"america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert, in just one hour, the window opens for a possible verdict in the amanda knox case. after four years in prison, disputed dna evidence will be the key factor in deciding the fate of the american coed convicted of murder in italy. welcome to "america live" everyone, i'm megyn kelly and we are officially on verdict watch. amanda knox, making an emotional plea in court this morning telling a panel she did not, coat, kill, rape or steal. the american student who is facing freedom or many more years, potentially up to her life, behind bars, pleading with an italian court today to overturn her conviction in connection with the murder of her roomate, meredith kircher. mer -- meredith was killed and i've always wanted justice for her. i am not escaping from the truth. and i never will. and i've never done that.

i insist, and want the truth to come out. i insist after four desperate years, i insist i am innocent. we are innocent. because this is true. and we deserve to defend ourselves. and that you recognize our innocence. megyn: kircher's family, mainly silent throughout this sensation sal trial in italy and recent murder appeals case, finally speaking out during a news conference in italy, her family, again, saying that they hope the outcome of this case will focus on the victim and not the hype. greg burke, streaming live to us from perugia, where this is all happening. greg. >> reporter: hello there megyn. you know, public relations has played an important part in this appeals trial and it certainly did today, as well, with amanda speaking. now, she might have had media training. she was just that good. the first time around, in the first trial when she spoke at the same point, right before it went to the

jury, she rambled around, this time, short, declarative sentences saying i did not kill, i did not rape, it was really very effective, she was emotional, though, she stopped as she started to cry several times, her family as well, there, holding hands and crying, but a very effective speech today. now, her co-defendant, her former boyfriend, also on trial, somewhat less effective. you could tell that rafaela is terrified, talking about how tough it is to live in prison, they have both been in prison, amanda and rafaela, now for nearly four years, rafaela talking about being in a tiny cell, 2-meters by 3-meters, for some 20 hours a day, and what effect that has had on him. now, the family of the victim, meredith kircher, have arrived, they have been quiet up until now, only speaking out a couple of times, but today, they d. they will be here for the verdict, they said they're not happy about the media

onslaught, they understand it, they say the important thing is for meredith to be remembered. >> meredith has been forgotten in all of it. the media has lost sight of her. they've not thought about what happened in the beginning and it's very difficult to keep her memory alive in all of this, which is why the whole trial is still going on in the first place. >> reporter: finally, megyn, this is a really a small town and a couple of hours ago the lead prosecutor actually walked by our position here, we talked to him for a little while, he did not seem very hopeful for the outcome. he said there have been two main problems with his appeal, one has been the media attention, the other, he said, was that dna review, he didn't think the dna review was necessary. that's all gone in amanda's favor, and he certainly did not seem very optimistic about another conviction. megyn. megyn: tkpwrerg burke, thank

you. on the jury deciding amanda knox's fate, there is a presiding judge, a side judge, and six jurors. five of those jurors are women. now, they have the power to acquit both of these defendants all together and set them free, or they could uphold the conviction, confirm the sentence, or reduce it, or increase it. the chief justice's vote counts more than that of the side judge and the jury verdict. the verdict coming out of the appeals court does not need to be unanimous. they only need a majority to vote one way or the other. we will be awaiting that momentarily, again, folks. they were saying do not expect a verdict before 2:00 p.m. eastern today. that would be 8:00 p.m. italian time. that is when we expect, as soon as within one hour from right now, that we could have finally a verdict in this case. and as we await that ruling we have live pictures from perugia, the crowds are gathering outside the

courtroom in italy where amanda knox will learn her fate. prosecutors who have depicted knox as a manipulative liar, looking to increase her sentence to life in prison. right now it's a 26-year sentence. they want the rest of her life. as we've watched this case play out in italy, there has been key evidence called into question. look at the crowds out there. look at that. look at the interest. even in the italian streets of what happens to this american. could we see a different result this time around? i was joined by amanda's father back in december to talk about this. here's what he had to say then: >> does she expect a different result? >> when you take a look at the first trial and the fact that the prosecution experts were literally on one side of the map and the defense experts were on the other side of the map, having a real independent review of this forensic evidence i think is going to show that amanda had nothing to do with this and that she will be able to come home. megyn: trace gallagher, live in our west coast newsroom with more. trace.

