Newly released court documents reveal Jodi Arias begged to testify in a closed-courtroom during her death penalty sentencing retrial last October because she feared court watchers were sending her threats and hate mail.

On Thursday, officials at the Maricopa County Superior Court released a transcript of a closed-door hearing where Arias' lawyers discussed their request to have the public and media barred from the courtroom. The defense argued Arias needed to testify in secret because she thought her safety was at risk.

"A lot of crazy people come to the jail and try to visit me," Arias told the court, according to a transcript of bench-conference conversations and a hearing that was unsealed on Thursday, reports USA Today.

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi argued Arias had received hate mail threatening her over what she might say in her testimony.

"We know the people here today currently in the courtroom include some of the people who send her that mail," Nurmi said, referring to unidentified spectators in the court.

They also discussed a person who had tried to visit the convicted killer by impersonating her attorney and demanding to see her.

As a result, Nurmi claimed that Arias would be too nervous to think clearly if spectators were present during her testimony.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez, however, expressed concern that closing the courtroom based on claims that the defendant is too nervous to testify in public would set bad precedent and could trigger appeals, reports ABC 15 Arizona.

Initially Judge Sherry Stephens rejected Arias' reasoning for wanting to close the courtroom, however she ultimately granted Arias her request and kicked the media and public out of the court on Oct. 30, 2014. Arias then testified for two days, until the Court of Appeals overturned Stephens' decision and reopened the courtroom.

Although Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder last May in the gruesome death of her ex-boyfriend, jurors in her first trial failed to reach a unanimous decision on her sentencing. As a result, the retrial will determine whether she should be sentenced to death, life in prison or life with a chance of release after serving 25 years.

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