A Michigan woman tried buying her way into the Jodi Arias murder trial in Phoenix.

Desiree Lee, a spectator who was standing in the courthouse line Tuesday, said she didn't know it was against the rules when she accepted $200 from the unidentified woman to give up her seat.

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"She just wanted to get in really bad," Lee told ABC News' Phoenix affiliate KNXV-TV. "I seriously didn't know I was going to get in trouble."

When court staff learned of the transaction, they ordered Lee to return the money and also made her forfeit her place in line, she said.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, who is not affiliated with the Arias case, said he has seen similar interest in other high-profile trials.

"I've seen it happen before; I mean people line up around the courthouse," he said on "Good Morning America" today. "It becomes quite a spectator sport."

The twists and turns of the Arias trial have garnered national interest.

Arias, 32, initially told elaborate lies to detectives investigating the slaying of her former boyfriend Travis Alexander. She later admitted that she killed Alexander, but insisted it was in self-defense because he was an abusive and sexually deviant lover.

If convicted of murder, Arias could face the death penalty.

ABC News' Shana Druckerman contributed reporting.