ABC News(PHOENIX) -- In her final words to jurors Tuesday before they decide her punishment for murder, Jodi Arias clicked through a photo slideshow, quoted Dickens and used props as she begged them to spare her life for her family's sake.

Arias, 32, was convicted earlier this month of murdering her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in 2008. The prosecution has argued that the murder was particularly cruel and warrants the death penalty, noting that Arias stabbed Alexander, slashed his throat, and shot him in the head.

Arias' attorneys presented no witnesses to testify on her behalf this week in the "mitigating phase" of the trial, in which they asked the jury to sentence her with leniency.

The jury will begin deliberating Tuesday whether to sentence Arias to life in prison or the death penalty.

Dressed in all black and wearing glasses, Arias told the jury that, though she previously said to reporters and others that she would prefer the death penalty, she no longer felt that way.

"I have made statements that I would prefer death, but I lacked perspective," Arias told the jurors.

"To me, life in prison was the most unappealing outcome I could think of," she said. "I thought I'd rather die.

"But as I stand here now, I can't ask you to sentence me to death because of them," she added, pointing in the direction of her family.

"Either way, I'm going to spend rest of my life in prison," she said. "It will either be shortened or not. If it is shortened, the people that will be hurt the most will be my family. Please don't do that to them. I've already hurt them so much, and I want everyone's pain to stop."

Arias used most of her allocution statement to try to show the jury details of her life before the murder, clicking through a slideshow of photos from her childhood, family life and relationships with ex-boyfriends.

"When I was little, my mom took a lot of pictures of me. I was the first child," she said.

"Here I am with Bobby, in our dirty little house," she added. "We didn't have power or heat. In the winter we could see our breath. My parents didn't support this relationship. I'm reminded of that Charles Dickens quote, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'"

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Arias attempted to convince the jury to send her to prison so she would have an opportunity to contribute to society. She said that since she has been under arrest, she has come up with ways to be useful in jail, such as donating her hair to Locks of Love and coming up with a plan for recycling at the local jail.

"If I'm allowed to live in prison, I will continue to donate for the rest of my life," Arias said, noting that she has donated her hair three times to the charity.

"If I get permission, I could start a recycling program for the huge loads of waste taken to the landfill," she added. "It could create new jobs and have a far-reaching impact on the planet."

Arias showed the jury her artwork, including paintings of Elvis and her niece, as part of her slideshow, and held up a t-shirt with the word "survivor" on it that she designed and is selling, noting that profits of the sale of the t-shirt are going to domestic violence victims.

"I'm supporting this cause because it's very, very important to me. Some people do not believe I'm a victim of domestic abuse but that's OK," she said. "I've never been to prison but I think I could find other ways to contribute there."

Arias said that if she were sentenced to life in prison, she hoped to start a book club and help teach fellow inmates how to read.

"You've heard before I'm an artist. I'll never create another oil painting, but these are some of my paintings," she said.

Clicking through to the next slide, she added, "My family and I have a lot of memories. We won't be creating any more of these together."

She also referred to the family members of Alexander, who spoke last week to the jury during victim impact statements.

"I never meant to cause them so much pain," she said, pointing to Alexander's family.

The same jury that convicted Arias will decide her punishment.

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Limited rail service resumes Tuesday afternoon between New York and Bridgeport, Conn., after two trains derailed last week.

Limited Amtrak and Metro-North commuter rail service resumes between New York and New Haven and full service is expected to resume Wednesday.

One of two tracks damaged when the trains sideswiped one another and derailed four days ago has been rebuilt and subjected to rigorous testing. 

Passengers should still expect delays as trains will run slower on the new sections of the track.

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A veteran New York City detective was arrested Tuesday for alleged computer hacking.

Detective Edwin Vargas, who has been with the New York Police Department for 20 years, is alleged to have improperly used a federal database to snoop on an ex-girlfriend and fellow police officers.

Prosecutors say he also hired computer hackers to find information about them.

Between March 2011 and October 2012 court records say Vargas paid a hacking service thousands of dollars to obtain usernames and passwords for dozens of personal accounts of current and former NYPD staff.

It all may have stemmed from a dispute with the ex-girlfriend, who is also an officer.

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MOORE, Okla.) -- At least seven children killed in the devastating tornado that tore through Moore, Okla., were from Plaza Towers Elementary School, officials said.

The school was destroyed by Monday's tornado, which tore a 12-mile path of destruction that left at least 24 people dead.

The deadly twister touched down just as students were about to be released for their last week of school before summer vacation.  Many of the students hunkered down in closets, classrooms and bathrooms, clinging to their classmates and teachers.

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan confirmed to ABC News affiliate KOCO-TV on Tuesday that a number of children at Plaza Towers Elementary School remain unaccounted for.

