Update 1:02 pm MT: Live-Stream of courtroom and verdict at King5.com (Seattle), running now. Verdict has been pushed back 15 minutes. Here's a picture of the courtroom at 9:15 pm. Only 100 journalists and no members of the public are allowed inside. Here is the crowd outside. There are more than a dozen judicial police on hand in case of "public disorder.)
Bump and Update 12:00 pm MT: Verdict will come at 21:30 local time -- the court has confirmed time. That's 90 minutes from now.
Update: 10:12 am MT: Here is the text of Amanda Knox's statement to the court. You can watch her statement here. The jury of two robed judges and six laypersons is now deliberating. It is now 6:12 pm in Perugia and the verdict is not expected before 8:00 pm.
[Judge]Hellmann has two votes. The other professional judge has one. Then there are six lay judges: ordinary citizens drawn by ballot from among the residents of Umbria, the region of which Perugia is the capital. They have one vote each.
Update: 1 a.m. MT: For those staying up late, court in Italy is just beginning. The journalists are in the courtroom, the prison van with Amanda has arrived. For live coverage via Twitter (in English), check out: @john_hooper (The Guardian); @BLNadeau (Daily Beast, Newsweek); @andreavogt (crime and breaking news in Italy ); and @mchancecnn (CNN Senior International Correspondent.) The Italian press doesn't think a verdict will be in until Monday evening. This is a wrap for me until tomorrow.
Bump and Update 12:50 am MT Monday 10/3: Seattle's King5.com will live-stream Amanda Knox's final plea to the judges and jury. It's not certain what time that will be.
Update 11:45 pm: Court begins in 75 minutes at 9:00 am Perugia time. It's 7:45 am there now. The proceedings are being televised. Journalists were lining up at sunrise, here's a picture by the Geoff Hill, Director of Coverage for CNN London. Here's a picture of the prison.
Update: The murder verdicts will be read first. What to listen for:
There are three main words to listen for. Confirma means the original verdict will be upheld. Reforma means it has been overturned. Parsiali reforma means the sentences could be lengthened or shortened.
Update: There are two judges on the jury and six citizens.
Appeal decided by a jury of eight, made up of main judge - in this case Claudio Pratillo Hellmann - another judge and six jurors from the general public Judges take part and vote as part of the jury, but guide rather than instruct others how to votd
An Italian Appeals Court is preparing to rule Monday in the Amanda Knox case. Amanda's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, will first make a statement and then Amanda will get a final chance to present a plea to the judges before they retire to deliberate and hand down their ruling.
There are four possible outcomes:
- Conviction upheld and she serves remaining 22 years
- Conviction upheld and sentence increased to life
- Conviction upheld and sentence reduced
- Conviction overturned and she is released from prison
Tomorrow's verdict is not likely to end the case. Either side can appeal to Italy's highest court.
How the ruling tomorrow will unfold:
On Monday, when the judge announces the ruling (on live television, no less), he will spew out the case numbers and codes for the original conviction and then whether they are confirmed or overturned. He can absolve Knox of all or part of her conviction, and he can rule separately on Knox and Sollecito. He can absolve them completely, or let them go due to insufficient evidence, which is not the same as finding them not guilty. He can also reduce the sentence without absolving Knox of any crime.
CNN explains the verdict process here. If the verdict is overturned, Amanda will return to jail to collect her belongings and is then likely to leave Italy. Further appeals by the prosecution are not expected to delay her departure.
Also check out the site, An Injustice in Perugia, "detailing the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito."
For live twitter updates, follow Barbie Latza Nadeau, an American journalist based in Rome since 1996 who is covering the case for Newsweek and Daily Beast.