Cancel the Jodi Arias Show: Judge should bar cameras

There are plenty of reasons why Judge Sherry Stephens should allow the news stations to air video clips of the Jodi Arias sentencing trial and only one reason for her to deny it.

Unfortunately, it's a really good reason.

I shouldn't be saying this.

The first Arias trial, the one in which she was found guilty of the murder of her lover Travis Alexander, was a gold mine for media outlets. And there really are legitimate arguments for allowing TV access.

For instance, the U.S. Constitution.

David Bodney, the attorney representing local media, told the judge, "The Constitution of the United States as interpreted repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court . . . recognizes that the press and the public have a constitutional right to attend criminal proceedings."

Blam!

He's right. Criminal proceedings are public events.

There's also the fact that the first Arias trial was a gavel to gavel media-mad affair. Nightly News. Nancy Grace. Everywhere. All at once. You can't put that genie back in the bottle.

Bodney wants the judge to allow TV news stations to air edited video of the proceedings 30 minutes after court ends each day. It's a reasonable request. He's not asking for a live broadcast.

So why are Arias' attorneys objecting?

Prosecutor Juan Martinez said it's "nothing more than an attempt (by the defense) to control what goes out on the airwaves."

He's correct. That is exactly what Arias' attorneys are trying to do.

And the judge should let them do it.

Defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott are right to ask for the blackout.

This second trial isn't meant to decide guilt or innocence. It's meant to determine life or death. The jury will have to decide (since the previous jury could not) if Arias should spend her life in prison or receive the death penalty.

The entire exercise is a tremendous waste of time and money.

The fact that the previous jury had trouble answering the death penalty question should have been proof enough that this is not a death penalty case. The Maricopa County Attorney should have dropped it and let Arias rot in prison. It would have saved the rest of us the expense.

But, no.

However, if we're going to go through this ridiculous process, then we at least have to do so the right way. The first Arias trial became an obsession for thousands of individuals with nothing better to do, the poor souls.

But some of them harassed Nurmi and Willmott, as well as anyone who spoke in Arias' behalf. Those are exactly the type of people defense attorneys want to put on the stand for the sentencing trial. Nurmi told the judge that he has already told his witnesses there would be no cameras.

He's afraid that if there are cameras these "mitigation" witnesses will be hounded by some of the fanatical trial followers, perhaps to the point of not wanting to appear.

That would not be right.

We had our fun with the first trial. Even worse, Arias had her fun. And is continuing to do so with things like the auction of her eyeglasses.

This trial is different. The Jodi Show should be canceled. Our right to attend court proceedings can't interfere with the ability of a defendant – even this one -- to get a fair hearing.