Nearly two years ago, a crowd in the thousands cheered on the steps of the Maricopa County Courthouse as a jury handed down a first-degree murder conviction for Jodi Arias.
That trial lasted five months and was a media circus. The media has been kept from broadcasting the trial live this time around and Judge Sherry Stephens has banned all but still photographs from being released on a daily basis.
Neither of those changes has kept the penalty phase retrial from dragging on. This retrial is threatening to last longer than the original trial.
Tuesday, prosecutors will call a psychologist to the stand in their effort convince the jury to hand down a death sentence, something the first jury failed to agree upon.
This witness follows the final testimony late Monday of a prosecution witness who knew the victim, Travis Alexander, through their relationship with the LDS Church.
Alexander's former bishop was called to the stand so prosecutors could fight allegations made by the defense that Arias' dead lover was into child pornography and violent with a former girlfriend.
Their effort has to fight the defense strategy that also helped keep this trial going at a snail's pace.
It's unclear how much longer the prosecution will need to reinforce what it began in October.
