SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Encounters with
women during Jodi
Arias trial helped
unravel top
prosecutor’s storied
career
The Arias trials, beginning in 2013
and sprawling over two
years, attracted international
attention with their graphic
descriptions of sex and violence.
The trials became a microcosm in
which accusations of reckless and
questionable
behavior by Martinez came into
sharp focus.
Anne Ryman, Lauren Castle, and Robert Anglen, Arizona
Republic
Updated 15 minutes ago
Show caption
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL CHOW/THE REPUBLIC
Jennifer Wood liked it when Juan Martinez serenaded her
in bed. Barry Manilow was a favorite. They each were
committed to someone else, but Wood told friends they
were in love.
She would talk to Martinez about the Jodi Arias trial, his
biggest case. He would read her excerpts from the book
he was writing about the trial.
Then they would both go to work. In the same courtroom.
On the same case. Martinez as prosecutor in one of
Arizona’s most infamous murder trials. Wood blogging
and tweeting for her private business. Both keeping their
relationship quiet from the judge, jury and other lawyers.
Wood later confessed the affair to friends and
investigators. Martinez claims it never happened. But in
texts, during conversations in carpools and in a
deposition, Wood laid out the depth of her feelings for
Martinez and the extent of their relationship.
The relationship not only would imperil their personal lives
but their careers.
For Wood, it would end a business relationship. For
Martinez, it led to allegations of misconduct and
accusations that he used his blogger girlfriend to influence
a jury in his efforts to secure the death penalty for Arias.
Wood and her attorney, Jason Lamm, declined interview
requests from The Arizona Republic, as did Martinez.
The Arias trials, beginning in 2013 and sprawling over two
years, attracted international attention with their graphic
descriptions of sex and violence. Travis Alexander, a 30-
year-old Mormon, was found dead in his Mesa home in
2008 with 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and a bullet in his
head. Arias, his 28-year-old sometime girlfriend, admitted
killing him but claimed self-defense.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez makes his opening statement in the

Jodi Arias sentencing retrial in the Maricopa County Superior
Court on Oct. 21, 2014.TOM TINGLE/THE REPUBLIC
The trials became a microcosm in which accusations of
reckless and questionable behavior by Martinez came into
focus. His affair with Wood and his actions toward two
jurors — if true — ignored standard boundaries. After the
allegations came to light, several other women stepped
forward to describe Martinez’s actions over the years —
actions they previously had complained about only
privately.
His apparent attempts to exert power over women drew
ethics charges to the State Bar of Arizona.
The alleged misconduct during his most famous trial has
tainted Martinez’s legacy as one of the county’s top
prosecutors. In July he voluntarily gave up his Arizona law
license to end a formal ethics complaint filed against him
in 2019 by the State Bar of Arizona.

Bar complaint against Juan Martinez and Martinez's

response
Read
The complaint alleged he disseminated confidential
information to his blogger girlfriend during the Arias trial,
inappropriately communicated with an ex-juror, engaged
in unprofessional conduct with law clerks and lied during a
State Bar investigation when questioned about his
conduct.
“He lacked candor during his deposition, and that was the
driving force moving forward,” said Craig Henley, senior
counsel for the State Bar, in an interview with The
Republic.
Earlier this year, Martinez was fired by County Attorney
Allister Adel, who cited a pattern of unprofessional
conduct. Martinez, 64, has appealed his termination.
He and his lawyer, Donald Wilson Jr., have denied the
misconduct allegations in the State Bar complaint, saying
there is no clear and convincing evidence that the
prosecutor violated any ethical rule.
Martinez has said he and Wood were friends but has
denied a sexual relationship. Court documents suggest
they had an intimate text exchange.
His lawyer accuses Wood of lying about a sexual
relationship with Martinez, even though in a deposition
she claimed to know intimate details about the prosecutor.
She said he had an antique telephone in his home. His
lawyer said she could have seen the phone by looking
through the window at night. She said there were two
bikes hanging in his garage. His lawyer said there was
one. She said his house had three bedrooms. His lawyer
said there were four. She said Martinez had an
uncircumcised penis. His lawyer said she “correctly
guessed.”
The allegations of cheating partners and jury manipulation
were inconceivable in 2013, when Wood first met
Martinez and she was part of a duo calling themselves the
“Trial Divas.”
PART I: Whispers of sexual harassment allegations
followed Juan Martinez
THE TRIAL DIVAS
If Wood’s description of the relationship to friends and
investigators is true, Martinez’s affair with an amateur
blogger during a sensational trial in which he was lead
prosecutor was risky, at best. But he could have seen the
advantages.
Thanks to livestreaming and Twitter, anyone with internet
access could offer an opinion as the Arias trial unfolded in
January 2013 from Maricopa County Superior Court.
There was no shortage of views. For many, Arias became
the villain; Alexander, the fresh-faced victim.

