Despite ongoing tension with his client convicted killer Jodi Arias, defense attorney Kirk Nurmi will not be able to resign from her upcoming death penalty trial.

Nurmi has made several motions to drop Arias, who was convicted of the first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in May 2013. According to medical examiners, Arias stabbed him over 25 times in his Phoenix home in 2008. She also slit Alexander's throat from ear to ear, nearly decapitating him, and shot him in the face.

Although Arias was found guilty of murder, the jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision on her sentencing. As a result, her retrial is set to begin on Sept. 8 to determine whether or not she should be sentenced to death, life in prison or life with a chance of release after serving 25 years, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, Arias was granted permission to represent herself at the second phase of her murder trial next month.

While Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens advised Arias not to drop her lawyers, she granted her request and appointed her lead attorney Nurmi, and his second-chair attorney, Jennifer Willmott, as her legal advisers.

Arias, however, said she would reverse her decision to represent herself if she is allowed to fire Nurmi.

Days later, Nurmi filed a motion asking the judge to let him resign from the case because of his continual conflict with his client. He also cited his original attempt to withdraw and Arias' repeated efforts to have him fired during a hearing last week.

However, on Monday, Judge Stephen decided not to let Nurmi withdraw from the case. That means the defense attorney will be forced to advise Arias as she represents herself at her penalty phase retrial.

In November, Arias wrote a 12-page letter asking Stephens to remove Nurmi from the case because he had "little to no tolerance for my emotional and psychological shortcomings," reports HLN-TV. However, the judge denied her request.

The judge also denied requests from Nurmi and Willmott to drop the case in May 2013 after Arias was found guilty and she told Phoenix TV station KSAZ that she would "rather get death than life" in an interview.

"The attorneys asked a second time to withdraw from the case during the penalty phase of the trial, after their request for a mistrial was denied," reports HLN-TV.

A hearing will be heard on Aug. 22 to consider Arias' motion to postpone the start of her retrial.