Jodi Arias’ Clinical Psychologist Doesn’t Think Justice Was Done After Her Guilty Verdict in Travis Alexander Murder Case (Exclusive)

Jodi Arias’ sentencing to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Travis Alexander was far from justice being served, Dr. Robert Geffner tells PopCulture.com. The clinical psychologist spent nearly three years evaluating and assessing Arias, taking the stand during her trial to share his findings in court, but says ahead of the new Discovery+ documentary If I Can’t Have You: The Jodi Arias Story, streaming Feb. 12, that the prosecution’s depiction of Arias as a “cold-blooded killer” didn’t match his findings.

The Discovery+ documentary takes another look at one of the most infamous murder cases in recent history, granting viewers access to Arias’ personal diaries, previously-unseen police interviews and insight from the defense, prosecution and family and friends of people connected to the case. “From my standpoint and my role, I always hope that justice will be done, no matter what the situation is,” Geffner tells PopCulture. “I don’t think justice has been done yet.”

Evaluating Arias a number of times with a full psychological assessment, Geffner says his team realized that Arias’ profile “didn’t match a psychopathic personality.” The portrait that instead emerged, was a young woman with a “pretty traumatic childhood” who used dissociation to cope and “got into a very dangerous abusive relationship.”

More and more, Geffner says the hypothesis put forth by his team was supported by outside data and information from people involved in the case, who he alleges corroborate the defense’s argument that Alexander “wasn’t a Mormon saint virgin,” but instead a “very manipulative” person who was involved with many women. Despite his findings, Geffner describes them as being ignored largely by the court system and public, which watched with rapt attention five months of the live-streamed trial.

“I’ve dealt with high-profile cases before, but this was so one-sided. There were very few people who were looking at the other possibilities,” Geffner says, adding of the public interest, “Facts didn’t really seem to make a difference to anyone else. … No one wanted to believe she was a victim of abuse.”

“Jodi herself didn’t help,” he acknowledges, coming across as “cold and aloof” and doing bizarre things during the interviews which Geffner attributes to “survival mode.” He advises people to not get “caught up in the hype” of the case and to instead look at facts. “This was a horrific tragedy, no doubt about it,” he says. “Let’s look at what the evidence shows and not focus on your own prior opinions and thoughts.”

With the release of If I Can’t Have You, Geffner thinks it will be “interesting” to see if the public is willing to give the case another look. “I don’t think some of the people involved [are ready],” he says. “Whether the country and society and the world are ready to look at things more objectively…the court did not.” If I Can’t Have You: The Jodi Arias Story, is streaming now on Discovery+