"It's just a very graphic situation for even those of us who've come obviously well after the storm has passed," he said.

The walls of Plaza Towers Elementary School were "pancaked," Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb told ABC News.

Moore officials and National Guard members told ABC News the search-and-rescue operation at the school is now a body-recovery effort.

"I know there's a number of dead children from that school," Oklahoma City Police spokesman Sgt. Gary Knight said.  "I know the number is around seven."

Briarwood Elementary School, also in Moore, received a "direct hit" from the twister and was also destroyed, with its roof and walls blown off.

One sixth-grade boy from Briarwood named Brady said he and other students took cover in a bathroom.

"I was in my classroom building and we were told to get in our tornado precaution system.  Then they moved us to the boys and girls bathroom," he said.  "Cinderblocks and everything collapsed on them but they were underneath so that kind of saved them a little bit, but I mean they were trapped in there."

Josiah Parker, 8, escaped Briarwood unharmed but couldn't find his parents in the immediate aftermath of the tornado.

"If our school is crushed, my house is like directly behind the pond and so I think it might be crushed, too.  If my mom and dad are still alive, they're probably going to take us to a hotel," Josiah said.

Josiah's parents survived and the family was able to reunite.

Students remained at Briarwood despite the tornado warnings because there were safe areas where they could be protected.

Moore resident Andrew Wheeler credits a Briarwood teacher with keeping his son safe as the tornado wrecked havoc on the building.

"The teacher held their heads, and bricks and everything were falling all over the kids," he said.  "She got her arm injured.  One of the other boys on her other side got a big gash in his head, but he's OK."

Wheeler's son, Gabriel, says his teacher stood with the class the entire time and told them to act as they did in practice drills.

"The roof came off and then I felt something and it was just raining clay on me and all that," Gabriel said.

Monday's twister was the latest in a group of violent storms that swept through the Midwest, starting on Sunday, leaving dozens of people dead.

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Hemera/Thinkstock(PHILADELPHIA) -- A former Philadelphia police officer once hailed as a hero and invited by the vice president to attend a presidential address to Congress now faces 16 charges, including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and making terroristic threats.

Bail for Richard DeCoatsworth, 27, has been set at $60 million after he allegedly sexually assaulted two women at gunpoint.

Authorities alleged DeCoatsworth, of Philadelphia, left a party with two women at approximately 2 a.m. Thursday and brought them to another location. He then, "produced a handgun and allegedly forced the two females to engage in the use of narcotics and sexual acts," Philadelphia Police Department spokeswoman Officer Tanya Little said.

The women contacted police once DeCoatsworth left the undisclosed site, Little said.

DeCoatsworth was arrested at his home Saturday morning and was booked at the Philadelphia County Jail. His preliminary arraignment was held on Saturday night, according to court documents.

Philadelphia Prisons System spokeswoman Sean Hawes told ABC News that DeCoatsworth was being represented by a public defender, but she did not know his attorney's name.

ABC News' calls to the Defender Association of Philadelphia were not immediately returned.

DeCoatsworth came into public view after he chased a gunman who shot him in the face in West Philadelphia in 2007, Philadelphia ABC News affiliate WPVI-TV reported. He caught his attacker, who later was sentenced to 36 to 72 years in prison.

According to WPVI, Vice President Joe Biden subsequently invited DeCoatsworth to attend President Obama's televised address to Congress in February 2009, and he sat beside first lady Michelle Obama.

DeCoatsworth retired from the police department on disability in December 2011, WPVI reported.

"I think that since he got shot, he's not the same person," one neighbor told WPVI.

Authorities declined to release the locations of DeCoatsworth's alleged assaults or the names of the alleged victims, citing a desire to protect the victims and the integrity of the investigation.

DeCoatsworth's next court date was scheduled for June 17, according to court documents.

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File photo. Hemera/Thinkstock(OKLAHOMA CITY) -- A large tornado touched down Monday south of Oklahoma City, causing widespread damage.

Here is live video, courtesy of ABC News:

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File photo. Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- When you see African cheetahs, Chinese red pandas, Micronesian kingfishers and hooded cranes, you might think you’re in the wilds of Africa or Asia.

But in rural northern Virginia, little more than an hour from Washington, D.C., you can find all of those animals at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

It is home to some of the most endangered animals in the world, including clouded leopards, originally from Thailand.

The institute currently has two clouded leopard cubs, a male and a female, that are a little more than 100 days old.

The population of clouded leopards has been decimated by hunters and poachers who sell their furs. The Smithsonian has bred 80 of the magnificent cats.

“When it comes to all these animals, the one common denominator is loss of habitat,” said Paul Marinari, the biology institute’s senior curator.