Jen Wood (left) and Sharee Ruiz launched the website

trialdivas.com in 2013 where they blogged about prominent
murder cases, including the Jodi Arias trial.COURTESY OF SHAREE
RUIZ
In the middle of the chaos was a fiery prosecutor, whose
in-your-face style won him an online fan base and the
nickname “Mr. Juanderful.”
Among the spectators was Wood, a 39-year-old stay-at-
home mom with a fascination for criminal trials, and her
friend Sharee Ruiz.
Ruiz laid out the details in interviews with The Republic.
Wood and Ruiz started attending the Arias trial as
observers, hoping to be selected from a daily lottery for
seats in the crowded courtroom. Ruiz lived near Sedona
and would get up early to travel to the trial or spend the
night at Wood’s house in north Phoenix. Then the two
would carpool to downtown Phoenix.
They tweeted about the trial and attracted a following with
behind-the-scenes observations. The intense public
interest gave them the momentum to launch a business
venture called Trial Divas. Their target audience was
moms who were fixated on true crime instead of soap
operas.
The Trial Divas were among the crowd of more than 200
outside the courthouse on May 8, 2013, when a jury
convicted Arias of first-degree murder.
The crowd erupted in cheers in response to the verdict.
Some held homemade signs, including one that said,
“Juan Martinez for governor.” Inside the courtroom,
Alexander’s family and friends, who wore blue wristbands
and ribbons that read “Justice for Travis,” sobbed and
held each other.
Later that month, the same jury failed to reach a decision
on the death penalty — a blow to the prosecution. The
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office decided to impanel a
second jury to make another attempt at a death sentence
for Arias. But that wouldn’t happen for more than a year
— while Wood said she and Martinez secretly
rendezvoused at hotels and his house.
After Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013, the
crowd of more than 200 outside the courthouse in downtown
Phoenix, many of them fans of prosecutor Juan Martinez, burst
into cheers.
ROB SCHUMACHER/THE REPUBLIC; DAVID WALLACE/THE REPUBLIC; ANNE
RYMAN/THE REPUBLIC
The Trial Divas first met the star prosecutor in August
2013 during the trial of Richard Chrisman, a Phoenix
police officer accused of murdering an unarmed man.
Court staff needed extra space for potential jurors, so they
asked the Trial Divas to move near the front of the
courtroom.
Martinez noticed the statuesque women and wondered
who they were, Ruiz told The Republic.
"We’re the Trial Divas,” they told him, excited at being
noticed by the famous prosecutor.
He was intrigued by their business, Ruiz recalled, and
bought $20 worth of namesake bracelets for himself and
staff. The next day, he asked them for more.
But his interest appeared more than just professional.
Ruiz said Martinez made remarks that suggested he
wanted something more, something sexual.
Shortly after they met, Ruiz said he asked an odd and
forward question. He wondered if either of the Trial Divas
was married. The answer was yes. Ruiz added she was
“happily married.”
Martinez chatted with the Trial Divas during recesses in
the Chrisman trial, pulling them into a private side room
usually reserved for witnesses or victims. He used the “F”
word a lot. Within a week, Ruiz said he made remarks
about how he “likes blondes.”
His comments crossed into sexually suggestive remarks,
Ruiz said. About her marriage, she said he told her,
“There’s no way you could be happily married.” About her
high-heeled shoes, she said he told her, “Those are nice
stilettos. I’d like to see those up close.”
He also made comments about how he was a “boob guy.”
Ruiz considered the courtroom her workplace. She
shrugged off the remarks and didn’t complain to the
County Attorney's Office because he was the prosecutor
on many high-profile criminal trials, and she needed
access to write about them.
Especially when it came to Arias.
DIG DEEPER
Jodi Arias murder case

