Jodi Arias has asked a jury to spare her life, promising to start a book club, donate her hair to cancer patients, and sell t-shirts to benefit "other victims of domestic violence" from prison.
The 32-year-old's composed statement came after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder for slaughtering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in his suburban Arizona home.
The case is now in the "death penalty phase," when jurors have to decide whether she gets life in prison or execution. Arias previously told TV reporters she wanted the death penalty, but she said Tuesday that she lacked "perspective" when she made those statements.
She realizes now she can put her time in prison to good use if she gets life.
"In prison there are many programs I can start and people I can help," she said.
Arias promised to teach other inmates American Sign Language and Spanish, to start a prison recycling program, and to start a book club to "stimulate discussion" among inmates. At one point, she also held up a t-shirt she designed with the word "Survivor" on it and said she promised to sell it to raise money for surivors of domestic violence.
"Some people may not believe that I am a survivor of domestic violence. They are entitled to their opinion," she said.
Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, nearly decapitated him, and shot him in the head. Arias initially told investigators she knew nothing about the crime and then blamed it on masked intruders before finally saying she killed him in self-defense.
SEE ALSO: JODI ARIAS: How A Nice Girl From California Turned Into A Brutal Killer
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