A woman who planned to testify as a character witness for Jodi Arias in a bid to spare her life decided Monday that she couldn’t go through with it, saying she had received death threats and was deeply conflicted about the case.

Lawyers for Arias, who was convicted earlier this month of the frenzied murder of an ex-lover, quickly asked for a mistrial in the sentencing phase on the grounds that a witness had been intimidated. The judge denied the request.

The potential witness, Patricia Womack, is a childhood friend of Arias who planned to testify about Arias’ abusive childhood. Besides the threats, she said that her heart went out to the family of Travis Alexander, whom Arias was convicted of killing.

“I couldn’t do it,” she told NBC News in an email. “I feel there is so much good in Jodi to be saved but then also someone’s dear life was taken.”

Court abruptly adjourned for the day after lawyers for Arias said they had no witnesses to call. It remained possible that jurors in the sentencing phase would hear from Arias herself, perhaps Tuesday.

Karen DeSoto, a defense lawyer and legal analyst for MSNBC, said there were ways of overcoming Womack’s feelings of intimidation.

“If she really is scared, then turn the cameras off,” she said. “There’s a lot of ways to cure whether somebody can testify. Clear the courtroom.”

After the judge, Sherry Stephens of Maricopa County Superior Court, denied the mistrial request, lawyers for Arias asked to be taken off the case. The judge denied that request as well.

Arias, 32, was found guilty May 8 of first-degree murder. She admitted to killing Alexander after a day of sex. She shot him in the face, stabbed him more than 20 times and slit his throat ear to ear. At trial, she claimed self-defense.

Jurors, after hearing tearful statements from Alexander’s brother and sister, ruled that Arias had been “especially cruel,” a finding that made her eligible for the death penalty under Arizona law. The same jury is considering whether to sentence her to death.

Arias was briefly put on suicide watch after the conviction. Hours after the verdict, she told an Arizona TV station that she would rather get death than life and that death was the “ultimate freedom.”

Sheriff’s officials said Monday that Arias had been returned to the regular population at the county women’s jail after spending five days on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward, The Arizona Republic reported.

The Arias case, with its lurid details, has been widely followed. Arias dyed her hair, turned off her phone and drove 1,000 miles from California to Alexander’s home in Arizona on June 4, 2008.

Arias and Alexander had broken up after an affair. Arias testified that she had acted out Alexander’s every fantasy and even converted to his Mormon faith, but he nonetheless broke up with her and began dating — chastely, he told her — other women.

According to the testimony of some of Alexander’s friends, Arias did not take the breakup well, and began stalking her former beau and slashed his tires. Her extreme jealousy culminated in Alexander’s gruesome murder, the prosecutor argued.

Alastair Jamieson of NBC News contributed to this report.

Related: Jodi Arias should die, victim's brother and sister tell Phoenix jury

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 11:48 AM EDT

Convicted killer Jodi Arias is on suicide watch after an Arizona jury Wednesday found her guilty of slaying her one-time boyfriend.

Arias, 32, admitted she killed Travis Alexander in 2008 but claimed self-defense. Arias faces life in prison – potentially even the death penalty – for first-degree murder.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Arias was put on suicide watch in light of statements she made to a local Fox affiliate following the verdict. 

"At the conclusion of this interview and in light of some of her statements during the interview, Arias was brought to jail and per Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, was placed on suicide protocol," a statement from the sheriff's office read. "Until she is released from suicide protocol by Sheriff’s officials, no further media interviews of inmate Arias will be permitted."

In the interview with KSAZ, Arias said she would "rather get death than life" and that death was the "ultimate freedom."

"I think I just went blank... I just feel overwhelmed. I think I just need to take it a day at a time. It was unexpected for me. There was no premeditation on my part," Arias said.

"I said years ago I'd rather get death than life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it," she added.

In reaction to the verdict, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement: "Today's verdict closes the guilt phase of State v. Jodi Ann Arias. However, the pursuit of justice on behalf of Travis Alexander continues."

He added, "We look forward to the next phase of the proceedings, where the State will present evidence to prove the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner."

The sentencing phase begins Thursday at 4 p.m. ET. The jury will weigh aggravating factors, including whether the crime was "cruel." The prosecution must prove that beyond a reasonable doubt for the jury to sentence Arias to death.