Timeline: A look back at the Jodi Arias murder case

Jodi Arias sentence: Natural life, no chance of release

Jodi Arias attorneys argue for a new trial, blame prosecutor Juan Martinez

Jodi Arias won't get new trial, despite prosecutor Juan Martinez's
'egregious' court behavior

Key players in Jodi Arias sentencing retrial

The Trial Divas attended periodic Arias trial status
conferences, promising to bring readers “any information
that we can get our manicured hands on,” and launched a
website where they blogged about trials.
Keeping with their marketing theme, they wore high heels
and shapely clothes. Their sequined “Trial Divas” logo on
T-shirts featured a stiletto heel and trial gavel.
They made money through website ads and donations —
one person sent them $1,000 a month — and by selling
trial-related merchandise. One of their best sellers was a
$5 blue rubber bracelet with the nickname bestowed on
Martinez by his women fans: “Juanalicious.”
Ruiz said she was surprised most by Martinez’s
persistence. She had heard occasional inappropriate
comments from men and brushed them off without being
offended. But Martinez did not stop, she said, even when
she showed no interest. It was inappropriate, she said.
She believed he was sexually harassing her, and she felt
uncomfortable trying to do her work.
Unknown to Ruiz, her friend and business partner was
responding in a different way to Martinez’s overtures.

Former trial blogger Sharee Ruiz, who covered the Jodi Arias
trial, says prosecutor Juan Martinez made inappropriate sexual
remarks to her during their encounters in the courtroom.MICHAEL
CHOW/THE REPUBLIC
THE BLOGGER: 'I'M HAVING AN AFFAIR'
It would be months before the second penalty phase of
the Arias trial would begin. So the Trial Divas spent early
2014 covering the trial of Marissa DeVault, a former
stripper accused of beating her husband to death with a
hammer in the couple’s Gilbert home so she could collect
insurance money.
One day, as they headed home from court, Wood blurted
out a confession, Ruiz told The Republic.
“I’m having an affair,” Wood said as she drove.
She wouldn’t divulge a name, Ruiz said. She kept
repeating, “It’s bad. It's bad.”
“Is it Juan?” Ruiz asked.
“Yes,” Wood replied.
Ruiz said Wood told her the affair began within a few
weeks of meeting Martinez on the Chrisman trial in
August 2013.
He invited her to lunch, and they wound up having sex at
a condo where he was housesitting for a friend, according
to Ruiz.
Wood told her friend she spent time at Martinez’s
tastefully decorated Tempe home when he was
recovering from glaucoma surgery in February 2014. She
would come over while his live-in girlfriend, a lawyer with
the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, was at work.
They would have sex, and he would serenade her with
Barry Manilow songs. Then he would read her excerpts
from a book he was writing about the Arias trial, according
to Ruiz.
Blogger Jen Wood told her business partner that she spent time
at the now former Tempe home of Juan Martinez when he was
recovering from glaucoma surgery in 2014. He liked to serenade
her with Barry Manilow songs while they were together there, her
business partner says.
MICHAEL CHOW/THE REPUBLIC; VARELA MEDIA
Ruiz said she joked with Wood about Martinez’s passion
for Manilow music and how Wood was caught off guard
when he first sang her a Manilow song. But Wood was
clearly touched.
“It really meant a lot to her,” Ruiz said.
Wood shared other details about the celebrity prosecutor.
Martinez had a “green thumb” and liked plants, she said.
He drove a Porsche on weekends and a MINI Cooper to
work.
For journalists, sleeping with a source is considered a
cardinal sin. As amateur trial bloggers, neither of the Trial
Divas had a journalism degree. They were their own
bosses and weren’t subject to ethics policies of
mainstream media companies.
Martinez later would be advised by an attorney for the
State Bar in 2018 to “please be aware that a prosecutor
engaging in personal relationships with media members
during a highly publicized death penalty case is ill-advised
and will predictably result in allegations of misconduct.”
Once Wood confessed the affair, Ruiz said their credibility
was compromised and they no longer could cover
Martinez’s trials. She was angry and felt betrayed.
She also didn’t trust the prosecutor.
At one point — before Ruiz learned of the sexual
relationship — she said Martinez tried to get the Trial
Divas to interview Arias. She said he gave them five
questions to ask Arias and told them landing an interview
with the famous defendant would be great for business.
People would think the Trial Divas were amazing, he told
them. Ruiz thought Martinez was trying to use them. They
never conducted the interview.
A lawyer for Martinez denied to the State Bar that the
prosecutor had asked the Trial Divas to interview Arias.
Ruiz said once she learned of the sexual relationship, she
told Wood they would have to stop covering Martinez’s
trials.
Wood refused, she said, and they had a falling out. Ruiz
shut down the Trial Divas business and website in late
April 2014.
Trial bloggers Jen Wood (left) and Sharee Ruiz (seen in 2013)
had a falling out after Ruiz says Wood told her about her affair
with Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez.COURTESY OF SHAREE RUIZ
Ruiz — as the Trial Queen — moved on to cover cases
that didn’t involve Martinez, including the trial of former
New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez. She later
left trial blogging and became a private investigator. Wood
would continue to cover the Arias trial — as Jen’s Trial
Diaries — and in 2015 was divorced from her husband.
When Martinez was questioned about Wood as part of the
State Bar’s investigation in 2018, his lawyers denied a
sexual relationship.
Donald Wilson Jr., his attorney, questioned why Wood first
denied a sexual relationship in a State Bar interview but
changed her story in a deposition. He said many of the
personal details Wood knew about Martinez could be
explained because the two were friends.
He wrote in a 2018 letter to the State Bar he could only
speculate why Wood changed her story. He speculated
that perhaps Wood was seeking the spotlight, just as she
had done with the Trial Divas.
Perhaps, Wilson wrote, “she is disgruntled because Mr.
Martinez has chosen not to continue their friendship.”

