderman-themed children's underwear. She claimed to have thrown away the Spiderman underwear.
IN THE MOVIE At no point in the movie is Alexander ever portrayed to be a pedophile, though toward the end, during the trial, when a lawyer asks Arias if he was a "sexual deviant," she responds, "That's actually a polite way of putting it." (She does not say that their sex life was meant to cure him of anything.) Later, she tells this exact story, adding that she never confronted Alexander about what she allegedly saw, and that she didn't tell anyone about it or detail in her personal diary.
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quicklist: 3category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Arias Says Travis Alexander Had "Bill Clinton" View of Sexurl: text: IN REALITYOn her second day on the stand, Arias testified that Alexander had a "Bill Clinton view of sex" because Alexander was eager for oral and anal sex, which to him was a to get around Mormon church rules against premarital sex, she said.
"It seemed like Travis kind of had a Bill Clinton version of sex, where oral and anal sex were also sex to me, but not for him," Arias told the court today.
Her comment refers to former president Bill Clinton's famous denial that he had sex with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, claiming they only had oral sex and not intercourse.
IN THE MOVIE This is also not in the film, though it does portray Alexander as a Mormon who struggled with the morality of sex. He doesn't want his Mormon friends to know the details of his relationship with Arias, and tries to keep them as far away from each other as he can. At one point, in the beginning of the film, he explains to Arias that his religious beliefs prohibit him from having a sexual relationship with her--but he quickly abandons that mentality.
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quicklist: 4category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Arias is Shown Standing on Her Head in Police Interrogationurl: text:IN REALITY Arias' behavior just before her arrest has also caused a stir. Footage from the police precinct where Arias was being questioned shows her do a headstand in the interrogation room.
She's on her head for almost 30 seconds while she waits for the detective. While waiting, she also snoops through the trash and sings the song "Here With Me" by pop star Dido.
When the detective returns and tells her that she's about to be arrested, Arias asks whether she can have her purse to do a little primping before her now-infamous smiling mug shot was taken.
"This is a really trivial question, and it's going to reveal how shallow I am, but before they book me can I clean myself up a little bit?" Arias is heard saying on the footage.
IN THE MOVIE It's all there, except for the singing (which may just be because of the dramatic music playing in the background of this montage). Not only does Arias, who's wearing a similar outfit in this scene, do a headstand while in custody, but she can also be seen stretching and checking herself out in. However, instead of asking for her makeup while at the precinct, in the movie, she asks for it while being placed in the back of a cop car. This is all in keeping with the general way Arias is portrayed throughout the movie: vain, self-absorbed and pretty crazy.
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quicklist: 5category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Gives Her Story of The Killing: Says Travis Attacked Herurl: text: IN REALITY Arias said that she killed Alexander accidentally during a fight. On Feb. 20, she described the afternoon of June 4, 2008, when she claims she accidentally dropped Alexander's new camera while taking nude photos of him in the bathroom, causing Alexander to lose his temper. Enraged, he picked her up and body slammed her onto the tile floor, screaming at her, she told the jury. A chase ensued and fearing for her life, she grabbed a gun from his shelf.
"I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him, but he just kept running. He got like a linebacker. He got low and grabbed my waist, and as he was lunging at me the gun went off. I didn't mean to shoot. I didn't even think I was holding the trigger," she said.
IN THE MOVIE Again, this retelling is pretty accurately portrayed in the movie, though without much of the detail. "He just came at me," she says, looking a little confused. With that, she lunges forward. "Like a linebacker, like, like that. That's the only way I know how to describe it." (Of course, she looks like she's lying, and never in the film does Alexander seem even remotely violent.) In fact, the scene where Arias is seen going into a jealous rage before stabbing Alexander in the shower. Here, we're led to believe that she killed Alexander after seeing a text on his phone from another woman.
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quicklist: 6category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Says She Felt Like a Prostitute url: text:IN REALITY Arias said that some of her sexual exploits with Alexander left her feeling like a prostitute, including a time when she played out a fantasy for Alexander that involved performing oral sex for him on her front porch without speaking. She testified that he drove up to her house, got out of his car and walked up to the porch for oral sex, and then left a few pieces of candy behind and walked away without a word after it was over.
IN THE MOVIEThroughout the film, Arias is portrayed as a vixen who aggressively pursued Alexander from day one and, at least at the beginning of their relationship, was sexually dominant. (Having said that, was the porch scene in the movie? No.) "I did these things because I wanted to please him," Arias explained in the fictional trial. "I enjoyed his attention." She explained that he often called her names, but doesn't say that she "felt like a prostitute."
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quicklist: 7category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi's First Words to the Jury Include Killing, Suicide url: text: IN REALITY On Feb. 4, Arias took the stand for the first time in her murder trial, and immediately confessed to killing her ex-boyfriend and said that she planned to commit suicide shortly after.
"Did you kill Travis Alexander?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked as his first question to Arias.
"Yes," Arias said softly, turning to look at the jury.
"Why?"
"The simple answer is that he attacked me and I defended myself," she said.
IN THE MOVIE This is verbatim, and the camera even pans to the jury to show that Arias looks at them while admitting to the crime. (The scene where Arias actually kills Alexander is pretty gruesome too.) The only descrepency with this one? She does not say she planned to commit suicide.
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quicklist: 8category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Defense Claims Ripped Diary Pages Show Suicidal Tendencies url: text: IN REALITYArias showed the court the torn pages of her journal and read the full excerpts to the jury, just a week after prosecutor Juan Martinez used her partial diary entries to show that she never wrote about the alleged abuse he inflicted on her.
"I just wish I could die. I wish that suicide was a way out but it is no escape. I wouldn't feel any more pain," she wrote.
IN THE MOVIE Sadly, this is not in the movie.
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quicklist: 9category: 9 Most Shocking Moments in the Jodi Arias Trialtitle: Jodi Arias and Prosecutor Juan Martinez Trade Barbs in Courturl: text:
IN REALITY Tempers flared between Arias and prosecutor Juan Martinez as Martinez aggressively cross-examined Arias. She complained that his style of questioning made her "brain scramble," inciting an arguing match between the two from the witness stand.
"Are you having trouble understanding me?" Martinez yelled.
"Yes because sometimes cause you go in circles," Arias answered.
"You said you were offended by Mr. Alexander's behavior, do you remember that? This just happened. How is thatyou are not remembering?" he asked.
"Because you are making my brain scramble," she said.
Martinez, becoming agitated, barked back, "I'm again making your brain scramble. The problem is not you, it's theprosecutor, right?"
Martinez paced the courtroom in front of Arias asking her whether she had trouble with her memory or troubleanswering truthfully.
IN THE MOVIE This doesn't happen in the film, though the prosecutor in the film certainly seems angry. However, Arias never snaps back at him, and continually insists that she can't remember much of the murder. But does he accuse her of lying? Yes. Does the rest of the movie back that up, and portray her to be an insane, jealous seductress who finally snapped? Absolutely. S
Next: Look through all of the shocking evidence photos from the Jodi Arias Trial.
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