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Italian Appeals Court To Decide Amanda Knox's Fate

DAVID GREENE, Host:

Barbie, good morning.

BARBIE NADEAU: Good morning.

GREENE: So this appeal has really been a long time coming. Tell us what we heard today from Amanda Knox herself.

NADEAU: Her co-accused or co-convicted, Raffaele Sollecito, also addressed the jury and did a less, I would say, a less convincing job than Amanda. We haven't heard much about Raffaele Sollecito. He really is the forgotten figure of this story, but he's also been convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

GREENE: So, Amada Knox, an American exchange student accused of murder, already spent some jail time in Italy. It sounds like this was her final plea to the court. I mean, when is the judge expected to actually render a verdict?

NADEAU: Well, the judge said - before he left, he said two things. He warned the media that this is not a ballgame. Remember that this is about the death of a beautiful young woman and about the future of two lives, basically, and sort of told the media, which is ever-present, to treat it as such. Then he said that the jury will take until at least 8 o'clock tonight local time to reach their decision.

GREENE: And Knox's - Amanda Knox's lawyers have really built their appeal around this idea of, you know, the need to reexamine the DNA evidence in the case. Lay out their argument for us.

NADEAU: In the original trial, the defense really, really tried hard to get an independent review of that evidence and they were denied. In the appellate process, they decided to take another look at those items. And I think that was the big game-changer. If Amanda Knox goes free tonight, it will be because of that independent review.

GREENE: And briefly, Barbie, are you getting a sense from lawyers about the possibility of Amanda Knox going free?

NADEAU: You know, the sense on the street, of course, is that she's going to walk. But I think that's because it's the media basically making these predictions. And that's what we're prepared for. The feeling on the street is that she's going to go, but it's sort of false - probably a false prediction, because I don't think anyone really knows. Her lawyers are less optimistic than the press. I would say they're very cautious. They understand that these appellate trials can go either way.

GREENE: Barbie, thank you.

NADEAU: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.