Jodi Arias Trial Update Today: Judge Denies Jodi Arias Motion to Fire Lead Lawyer for Second Time

Jodi Arias Trial Update Today: Judge Sherry Stephens denied a motion by Jodi Aria to fire her lead attorney. This is the second time Jodi Arias has been denied a request to fire Kirk Nurmi. She attempted to have him removed in June.

During a closed-door hearing today, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens issued a brief order saying she explained her reasons for denying the motion by convicted killer, Jodi Arias. Jodi Arias says Jennifer Willmott, her second-chair attorney, has been doing most of the work on the case.

Jodi Arias said Nurmi has no "people skills" and treated her 'like an interruption to his day.' Jodi Arias said she no longer trust him.

Jodi Arias delivered a twelve page handwritten letter saying that she no longer trusts her lawyer Kirk Nurmi. Arias says that she hasn't seen the Nurmi since the end of the first phase of the trial on May 23. Jodi Arias' complaint says he "does not listen or respond to my concerns." In the motion, Jodi Arias wrote "Mr. Nurmi, however, in his utter poverty of people skills, simply said to me with contempt, 'You're not going to get your way just because you throw a tantrum.' Judge, this was no tantrum. Far from it. This was a full-blown emotional meltdown. I wasn't throwing a fit, I was falling apart. Having known me for 3.5 years at that point, Kirk Nurmi should have easily discerned this, but his failure to do so shows he lacks the capacity for empathy and chooses anger over attempting to understand any impairment his client may be experiencing in direct relation to the case and court proceedings."

Jodi Arias continues "Mr Nurmi has forgotten more about my case than he remembers, and therefore the breadth of knowledge one would think he has after four years on this case is lost to him," she writes. "He seems unable to access the majority of this knowledge via his own memory."

The jury found Jodi Arias guilty of killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, but could not decide whether to sentence the former waitress to death or to spend the rest of her life in prison.

In the complaint, Jodi Arias wrote that Nurmi has "no tolerance for my emotional and psychological shortcomings."

Arias is waiting for a possible retrial on her death sentence

Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2008 death of Travis Alexander. Defense and prosecuting attorneys have been working out the new sentencing phase