>> reporter: remember megyn, a clear motive never emerged in this case so what prosecutors tried to do was portray amanda knox as a promiscuous party girl and say there was friction between knox and meredith kircher because amanda kept bringing men back to her home and she would not pick up after herself. the three biggest pieces of physical evidence remain the kitchen knife which was found at her former boyfriend's home. now, the prosecutors say that knife had dna from both amanda knox and meredith kircher, kirc. her on the blade, knox on the ham. they also found footprint that is prosecutors say matched those of knox, they used a chemical that actually glows when it reacts with blood. that's how they found those. prosecutors also say that she confessed to being at the murder scene when this happened, then later changed her story. but the evidence in favor of amanda knox is also that dna. that's the key. an independent panel of

experts appointed by the courts saying the dna was at best flawed and at the very least it was nonexistent, that the amount of kircher's dna on the knife was so low it should not even have been considered. the defense pointed that luminol that glows the blood t. reacts with russ, fruit juice and detergent and that no dna evidence from amanda was ever found at the crime scene. here's more from her father. listen: >> that's absolutely ludicrous. i mean, if you take a look at the crime scene video of that particular room and the horrific actions that must have taken place in that room, there is no possibility, none whatsoever, to wipe yourself completely clean from the room. >> reporter: finally, the witnesses who placed amanda knox at the murder scene that night, highly questionable, including a heroin addict whose testimony in court was very much knocked down. megyn. megyn: trace, thank you. again, the verdict in

this case could be handed down in roughly 45 minutes from right now. the verdict can be seen live, right here, we will be getting that verdict live on the air. we expect it to be read in the courtroom from the bench. you will see it when we see it. it will also be streaming live on foxnews.com. of course you can also read up on this case from amanda's arrest, all the way through the murder trial, to the most recent appeals on our front page, foxnews.com. a lot other -- of other news to bring you today, including this, an epic showdown unfolding ahead of the 2012 presidential race, a defiant south carolina announcing just hours ago it will move up the date of its republican primary to january 21st this, in the wake of florida breaking with tradition last week and moving up the date of its primary contest. iowa, new hampshire, and nevada have yet to announce any changes but they're all expected along with south carolina to move their primaries and caucuses up

before florida which has set its date an january 31st. the order in which states hold their primaries is fiercely competitive, as each state, and in particular these smaller states, wants a significant role in determining the ultimate winner of the republican nomination. you win early in iowa, it can really spur on your momentum. it happened for president obama. that's why states like iowa have it in their state constitution that they must go first. florida has moved itself to january 31st, the other four will as well and we could be looking at new year's day or close to primaries and caucuses, folks. new jersey governor chris christie is fueling new rumors he's about to get into the race. well, the new jersey governor is meeting with the state's national guard this weekend. he attended several ceremonies honoring those in service. the governor is staying away from questions about a possible run. sources close to him say he may be having a change of heart. yeah, that's a little more accurate. it's the sores close to him who are reporting that.

well, some powerful labor unions, throwing their support behind the wall street protestors camped out in lower manhattan. demonstrations are now going into their third week as police in new york city made hundreds of arrest this is weekend after protestors marched on the brooklyn bridge. now new protests are springing up in other cities. david lee miller is here with the latest. david lee. >> reporter: megyn, these copycat protests taking aim at big business have taken place across the country but these other demonstrations are significantly smaller than what we've seen here in new york city. among the cities targeted, san francisco, l.a., chicago, denver, boston, the demonstrators say they want economic equality and are lashing out at capitalism. the sites targeted often include banks and federal buildings. in north carolina, one protester described the protests as the haves against the have nots. >> i think part of the problem, we have a small percentage of people in the united states who own the majority of wealth, and they also own the majority of power to make decisions that

affect other peoples' lives. >> reporter: meanwhile the occupied wall street movement as you mentioned is picking up support from organized labor, the largest public employees union is expected to rally on behalf of the protestors. over the weekend about 700 were arrested with disorderly conduct, the protestors claim they were tricked by the misspoke crossing the brooklyn bridge where they were then taken into custody but police video shows a different story, as the propesters chanted take the bridge, take the bridge, a uniformed police captain warned them to turn back or they would face arrest. >> here in new york city this morning, the demonstrators, once again protestors but the actions represent a theater of the absurd with the protestors dressing up as self-described wall street zombies, many have faces painted white, they had fake blood dripping from their faces and were trying to eat