Law clerks, courthouse staffers, attorneys

say star prosecutor groped, humiliated and
pursued them. But few tried to report him
Accusations of reckless and questionable behavior by Maricopa
County prosecutor Juan Martinez came into focus during the Jodi
Arias trial.
MICHAEL CHOW, ARIZONA REPUBLIC
THE EX-JUROR: MARTINEZ WAS 'KIND OF
FLIRTY'
An attorney for Martinez characterized a relationship that
developed during the trial with an ex-juror as an
“unwanted overture” and “not a memorable experience.”
But if Melissa Garcia’s words are true, they indicate how
Martinez may have tried to capitalize on his power and
celebrity to get forbidden information.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office would try again to
get the death penalty for Arias by seating a second jury in
October 2014.
There was a lot riding on this verdict: Under Arizona law, if
a second jury failed to agree to capital punishment, the
death penalty would be off the table.
 View|452 Photos

Jodi Arias trial

Garcia, a 36-year-old business analyst, was one of the
jurors. She felt nervous and inconvenienced. But she took
her duty as Juror No. 3 seriously, taking copious notes
and leading Wood to nickname her “the book writer.”
Her account is documented in an interview she gave to
Arias’ attorneys, a deposition to the State Bar and an
interview with The Republic.
About a month into the trial, Garcia was on the fence
about whether Arias deserved death. Garcia leaned
toward the death penalty. But she also realized there was
a lot of evidence still to be heard.
She would not get the chance to weigh in.
Shortly after Thanksgiving, she was arrested during a
traffic stop on an outstanding warrant on a bad-check
charge from years before. Garcia, who had been unaware
of the outstanding warrant, spent a night in jail and
reported the arrest to the judge. Martinez asked for her to
be dismissed, and the judge agreed.
Garcia was disappointed. But she was free to read about
the Arias trial and consumed everything she could find.
She stumbled across Wood’s Trial Diaries, liked her
approach and contacted her on Facebook.
When Garcia expressed an interest in talking to Martinez,
Wood gave her the prosecutor's cell number, telling her,
“I’ve got connections.”
Garcia called. Martinez called her back and was at first
professional, she said.
She wanted him to convey a message to Travis
Alexander’s family, telling them her heart went out to
them, and she was sorry she was unable to finish the trial.
She began texting and talking to Martinez on the phone,
the exchanges turning into “kind of flirty conversations,”
she said.

