Jodi Arias Admits Enjoying Some Sex, Maintains She 'Felt Like a Prostitute'
Arias was grilled over messages where she encouraged kinky sex.
Feb. 26, 2013 -- Though accused murderer Jodi Arias said she sometimes felt "like a prostitute" at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, she admitted today that she often enjoyed their sex life and even suggested sex acts they could try.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez, after a day of aggressive questioning and bickering with Arias, asked her about her own suggestions for her sex life with Alexander, including a phone conversation in which she suggested using sexual lubricant.
Arias, 32, is accused of killing Alexander, but claims it was in self-defense. Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial
"You introduced KY Jelly into the relationship to make it more sexually enjoyable, right? When we're talking about the level of experimentation, it looks like both of you were experimenting together sexually. So when we hear things like, 'I felt like a prostitute,' that's not exactly true, is it?" Martinez said.
"It was often mutual," Arias said. "I didn't feel like a prostitute during, just after."
Martinez showed the jury a text message Arias sent offering to perform oral sex on Alexander, comparing it to a statement she made on direct testimony saying that she once felt like a prostitute when Alexander tossed a piece of chocolate at her and walked away without a word after she performed oral sex.
"How is it you can say you 'felt like a prostitute' when you're moving the relationship ahead like this?" Martinez asked. "The act itself is the same thing, and here you're requesting it. The geography is different, but that aside, isn't it the same act? And you're requesting it?"
"When he (ejaculated) and left afterward I felt like a prostitute. When we mutually went through things together I didn't," she said.
Arias also admitted that she sent Alexander a topless photo of herself after he sent her photos of his penis, and that she only did it after she had her breasts enhanced surgically.
Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage
The testimony came as Martinez continued his efforts to discredit Arias' testimony on the stand, including her statements that she often succumbed to Alexander's sexual fantasies so she wouldn't hurt his feelings. Martinez has focused on portraying Arias as a liar for much of his direct examination.
Arias is charged with murder for killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander at his home in Mesa, Ariz., in June 2008. She claims she killed him in self defense and that he had been increasingly violent and sexually demanding in the months before the confrontation. She also claimed he was interested in young boys.
The prosecution claims she killed him in a jealous rage. She could face the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder.
Jodi Arias Trial See Tempers Flare
Earlier in the day,tempers flared between Arias and prosecutor Martinez as the prosecutor tried to detail Arias' history of spying on her boyfriends, but Arias complained that his aggressive style of questioning made her "brain scramble."
Arias and Martinez, who have sparred throughout two prior days of cross-examination, spent more than 10 minutes bickering over Martinez's word choices and his apparent "anger."
The morning's testimony, and Martinez's points about Arias' alleged spying, were largely interrupted by the spats.
"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 that you 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 the prosecutor, right?"
See the Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial
Martinez paced the courtroom in front of Arias asking her whether she had trouble with her memory or trouble answering truthfully.
"You don't know?" he said. "You don't know what you just said? Didn't it just happen? You can't even remember what you just said?"
"I think I'm more focused on your posture, your tone, and your anger," Arias said, causing Martinez to become even angrier.
"So it's the prosecutor's fault because he is angry? You are having problems on the witness stand because of the way the prosecutor is asking the questions? So the answers depend on the style of the prosecutor? You're saying you're having trouble telling us the truth because of the way the questions are being posed," he said, gesturing with his hands.
Eventually, Arias' attorney Kirk Nurmi, who had been objecting sporadically to Martinez's questions, stood in the courtroom and told Judge Sherry Stephens that they should all approach the bench before Martinez continued. When they returned, Martinez briefly stood in different parts of the courtroom, asking Arias if she was more comfortable depending on where he stood, before moving on.
Martinez finally began to make his points that Arias snooped on Alexander's phone messages and Myspace messages, and had gone through an ex-boyfriend's email messages to see if they were cheating. Arias admitted that her behavior was "dishonest."
Martinez also showed that after Arias went through the messages and found evidence of cheating, she acted quickly to end the relationships with Alexander and two former boyfriends, suggesting that Arias was not under as much of Alexander's influence as she had previously testified.
"So you seem to be very assertive. You were very assertive even at age 17 or 18, you didn't waste any time when you'd been cheated on," Martinez said. "You have the ability to make the decisions necessary for yourself and even from the time you were younger, it appears you were assertive."
"It depends on how comfortable I am with the person," Arias replied.
During earlier cross examination Martinez has reminded the court of numerous lies Arias told after Alexander's death and suggested that her accusations of physical abuse and Alexander's sexual inclinations were made up, too.
Martinez also played portions of an interview Arias gave to "48 Hours." In the interview, Arias explains why she was smiling and tilting her head in her mug shot taken by police after she was arrested for murder. Arias said that she knew that's what Alexander would do in that situation, that "he would just smile, would just flash that grin that he always does," and so that's what she did.
She also said the smile was partly because she "was innocent of that charge."