If the jury decides the crime was not cruel, Arias will be sentenced to life in prison.

If the jury decides it is cruel, the defense will begin mitigation, presenting witnesses to Arias' character, including experts on her mental state.

This process could last up to a month.

The Arias case has been the most watched murder trial this year, as 17 weeks focused around the soft-spoken defendant told of kinky sex and horrific violence.

Led by Juan Martinez, the prosecution argued that Alexander’s murder was premeditated. On June 4, 2008, Arias drove from Yreka, Calif., to Mesa, Ariz., where she showed up at Alexander’s home.  She’d rented a car, dyed her hair, turned off her cell phone—apparently to make her harder to identify, her movements harder to track. Her mission, prosecutors said, was murder.

Arias and Alexander had broken up after a hot but secretive affair. Arias said on the stand, she began acting out Alexander’s every pornographic fantasy. The woman even converted to Alexander’s Mormon faith, but he nonetheless broke up with her and began dating—chastely, he told her—other women.

According to the testimony of some of Alexander’s friends, Arias did not take the breakup well, and began stalking her former beau and slashed his tires. Her extreme jealousy culminated in Alexander’s gruesome murder, the prosecutor argued.

Arias admitted to killing Alexander after a day of sex. She shot him in the face, stabbed him more than 20 times, and slit his throat from ear to ear. But at trial she claimed it was in self-defense.

“Jodi had to make a choice. She would either live or she would die,” defense lawyer Jennifer Willmott told the jury in her opening statement.

Testifying in her own defense, Arias told the jury Alexander had been abusive and demeaning. On the day of his killing, she said it all started off with sex play—each photographing the other—but ended in violence when she dropped his camera—and, she claimed, he attacked her.

“He lunged at me and we fell…. And I got up and he's just screaming angry and after I broke away from him he said [I’ll] ‘f------ kill you, bitch,’” she said on the stand.

Tearfully, she then told the jury she did not remember stabbing Alexander.

In his closing arguments, prosecutor Martinez painted Arias as manipulative, telling the jury last week that the woman had “scammed” Alexander.

“Are you going to allow her to scam you?” he asked.

NBC News' Diana Alvear contributed to this report.

Pool / REUTERS

Defendant Jodi Arias listens to defense attorney Kirk Nurmi make his closing arguments during her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Friday.

The murder case against Jodi Arias is now in the hands of the jury.

A judge in a Phoenix courtroom passed the reins to jurors Friday, instructing them to consider charges of first- and second-degree murder or manslaughter against Arias in the shooting and stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, 30.

The start of jury deliberations Monday comes at the end of a lurid 17-week trial that mixed kinky sex and grisly violence straight out of a pulpy paperback.

Arias, 32, a slight, soft-spoken defendant who admits she killed Alexander but claims self-defense, faces life in prison – potentially even the death penalty – if the eight men and four women on the jury find her guilty of premeditated first-degree murder.

Jurors may also find Arias guilty of second-degree murder if they don’t believe she planned the gruesome killing. If she is convicted on that charge, Arias faces up to 25 years in prison.

Closing arguments focused as much on the facts of the gruesome killing as they did on the Arias’ polarizing personality.

Lead prosecutor Juan Martinez described Arias on Thursday as a liar who “attempted to manipulate” the jury.

“She scammed [Alexander],” Martinez told jurors. “Are you going to allow her to scam you?”

The defense on Friday asked jurors to look at the case and his client with unjaundiced eyes – even if they don’t like her.

“It’s not about whether or not you like Jodi Arias,” said Kirk Nurmi, Arias’ defense attorney. “Nine days out of ten, I don’t like Jodi Arias. … But that doesn’t matter.”

“Fear, love, sex, lies and dirty little secrets,” Nurmi said repeatedly Friday, according to The Associated Press. “Each one of these aspects of the human condition plays a prominent role in the relationship that Jodi Arias shared with Travis Alexander.”

Prosecutors say that on June 4, 2008, Arias drove a thousand miles from Yreka, Calif., to Mesa, Ariz., where she showed up at Alexander’s home. She had rented a car, dyed her hair, and powered down her cell phone – all allegedly to make her harder to track and harder to spot.