Show caption

Melissa Garcia was Juror No. 3 in the second penalty phase of

the Jodi Arias trial before being dismissed by the judge in
December 2014....
MARICOPA COUNTY
She told the State Bar she shared with him a worry she
had that she would trip while walking or discover her butt
hanging out of her dress. She said he responded with a
comment like, “Oh, I’m typically a breast man.”
That exchange prompted her to text him pictures of her
naked breasts. She said Martinez joked that he “had
something on me” because she had set him the pictures.
Martinez was careful about what he said to her over the
phone, she said; he would caution her, “Don’t use
names.”
She told the State Bar he asked questions about jurors
along the lines of “how do you think they’re feeling?”
Referring to a particular juror, he asked, “I’m just not sure
about this one. I can’t — I can’t read her.”
She told the State Bar she never provided him with
information on how the jury was leaning. They never
talked about evidence or testimony, she said.
But she admitted sharing her opinions with Wood, who
was also asking her questions. Garcia said she was
unaware the blogger was in a sexual relationship with
Martinez and “I thought that I was perfectly OK to talk to
her.”
Garcia recalled having five phone conversations with
Martinez, including one that lasted at least 50 minutes as
she sat in a casino parking lot. Martinez never initiated the
calls, she said. But he would return calls.
She said she texted Martinez about 20 to 25 times over
three months.
She last heard from Martinez on March 5, 2015 — the day
the jury she had been excused from failed to reach a
unanimous decision over whether to send Arias to death
row.
She texted him that she was sorry.
She said he texted back something like, “That’s the way it
goes sometimes … We keep moving forward.”
Martinez didn’t report the exchanges with the ex-juror to
the judge.
Their back-and-forth communications later would become
part of an ethics charge to the State Bar, with attorneys
for Arias saying Martinez carried on an improper
relationship with the ex-juror.
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Melissa Garcia, who was Juror No. 3 in the second penalty phase of the
Jodi Arias trial before being dismissed in December 2014, on prosecutor
Juan Martinez
I was used, and I was manipulated.
Quote icon .icon--quote { fill: var(--theme-color, #009bff); }
Martinez’s lawyer told the State Bar that the ex-juror
initiated the contact and she pursued him. He said the
conversation was “not sexual” and that she subsequently
texted partially nude photos of herself.
The State Bar in its 2019 complaint alleged Martinez
inappropriately communicated with the ex-juror and lied in
his deposition when asked about the number of times and
how long the communication lasted.
Martinez’s lawyer wrote to the State Bar in 2018 that the
prosecutor was being “called to task” because his
memory was not precise.
“He has never denied the communication. This unwanted
overture on the part of Ms. Garcia was over three years
ago ... This was not a memorable experience for Mr.
Martinez,” the lawyer wrote.
The judge in charge of attorney discipline later threw out
the allegation in the 2019 State Bar complaint that
Martinez inappropriately communicated with the ex-juror.
But Martinez still faced the allegation that he lied during
the deposition.
He has denied lying.
In an interview with The Republic, Garcia described
Martinez as "crafty" and "cunning" and said she has been
portrayed as the aggressor when that was not the case.
"I was used, and I was manipulated," she said.
THE OUTED JUROR: 'IT'S SCARY'
As the second Arias sentencing trial moved to its final
days, attention shifted to the jurors. Who was leaning
toward the death penalty? Who wasn’t? What would they
decide?
After the trial, Martinez would be accused of releasing
information that courts consider sacred and secret.
The jury assembly room buzzed on Sept. 29, 2014, as
rumors flew that the Arias sentencing trial was imminent.
A 33-year-old mother of three watched videos about the
jury process as she waited through the morning and into
the afternoon. She expected to be called for a business-
related trial, maybe something involving fraud.
When staff ushered her group into a crowded courtroom,
it didn’t take long for reality to set in. She started to shake.
Some of the 300 potential jurors had work conflicts or
were unwilling to give up watching or reading news
coverage during the trial. Nearly a quarter said they
couldn’t be impartial.
Attorneys narrowed the pool. She made the cut and would
be known as Juror No. 17.
This sentencing trial wouldn’t be livestreamed, to cut
down on what critics had dubbed a circuslike atmosphere
at the first trial. Photography was allowed, but video could
not be aired until after the trial.
The sentencing phase, where jurors heard from the
prosecution on why Arias deserved death and from the
defense on why her life should be spared, would stretch
five months into early March.
Juror 17 described the jury deliberations as “horrible,” in
an interview with The Republic. Discussions became
heated with so much on the line.
She went home at night, crying. It was hard to eat or
sleep.
She held out while the others pushed for the death
penalty. She was persuaded by mitigating factors the
defense had presented, including portraying Arias as
mentally ill.
Other jurors told her, "You don't get to decide" and "we're
not going to be a hung jury,” she said.
She asked to send a note to Judge Sherry Stephens. The
other jurors refused, so she texted the judge's bailiff,
asking him to bring a jury question form to her. People
began yelling and started drafting their own questions.
Two notes went to the judge.
One said that Juror 17 was "ineffective in deliberating,"
and that she had watched a somewhat fictionalized made-
for-TV movie about Arias murdering her lover called "Dirty
Little Secrets."
In the second note, Juror 17 identified herself by number
and claimed she was being harassed and forced to
consider irrelevant matters such as whether Arias would
write a book or get early release.
The judge and lawyers are not supposed to know the split
in a deadlocked jury, including which way the majority
leans. But the jurors had divulged that information in the
two notes.

