After months of twists and turns in a dramatic trial rife with sex, lies and digital images, an Arizona jury Wednesday found Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.
Jurors will return to court Thursday for the aggravation phase of the trial -- an important step in the next key decision they face: determining whether Arias lives or dies.
'Now the odds, I think, shift somewhat in her favor, because it's a very different thing to sentence someone to die than to convict them,' CNN senior legal analyst Jeffery Toobin said.
In a television interview minutes after the verdict was announced, Arias said she'd prefer a death sentence.
'I said years ago that I'd rather get death than life, and that still is true today,' she told Phoenix television station KSAZ. 'I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it.'
The comments prompted authorities to place Arias on suicide watch in an Arizona jail, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
'Until she is released from suicide protocol by Sheriff's officials no further media interviews of inmate Arias will be permitted,' the office said in a statement.
Arias was stoic in court Wednesday. Her eyes briefly welled up with tears as a clerk announced that the jury found her guilty of first-degree murder for killing Alexa.