PHOENIX (AP) - Attorneys for Jodi Arias say in an appeal of her murder conviction that a judge's failure to control news coverage during her salacious case deprived her of the right to a fair trial.
The appeal released Friday says Judge Sherry Stephens let news organizations turn the trial into a "circus-like atmosphere" and allowed trial spectators became emboldened by what they saw on the livestream from the courtroom.
Katie Conner, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, which is handling the appeal, declined to comment on Arias' filing.
Arias is serving a life sentence for her conviction in the 2008 death of her former boyfriend Travis Alexander.
She has acknowledged killing Alexander but claimed it was self-defense after he attacked her.