“I thought the justice system was the justice system and they
protect you," says the woman known as Juror 17 in Jodi Arias'
second sentencing trial. "That never happened.”GETTY IMAGES
Attorneys learned during a confidential hearing in the
judge’s chambers on March 3 that there was one holdout
juror. Martinez asked that the juror be removed in accord
with other jurors' complaints. But the judge noted that
Juror 17 had disclosed having seen the film about Arias'
case on her initial juror questionnaire.
Later that night, Martinez allegedly told Wood — the
blogger who claimed she was having an affair with him —
that there was a holdout juror who was not deliberating
and gave her the name of the juror, according to the 2019
State Bar complaint.
Juror identities are supposed to be protected; Arizona law
prohibits the public release of their names.
Martinez has denied the allegations.
According to the State Bar complaint, Wood spoke the
same evening to a friend and freelance reporter, Tammy
Rose, who had been covering the trial. Wood allegedly
described Juror 17’s appearance, which enabled Rose to
identify the holdout juror.
Rose told The Republic that Wood didn’t share the
woman’s name with her but described the woman and
said she was often the last one coming to court.
“That’s how I knew who she was talking about,” Rose
said.
Back in court, the judge denied a motion for
reconsideration to strike Juror 17 that was based on the
premise that the juror had “liked” certain news outlets on
her Facebook page.
The next day, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury
deadlocked 11-1 in favor of death.
Arias’ life had been spared by the lone juror.
Within minutes of the verdict, Juror 17 was outed. Her
name was shared on social media. She got bombarded
with Facebook friend requests while she was still in the
parking lot on her way out of the courthouse.
Someone posted her name on Twitter and identified her
as being the holdout juror. Someone else tweeted a map,
showing the address of her Phoenix home and asking, “Is
this her?”
She keeps documentation of the threats in an inch-thick
stack of papers, each page filled with multiple threats and
taunts that appeared on Facebook, Twitter and online
blogs.
One blog post showed the juror’s photo and added
streaks of blood running down her face. “Travis’s blood on
her hands,” the caption read. The post disclosed personal
information about her husband and ex-husband.
Another tweet read: “Juror Number 17 you better hide and
keep the police at your house. Can’t believe you voted
against the death penalty. #betterrun”
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Woman known as Juror 17 in the second Jodi Arias trial, whose identity,
according to Arias' lawyers, was leaked by prosecutor Juan Martinez in an
effort to get the juror off the panel
I never in a million years thought my name
would be released and I sure as hell didn’t
think it was going to be by him.
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The juror and her family had to have 24-hour police
protection for a week outside their home and hourly
patrols for a month.
“People acted like I set her free,” she said in an interview
with The Republic, joined by her husband. Their faces
were somber as they sat in their living room recalling the
trial’s aftermath.
“It was very clear from the first day that we must accept
she was guilty. We must accept this was heinous. That's
why she’s eligible for the death penalty.”
The Republic is not publishing her identity because she