Arias and Alexander had broken up after a furtive affair. Alexander, according to his friends, was a well-to-do salesman who liked to play the field – despite his membership in the Church of Latter-Day Saints, which disapproves of premarital sex.

Friends said that even though Arias converted to Mormonism for her beau, he nevertheless ended their relationship and started seeing other women – including one woman with whom he may have planned a vacation to Mexico.

Arias didn’t take the break-up well, according to Alexander’s friends, who testified for the prosecution. They say Arias stalked Alexander and slashed his tires.

Prosecutors say it wasn’t long before Arias’ jealousy took on a murderous edge.

After Arias showed up at Alexander’s house, they fell back on old habits and had hours of sex. But their rendezvous climaxed in shocking bloodshed.

Arias has admitted that she shot Alexander in the face, stabbed him more than 30 times and slit his throat.

Arias initially denied any involvement and later blamed the killing on masked burglars. But two years later, Arias reversed her version of events and said she killed Alexander in self-defense.

During the sensational trial, Arias testified in her own defense. She told the jury that Alexander subjected her to repeated physical abuse. However, no evidence or testimony was presented during the trial to corroborate Arias’ allegations of abuse.

Arias said that the day she killed Alexander began with sex play — each took raunchy photos of the other — but spiraled into violence when she accidentally dropped his camera and he attacked her.

Nurmi told jurors that the prosecution’s theory that the murder was premeditated “doesn’t make any sense.”

Nurmi said that Arias had many other chances to kill Alexander.

“But she didn’t,” Nurmi said, according to the AP.

Nurmi told the jury that his client has lied on a various occasions. But he said that lying isn’t the focal point of the trial.

“Nowhere, nowhere in your jury instructions are you asked to convict Jodi Arias of lying,” he said.

Dateline producer Joe Delmonico contributed to this report. Dateline has been covering the Jodi Arias trial from the start. After the verdict, watch for an hour-long report on the case, with new interviews and new information you won’t see anywhere else.

She's "attempted to manipulate you.”

That’s what the prosecutor told the jury Thursday, as closing arguments began in the most watched murder trial of the year: the Jodi Arias case.  It’s been going on for 17 weeks, with a made-for-TV mix of kinky sex, horrifying violence, and, at the center of it all, a slight, soft-spoken defendant who admits she killed her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander.

The question for jurors is: Why?

Rob Schumacher / Pool via The Arizona Republic and AP

Defendant Jodi Arias listens to prosecutor Juan Martinez make his closing arguments during her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Thursday, May 2. Arias is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander.

The prosecution, led by Juan Martinez, tells it this way:  On June 4, 2008, Jodi Arias drove a thousand miles from Yreka, Calif., to Mesa, Ariz., where she showed up at Travis’ home.  She’d rented a car, dyed her hair, turned off her cell phone—apparently to make her harder to identify, her movements harder to track. Her mission, prosecutors say: murder.

Arias and Alexander had broken up after a hot but secretive affair.  Alexander, according to friends, was a successful salesman who liked the ladies.  He was also a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints whose Mormon religion disapproves of premarital sex.

Travis’ friend Aaron Dewey, who knew them both well, told Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz:  “Jodi became Travis’ drug.  He was able to get something from her that he couldn’t get anywhere else with the good Mormon girls that he typically dated.”  Soon, Arias said on the stand, she was acting out Alexander’s every pornographic fantasy.

But while Arias may have been a hot girlfriend, she was not, apparently, Travis’ idea of a good Mormon wife.  Friends said that even though she converted to his faith, he broke up with her and began dating—chastely, he told her—other women.

According to Alexander’s friends, who testified in the trial for the prosecution, Arias apparently didn’t take it well.   Alexander’s friends say she stalked him and slashed his tires.  The prosecutor argued that she eventually killed him.

The killing was shocking in its violence.  After a day of sex, Arias admitted, she shot Travis in the face, stabbed him more than 20 times, and slit his throat from ear to ear.

At trial, Arias testified she killed Travis in self-defense.  In her opening statement defense lawyer Jennifer Willmott told the jury,  “Jodi had to make a choice. She would either live or she would die.” 