monopoly money, megyn. no word if any of them had any get out of jail free cards. megyn. megyn: david lee miller, thank you. new fallout over president obama's remarks that america has, quote, gotten soft. lou dobbs joins us next with his take on the president's report card on the country. and, a flight from puerto rico to boston ends with passengers on stretchers -- stretchers on a runway. we'll show you what happened a mile high in the sky that moment dollars -- prompted an uneasy landing. >> mexico's drug war getting more violent by the day, now details about the two cartels running the business of terror down there. we'll have more on that just ahead. is megyn: fox news alert,

right now there's a massive chemical fire blackening the afternoon sky in texas. look at these pictures. a fire at the magnablend chemical plant erupting just south of dallas around 11:00

a.m. this morning, there have been rorpts of several explosions after flaming liquid spilled along the ground, an entire fire truck, consumed by the blast. rescue crews, telling people at a nearby school to stay inside because of possibly dangerous gases in the air. parents are being allowed to pick up their children as firefighters scramble to contain the massive inferno. would you just look at this you just don't see that -- at this? you don't see that every day. there are still no indications as to what might have caused this. the fire is spreading to a nearby rail yard. there have been no reports of injuries so far and no word if any employees were in this plant when the fire got out of control. we'll continue to update you new questions today about president obama's remarks last thursday that america has gotten, quote, a little soft over the past couple of decades. the president making those comments to a local tv station in florida. some say he even seemed to be blaming americans for the bad economy in making that

comment. and just one day after he made that statement, some new fox news polls show that some 75 percent of voters believe that what's to blame for our current economic situation is bad leadership. lou dobbs of the fox business network, he's my guest now. lou, so the president is being -- this isn't fading away. more and more people are reacting to this, governor perry came on fox news just on friday and criticized the president for making those remarks and it's being spun as the president blaming america, the president is blaming america for our problems, rather than taking responsibility. is that fair, is america at all to blame? >> you know, when you talk about who's to blame here, for a president, all the rules are very concentrated and direct. he has to be accountable, or he is being soft, soft in terms of lack of discipline, soft in terms of a lack of leadership, and that is really the only

issue, to me at least, that is in discussion here. this president is having a jimmy carter moment. you'll remember the famous malaise line, blaming -- as the president seems to be here -- blaming followership for a lack of good, strong, positive leadership. and that's a shame. is he entirely wrong? absolutely not. we have had failures of leadership militarily, politically, in business, in commerce, in education, across this country over the course of the past 20 years. the principal failure is people have not been held accountable, those responsible. that is what we have -- i think we can be fairly accused of being soft. megyn: here's the question, though. is the president lowering the bar on expectations by which he would be judged? in other words, you see that the american people are saying what's to blame in this country is a lack of leadership, 75 percent of the american people believe that. is the president trying to say look, it's not the leadership, it is the fact

that americans have a different attitude now? i mean, we saw him in his speech before the congressional black caucus saying you need to work harder, you've got to march with me, take off your bedroom slippers -- slippers, put on your marching shoes, in the meantime, america has gotten soft, and he says to our audiences, as byron york points out today, i never promised you easy, if you wanted it easy you wouldn't have campaigned for me. it's like the attitude. it's not me, it's the attitude of the american people. >> it's one of the reasons his poll numbers are at all-time lows now. it is one of the reasons that there is a growing sense that we can't tolerate anymore of this nonsense. this president has been the most self-indulgent leader in my career of this country. he uses the first person reference incessantly. no president has ever used as many first person references in states of the union messages. it's incomprehensible. megyn: what about exactly,

as somebody who knows the business background of this country, does he have a valid point that we have gotten soft in the last couple of decades? >> absolutely. you can make that charge. but he should be focused on what he is responsible for and that is strong, positive leadership in the nation. one can always point fingers, and blame others. but ultimately, for example, the american people are responsible for tolerating a leader like president obama who has not one single statement to his credit that that -- that was offered as assurance or to inspire confidence in the markets. he has in successive speeches and comments talked down the economy, talked down the american worker. he has talked down our markets. and there seems to be a cry here for consumers to suddenly go out and start spending money. that would be utterly irrational and it should not be expected. we have a new paradigm in this country now. we have limited resources, when we're growing -- we are

growing increasingly impatient with leaders who don't understand. we have to marshal resources, including our capital, our household budgets are being hammered, and we don't want the consumer and like fools, start spending without some basis to expect far better things in the future. megyn: lou dobbs, thank you sir. >> great to be with you. megyn: the window opens for the verdict in 40 minutes from now, crowds are getting bigger by the italian courthouse. author doug preston, he wrote the book, the monster of florence, which in great detail talks about a serial murder case in italy, but the prosecutor behind this case as well, and he's been following this case just as closely as anybody. he will join me live, and he says he's got big news in the case. stay with us. look, every day we're using more and more energy.