wants to maintain privacy after being threatened.
Juror 17 said she considered suicide at one point. She felt
like the world hated her; she was unnerved by the
personal attacks.
“It’s jury duty,” she said. “It’s not like I went out and
committed a crime.”
She said she wants to see legislation in Arizona that
would add penalties for revealing a juror’s identity. She
does not want anyone to endure what happened to her.
Allowing jurors to be exposed “affects the very core of our
justice system,” she said.
She still becomes anxious, five years after the trial, when
she is reminded of that time. She avoids TV specials
about Arias. She has never read books about the trial.
She said she was interviewed for the State Bar’s
investigation after Martinez was accused of leaking
confidential information by providing her name to the
blogger. This allegation would become part of the State
Bar’s 2019 complaint against Martinez.
Attorneys for Arias alleged Martinez told Wood the identity
of Juror 17 to get her thrown off the jury.
“He provided this confidential information knowingly and
intentionally, with the specific intent of using her covert
help in support of his effort to have Juror 17 removed from
the jury and clear the way for the death sentence,” the
Arias attorneys wrote.
Martinez and his lawyer have denied the allegations,
saying Martinez was one of several people who knew
Juror 17’s identity.
The lawyer pointed to an investigation by the Maricopa
County Superior Court that was unable to pinpoint who
outed the juror’s identity. The investigation focused on
court personnel and found that a court motion was filed
without being sealed for two weeks that named Juror 17
and contained a screenshot of her Facebook page.
During that time, the investigation said, the motion could
have been viewed by the public and was the “most likely
source” for the release of Juror 17’s name.
Wood declined interview requests from The Republic. In a
brief online message from her Facebook account she
wrote, "I never leaked the jurors information on social
media" and that "Juan never asked me to leak her name."
Juror 17 said she believes the allegation in the State
Bar’s complaint that Martinez leaked her name to Wood.
“I never in a million years thought my name would be
released, and I sure as hell didn’t think it was going to be
by him,” she said. “I thought the justice system was the
justice system and they protect you. That never
happened.”
A month after the second jury failed to reach a verdict,
Judge Stephens sentenced Arias to life in prison without
parole.
The Arias trials, with more than two years of spectacles,
were over.
But the fallout had just begun.
'HIGHLY SENSITIVE AND VERY PRIVATE'
Martinez’s actions have been under scrutiny before. Early
in his career, he was reprimanded for making an
inappropriate sexual remark to a female attorney. He also
faced allegations of prosecutorial misconduct from
courtroom opponents that he hid evidence, lied to the
court, ignored judges’ orders and altered courtroom
exhibits.
But his actions in the fishbowl of the Arias trial drew a
different level of scrutiny. And that compelled women who
had been silent for years to begin to speak up.
By the summer of 2018, Wood was no longer in
Martinez’s bed, being serenaded by Barry Manilow tunes.
She was singing a tune of her own. She sat with lawyers
to tell her story after the State Bar subpoenaed her as
part of its investigation into misconduct allegations against
Martinez.

