The judge presiding over Jodi Arias' upcoming penalty phase retrial has ordered restrictions in terms of news coverage of court proceedings. Although video and audio recording will be allowed by the media, news outlets will not be allowed to stream coverage live.

According to a report from azcentral.com, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens had initially banned all video recording and live streaming of the case because of the frenzied "circus atmosphere" these recordings resulted in during Arias' trial last year.

In a ruling released this week, Stephens seemed to amend that initial decision. In said ruling, she wrote that video and audio coverage of the upcoming penalty phase proceedings will, in fact, be allowed. However, these recordings will not be allowed to be broadcast publicly until after a verdict is reached.

"Any violation of this court order will result in an immediate expulsion from the courtroom and the issuance of an order to show cause for contempt," Stephens wrote in the ruling.

The Associated Press reports that Stephens seemed to give herself some leeway in this decision, noting in her ruling that if any of the audio and/or video footage is to be allowed, it will not be live. Rather, there will be a mandatory 15-minute delay before airing.

This decision comes as a result of last year's coverage of Arias' murder trial which attracted attention worldwide and created what some have called a "media spectacle" and "circus atmosphere."

In the initial trial last year Arias, 34, was convicted of the violent and brutal murder in 2008 of her then-boyfriend Travis Alexander. The jury in that case agreed Arias was guilty of first-degree murder for killing Alexander, but couldn't come to an agreement on the appropriate punishment.

As such, Arizona law dictates that prosecutors have the option of carrying out a second penalty phase, or penalty phase retrial for Arias with a new jury in a bid to secure a death penalty verdict. This penalty phase retrial is slated to begin on Sept. 8.

If the second jury also fails to come to an agreement on Arias' penalty, the death sentence would then be removed from the table. Instead, the judge would be responsible for deciding whether Arias is to spend the rest of her life behind bars or if she will be given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

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