By Michael Kiefer | The Republic | azcentral.com
Jodi Arias, who has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander, but has not yet been sentenced, filed motions in Maricopa County Superior Court Tuesday to fire her main defense attorney.
Arias said in a 12-page handwritten narrative that her lead attorney, Kirk Nurmi, had not seen her since May 23, the day the jury reached an impasse on whether to sentence her to life or death. She claimed that she attempted to fire him in June as well, but Judge Sherry Stephens did not grant her request.
Arias writes that Nurmi has an “utter poverty of people skills,” and “has little to no tolerance for my emotional and psychological shortcomings.” She offered, as an example, her emotional reaction when the defense played in open court a lurid recording of a phone call between Arias and Alexander; Arias said she wanted the tape to be played in a closed courtroom only to the jury and not to the general public.