Attorney request to seal text messages between Juan

Martinez and Jen Wood
Read
Her deposition is under seal, and the full extent of what
she told investigators has not been revealed publicly. But
correspondence between Martinez’s lawyer and the State
Bar show she told them she had sex with the prosecutor
for the first time at a Scottsdale condo and then on
multiple occasions at his Tempe home.
She told them about an ill-fated trip they took to Las
Vegas, complaining, “I spent a lot of time alone.”
The State Bar interviewed others who know Wood: the
ex-juror and Wood’s former Trial Divas business partner.
That investigation culminated in the State Bar filing the
complaint against Martinez in 2019.
The complaint accused him of inappropriately
communicating with an ex-juror and of unprofessional
conduct with several female law clerks. And the State Bar
accused him of lying multiple times during his deposition.
Martinez denied having an affair with Wood and denied
lying to the State Bar about it.
Wood’s attorney, Jason Lamm, sent an email to the State
Bar in 2019 saying Wood had provided him with additional
screenshots of text messages between herself and
Martinez.
“The substance of those messages is reciprocally sexual
and personal in nature,” the email said. Lamm asked the
Bar whether it could obtain a protective order before
providing the texts to Don Wilson, Martinez’s attorney.
“I can avow to both you and Mr. Wilson that a protective
order is in both Ms. Wood’s and Mr. Martinez’s best
interests,” Lamm wrote.
Martinez's attorney agreed that the texts should be
sealed.
Documents show the presiding judge in charge of
attorney discipline, Judge William O’Neil, sealed the
records.
MORE IN THIS SERIES
PART I: Allegations of misbehavior by Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan
Martinez, from sexual harassment to ethics violations, for years
went largely unchecked.
PART III: For years, Juan Martinez’s bosses, the judges in his
cases and the State Bar of Arizona did little in response to
accusations against him. Until three women took the lead. 

Martinez was facing a disciplinary hearing on the State

Bar allegations, and such a hearing could have rivaled the
Arias trial in terms of sexual intrigue.
O’Neil had banned the media from livestreaming and
videoing the proceedings, in part, he wrote, because the
“anticipated testimony is expected to be ‘highly sensitive
and very private,’ with 'intimate descriptions of persons’
physical anatomies and sexual proclivities.'”
In July, however, Martinez voluntarily gave up his Arizona
law license. His disbarment ends the disciplinary case
against him.
“I have denied the charges and continue to do so,”
Martinez wrote in the request for disbarment.
“Nevertheless, I no longer desire to defend the charges
but wish to consent to disbarment.”
By agreeing to disbarment, Martinez, the man who helped
create the Arias spectacle, avoided facing a public
spectacle himself.
Reach reporter Anne Ryman at
anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8072.
Follow her on Twitter @anneryman.
Reach reporter Lauren Castle at
Lauren.Castle@gannett.com or 602-444-4821. Follow her
on Twitter: @Lauren_Castle.
Reach reporter Robert Anglen at
robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8694.
Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen.
ABOUT THE REPORTERS
• Robert Anglen investigates consumer issues. His
award-winning stories have exposed fraud, crime and
corruption, leading to arrests and reform. He has
written extensively about a Mafia soldier in the
Federal Witness Protection Program who
orchestrated the failure of country-themed
restaurants around the country. He has also written
about food safety, abuses in the probate court and
and questionable charities tied to a worldwide
ministry. He was the first reporter to document deaths
tied to Taser stun guns. He has worked at The
Republic since 2003.

Lauren Castle covers Arizona's legal system and
correctional facilities. She has closely followed Juan
Martinez's disciplinary issues and termination at the
Maricopa County Attorney's Office. She has also
written numerous articles about the access to
adequate health care inside Arizona’s prisons. She
was a member of the 2019 fellowship class of the
Journalist Law School at Loyola Law School in Los
Angeles. She has been a Republic reporter since
2018.

Anne Ryman is an investigative reporter at The
Republic. Most recently she has covered the
COVID-19 outbreak in Arizona's nursing homes. She
was part of the Republic's 2018 Pulitzer-Prize
winning team in explanatory reporting for "The Wall:
Unknown stories, Unintended consequences" about
the planned 2,000 mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico
border. Her coverage of off-campus crimes near
Arizona State University also won awards. She has
worked at The Republic since 2000.

Thanks to longtime Republic reporter Michael Kiefer,
who retired in 2019, for his previous reporting on this
topic.