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honor recipients gathered in one place this weekend to celebrate 150 years of the congressional medal of honor society, the group also taking a moment at the patriot award dinner to recognize four leading americans for their accomplishments and dedication to ideals of the congressional medal of honor awards. country music artist trace adkins was honored for excellence in entertainment, ted bassett iii honored for distinguished citizenship, president of the breeder's cup horse racing event, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, receiving the patriot award, and our own fox news chairman, roger ales, receiving the group's award for excellence in journalism. the group singling out mr. ales', quote, impact on journalism and uneye bassed news coverage of the u.s. military in peace and war. good for them.

using technology to track criminals is a common tool in modern police work. but do police have a right to track a suspect's whereabouts without even obtaining a warrant? what if you were the suspect? what would you think? that's the issue behind one of the most critical cases now under review by the u.s. supreme court which is back in session, folks. legal experts say the decision could have major privacy implications for every single american. shannon bream covers the high court for us. she is there in front of the beautiful building with an update. hey shannon. >> reporter: hi megyn. the question in this case stems from a decision right here in d.c., police officers put a gps tracking device on a drug suspect was car, they left it there for a month without ever getting a warrant and that is a tricky delegate decision for the justices, they've got to balance between police who want to use 21 12* century technology to do their jobs

and unreasonable search and seizure. critics worry about where you draw the line, can the police track you 24/7 without having a judge weigh in and say this surveillance is warranted or it's not. on the other side folks argue that police could track you anyway by following you down the street, on foot or in a car, so what's the difference with using a gps device. here's elizabeth weiner: >> the concern is that the government could be using technology to accomplish something that they couldn't do under the constitution without a warrant otherwise. and as justice scalia has noted in other cases, you know, we can't limit the fourth amendment's protections against unlawful government searches based on sort of old notions of what is technologically possible. >> and this is sort of a delicate balance. we've seen over the last couple of terms, including this upcoming case, the notion of 21st century technology against

precedents that are centuries old, some of them. by the way that gps will be heard november 8th here in the high court, megyn. megyn: thank you. her fate is now in the hands of six jurors and two judges. in just three minutes we will speak with a man who knows amanda knox's case inside and out and we will get his take on what happens when this verdict comes in. by the way, wait until you hear the stunning update from douglas preston about what amanda knox can expect next. and as herman cain moves up in the polls there is new video circulating of him in the 1990s, challenging then president clinton on health care. armed with just a note pad, the godfather ceo standing up for business owners in what some are now saying could be a game changer in the current presidential race. >> okay, first of all mr. president, with all due respect, your calculation on what the impact would do, quite honestly, is incorrect.

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the fate of the american co-ed convicted of murdering her roommate merdith kercher back in 2007. i spoke with amanda's father, kurt knox. he described his daughter's reaction to her roommate's death. as a father who has known her you hernandez hernandez entire life. can you give us any perspective on that. >> a lot of this was little pictures that had nothing to do with that moment. when amanda found out there was a body in the room, she righ literally tried and was in shock. to portray her as not caring, that was totally wrong. with respect to the police station everybody deals with trauma in different ways. in amanda's case she had experienced that trauma five hours before all of meredith's

friends came to the police station for questioning, and they were starting their emotional process that amanda had already kind of begun to go through and show was beginning to get angry on how something like this could have happened to her dear friend. megyn: my next guest has done extensive research on this case. he is douglas preston, the author "of the monster of florence" about a serial killer in italy. it got him very intimately involved in the italian legal system, including the prosecutor who was behind this prosecution, amanda knox's prosecutor who has been convicted of abuse of process before. thank you for being back with us here on "america live" as we are on verdict day. you heard amanda knox this morning. what did you think? >> she was very eloquent. her italian is beautiful and she was very believable.

