Jodi Arias Ordered To Pay $30,000 In Restitution To Travis Alexander’s Family

Convicted killer Jodi Arias will have to pay about $30,000 in restitution to the family of former boyfriend Travis Alexander, whom she murdered in 2008, a judge in Arizona ruled Monday. The victim’s family had petitioned for $100,000 in travel and lodging reimbursement during the lengthy trial, but the judge asked her to pay a smaller amount because the family failed to provide all the necessary receipts.

Judge Sherry Stephens of Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix ordered Arias, 34, to pay the amount to Alexander's five siblings, Reuters reported. Neither Arias' nor Alexander’s family was present at the court hearing Monday.

According to Jennifer Willmott, Arias' attorney, it is unlikely the family will receive the compensation, the Associated Press reported. "In the past, my experience has been that victims are unlikely to get the money when somebody has been sent to prison for so long because they don't have the ability to make it," she said. "Eventually she'll be able to get a job making 10, 20 cents an hour so they can take money from that, but it's very small."

Arias was handed down life imprisonment without parole in April for stabbing and gunning down Alexander on 4 June, 2008. Two websites have been collecting funds for her to appeal the life sentence, but Willmott said that these sites will not look into the restitution matter, the New York Daily News reported.

At the time of the trial, which began in December 2012, Arias admitted that she murdered 30-year-old Alexander in self-defense. She stabbed him almost 30 times, slit his throat and shot him in his suburban Phoenix home. Upon her arrest, weeks later after the murder, Arias initially denied any involvement.

The case caught nationwide attention after Arias gave a jailhouse interview minutes after she was convicted of the murder in April. She told a local TV reporter that she favored the death penalty over life sentence.

"I would much rather die sooner than later. Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," Arias reportedly said at the time.