Arias testified in her own defense—a marathon 18 days on the witness stand.  She told the jury that Alexander demeaned and sometimes abused her throughout their relationship.  She testified that the day she killed him started off with sex play—each photographed the other—but ended in violence when she dropped his camera—and, she claimed, he attacked her.

Her testimony: “He lunged at me and we fell…. And I got up and he's just screaming angry and after I broke away from him he said [I’ll] ‘f------ kill you, bitch.’”

She tearfully testified that she had no memory of stabbing Travis. 

Arias’s sensational testimony made this case a TV and Internet event.  A Twitter handle in her name, @JodiAnnArias, run by a friend had more than 35,000 followers at last count.

But only 12 people ultimately matter… The jurors who will decide her fate.  Today, in closing arguments, prosecutor Juan Martinez told them: “This individual, the defendant, Jodi Ann Arias, killed Travis Alexander.... . Even after slashing his throat from ear-to-ear, none of you will convict her. Taking a gun, shooting him in the face. Absolutely none of it was her fault. It`s Travis Alexander`s misfortune. Everybody else is wrong."

“She scammed him. Are you going to allow her to scam you?.”

The defense is expected to present closing arguments on Friday. The jury will consider a wide range of possible verdicts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, and not guilty.  If Arias is convicted of first-degree murder, the jury will also have to decide whether she deserves the death penalty.

Dateline has been covering the Jodi Arias trial from the start.  After the verdict, watch for an hour-long report on the case, with new interviews and new information you won’t see anywhere else.

Related content:

• Jodi Arias' 18 days on witness stand could save her life: experts

   

David Wallace / AP

Defendant Jodi Arias, right, talks to her attorney, Jennifer Wilmott during her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Thursday, April 11, 2013.

A friend of the Arizona woman at the center of one of the country's most high-profile murder trials says she has been tweeting for Jodi Arias since February.

Though the accused murderer has no access to a computer or cell phone in her Phoenix jail cell, close friend Donavan Bering told NBC News that she has actually been tweeting on Arias' behalf based on telephone conversations they have nearly every day.

The account has been used to mock both the prosecution and pundits who have weighed in on the case that has dominated the national media.

"He who tries to establish his point by much yelling shows that his reasoning is weak," @JodiAnnArias tweeted on April 7, a likely nod to prosecuting attorney Juan Martinez.

Another tweet from the account read, "Hmm... Anger Management problems anyone?"

Martinez, who grilled Arias when she took the stand last month, has become nationally known for his fiery style in the courtroom. Arias has admitted to the killing of boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, but maintains the killing was in self-defense.

Bering met Arias while in jail herself, NBC News has confirmed. She was first identified by local Phoenix Fox station KSAZ. The woman has been a common sight in Maricopa County Superior Court, often sitting next to Arias' mother. 

Bering has been an ardent supporter of Arias throughout the trial, so much so that her life has been threatened, she says.

"I just want people to know I won't stop supporting Jodi and her family," Bering told NBC News' Dateline. "I have the right to talk for her and my life shouldn't be threatened."

The case has been the a staple topic on HLN, which has received much of the scorn of Arias on Twitter.

"HLN is an acronym for Haters Love Negativity," the account tweeted last month.

The Arias twitter handle also responded to HLN commentator Nancy Grace, who tweeted a photo suggesting Arias was giving the middle finger during her trial. "Actually, Nancy, that finger was for you. Have a nice day," the Arias account tweeted.

Maricopa County sheriff's spokesman Christopher Hegstrom said authorities are not happy that Arias may be telegraphing tweets from prison, but there is nothing they can do to stop it.

"We don't like it, but at this point she has not been convicted of anything and has the right to make phone calls."

Most days, Arias has about 16 hours where she is free to be out of cell and could make collect calls. Although the phone calls made from the Estrella jail where she is being held are recorded, discussing possible tweets would not likely have raised any red flags, according to Hegstrom.

Arias’ attorneys didn’t return calls for comment.

Along with taking swipes at those who have been mean to Arias throughout the trial, the Twitter account is also promoting her art.

"eBay has banned all listings of my artwork. The silver lining in making my art more difficult to obtain is that it keeps increasing in value," it posted on Feb. 22.