After her verdict was read, Jodi Arias told a reporter she would rather die than spend the rest of her life in prison. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
Minutes after Wednesday night's dramatic guilty verdict, Jodi Arias defied her defense team and gave an explosive TV interview saying, 'I want to die.'
She said, “The worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner rather than later. There's longevity in my family and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place.”
Because of that remark she was put on suicide watch at the county jail.
ABC's Dan Abrams and Nancy Grace say Arias may be trying to trick the jury into saving her life.
Abrams said, “I think she's trying to manipulate the jury,. My guess is that she does want the jury to come back with a life sentence."
Grace replied, “She is trying to use reverse psychology and it's not working.”
Arias tweeted a zinger at Grace, calling her Nancy "Disgrace."
“N. Disgrace has set back the cause of all women who were victims of domestic violence. Her circus makes a mockery of something very serious,” she tweeted.
There were scenes of raw unrestrained emotion outside court, and inside, as friends of her slain boyfriend Travis Alexander wept and hugged each other right after the verdict.
Jane Velez-Mitchell told INSIDE EDITION, "People just cheering and screaming, 'Yes! Justice!' A whole roar of approval went up when they heard that verdict. There are people talking about prosecutor Juan Martinez for governor."
Travis Alexander's friends and family were clearly relieved with the guilty verdict, and they say if this case does not warrant the death penalty, nothing does.
Dan Hall, a friend of Alexander said, "If stabbing someone 29 times, slitting their throat, shooting them in the head, is not justification for the death penalty in this country, then why do we have it?"
Dustin Sumner was Travis Alexander’s roommate, he said, “I would like to see the death penalty for her just because of how violent the act was.”
And Chris and Sky Hughes were his close friends.
Chris said, “I would call for the maximum the law would allow. But true justice will happen when her life is over.”
If the jury sentences her to death, what awaits Arias is a cell on death row.
There are three women currently on Arizona’s death row. But no woman has actually been executed in Arizona since 1930.