Many of the animals at the institute enjoy a level of freedom that is rare in captivity. They are kept in large, open spaces spilling over 3,000 acres. It is a refuge in rural Virginia where some of the world’s most endangered animals are being brought back from the brink of extinction.

Most of the animals come from zoos. Smithsonian researchers study to learn how to breed and rear them in captivity. Some are sent back to zoos but many animals are returned to nature.

The black-footed ferret, one of the most endangered species in North America, had been all but wiped out before a ranch dog found 18 in Wyoming.  Marinari said his team captured the solitary, nocturnal animals and brought them into captivity.

“This is our 25th year of having black-footed ferrets,” he said. “They were thought to be extinct several times. … This is one species where we actually have the potential very soon to actually downlist and eventually delist them off the endangered species list.”

The institute has bred and released nearly 8,000 black-footed ferrets from that first group of 18. The Smithsonian currently has month-old, baby black-footed ferrets. They, too, will be released.

“These guys could end up in Arizona. They could end up in Kansas,” Marinara said. “They will be [back] in the wild.”

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Darren McCollester/Getty Images(BOSTON) -- Among the many unanswered questions about the two Tsarnaev brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing is why, days after the attack, they were heading to the suburb of Watertown and its manicured lawns and tulips when police picked up their trail and began a chase.

Investigators want to know what drew the accused bombers to the cluster of side streets in the blue-collar suburb, far from any major thoroughfare, especially if the brothers were on the run after their images had been shown on television by the FBI and after they had allegedly murdered MIT Police Officer Sean Collier.

"It's clear the suspects have connections to Watertown," said Joseph Curatone, the mayor in the neighboring city of Somerville told ABC News. "And it's abundantly clear that investigators are exploring every aspect of those connections as they should."

Some answers may be found in an obscure town parking ticket and a police report from the adjoining suburb of Arlington about a minor case involving open containers of alcohol, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The parking ticket, obtained by ABC News, was written on a car registered to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at 2:10 a.m. on February 18, 2011 on the 200 block of Boylston Street.

When the ticket was found in police records during the hunt for the wounded bomber, it sparked an immediate FBI raid on the Boylston street address, which is the home of a friend, Maximilian Freddura, part of a prominent Boston restaurateur family.

Freddura's apartment, where police officials say Dzhokhar was a frequent guest, is a block away from the corner of Laurel and Dexter Streets where police caught up with the Tsarnaev brothers five days after the marathon bombing.

After a chaotic exchange of gunfire that night that included the detonation of several explosives, the older Tsarnaev, Tamerlan, was killed, while his brother Dzkhokhar managed to escape, though injured. Dzkhokhar was captured hours later, hiding in a covered boat.

"Was he headed here? I don't know," Freddura told ABC News last week, referring to Dzhokhar. Freddura attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin, the same high school attended by both Tsarnaevs. "He certainly would not have been welcomed."

During the hunt for the younger Tsarnaev, police raided another residence in neighboring Arlington where the accused bomber had a run-in with police on July 4, 2012, ABC News has learned.

According to the police report obtained by ABC News, Dzhokhar and two other men were seen drinking in another car registered to Dzhokhar, the 1999 Green Honda Civic that investigators believe Dzhokhar drove during the police chase into Watertown.

"In the driver seat was Dzhokar Tsarnaev," the report states.

Dzhokhar was issued a ticket for parking in a restricted area and was released. Another occupant of the car said he was the one drinking and received a $500 fine for having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Based on that police report, investigators searched the Arlington block during the manhunt, which is roughly two miles away from the scene of the shootout.

"It was within walking distance, so we hit the house,'' said a law enforcement official involved in the hunt. Arlington Police maintained a presence in the area throughout the time of the manhunt.

It was the second time in three years that the blue-collar suburb appeared to have links to a terror attack.

In 2010, Watertown was the scene of FBI raids after agents learned that Faisal Shahzad, convicted of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, came to the suburb to pick up $5,000 cash from a Pakistani citizen living there, according to federal court records.

The Pakistani, Aftab Ali, was identified by authorities as part of a militant group, Tehrik-e-Taliban, and was deported.

Authorities said they know of no link between the Times Square bomber and the two accused Marathon bombers, other than the coincidental connections to Watertown.

Now, just more than a month after the bombings, windows in the Watertown area where hundreds of bullets were fired and four bombs were lobbed at police remain webbed with bullet holes and marked with FBI tape.

An ATF evidence cone marked "58" rests in a tulip bed. The vinyl siding of several homes is ripped with ricochet rounds.

The street is stained black from a pressure-cooker bomb.

Blood left behind after Tamerlan Tsarnaev was run over by his fleeing brother is still visible on the corner where the chaos was at its height.

Later, residents incorporated the bloodstain in a chalk drawing with the initials "USA" written underneath.

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