i was quite moved. megyn: as were apparently some of the jurors. according to the reports a couple of them were seen openly crying during her statements, and they were -- as well as the press, some of the press who were in the courtroom. when you've got members of the jury crying, when the defendant is appealing for her freedom, i would take that as a good sign if i were the defense lawyer. nonetheless, douglas, you of all people can attest you never know how things are going to go in these italian courtrooms. what do you think is going to happen here? >> well, i think she'll be acquitted. i don't think that there is any way that they cannot acquit her unless some really terrible fix is in the works, but i doubt. however, i have heard from a source, a very good source in italy, that the chief prosecutor may be planning to refile criminal charges against her if she's acquitted. and this person said to me, her parents better get her out of the country as fast as possible

before that happens. megyn: you're talking about the same criminal charges that she would just have been acquitted of. >> well, they would be r rejiggered, italy has no law against double jeopardy. this prosecutor did this repeatedly in the monster of florence case that he was also prosecuting. he kept refiling criminal charges against people, the courts would order him to drop the charges, then he'd refile again, harassing these people, improve ar requiring them to come back to court. the rumor is he will do this to a machined today. she better get out of the country right away. megyn: you believe amanda knox is innocent and has been railroaded. none of us knows because we weren't actually there. one thing you do know is that this is a corrupt prosecutor who cannot be trusted. i mean tell our viewers who do not know about the prosecutor,

why they need to have concerns about this man. >> reporter: well, first of all he's been convicted of abuse of office. he's been sentenced to 16 months in prison. but, you know, i also had a run in with him where before the amanda knox case, you know, occurred, he called me in for an interrogation i was living in italy. he accused me of being an accessory to murder, of obstructing justice, of planting falls evidence in the monster of florence case and then he indicted me. he he demanded that i confess. he said if you don't confess i'm going to indict you for these crimes. i said i won't confess to a murder i didn't commit or had anything to do with, he did indict me and suggest i in his d what his theory is going to be. in this says was sex try edge, weird sex gone bad. amanda and her boyfriend

murdered this woman with the help of rudy guede, which you believe is the actual murderer without the help of raphael or amanda. no matter what facts come in he seems to stick to his original theory. >> that's right. it's all about saving face. it's very important in italy. he prematurely, he and the whole power stabment of perugia, the chief of police had a press conference in which they announced, case closed, and then they found the real killer. to save face they had to connect amanda and raphael with rudy in order to save face and not to have to admit that they made a terrible mistake. megyn: before we go i want to ask you, because there has been so much media coverage of this in italy and the united states and initially it was all bad for amanda. there was a rush to judgment, a presumption of guilt. now as we watch these crowds gathering outside of the courthouse in italy has the t

ide changed in italy as well as the united states and do you believe the court members will be affected by it? >> yes, the tide of public opinion in italy completely changed. the appeals trial showed that the evidence that this prosecutor used to convict her was not just erreo probably fraudulent all ginned up. there has been a big outcry in italy about this. 11 members of parliament wrote to the president of italy demanding an investigation in this case saying amanda knox had been terribly mistreated and they want an investigation. so far no word whether there will be an investigation. i guarantee you if she is acquitted heads are going to roll. megyn: she took issue with the place, saying i was betrayed, i was manipulated. i didn't do what they say. i didn't kill, i didn't rape, i didn't steal i was not there. douglas preston, thank you so

much for being with us as you have throughout this case. we look forward to speak to you after we have the verdict we hope. >> thank you. megyn: all the best, sir. unbelievable, folks we are 20 minutes away from a verdict in this case. what is going to happen to this young american girl who went to italy to study abroad, suddenly winds up with her roommate murdered and then gets convict he of the crime herself. i'm not saying whether she is guilty or innocent, none of us can know but that prosecutor, that italian prosecutor has got a very checkered past. and now we've had independent experts come in on this appeal and analyze the evidence, and they have raised serious questions about how this woman was convicted in the first place. those are the stakes as we watch this courthouse today, 20 minutes away from what could be the verdict in this case. and as herman cain moves into a top tier status as a candidate a rarely seen moment between cain and president bill clinton surfaces. could this be a game changer for

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megyn: some remarkable video surfacing of presidential candidate herman cain, 17 years ago, taking on a citying president on the issue of healthcare at a town hall. as mr. cain gains momentum today in the polls could this boo "him ubouey him up even more. >> suppose you have part time workers and some wouldn't have the coverage. you wouldn't go from 2.5% to 7.9%. you might go to something like

6%. if you had 6% of pay roll let's just say instead of 2.5%. 6.5%, you had 4% of pay roll and that's one-third of your total costs, so you would add about 1.5% to the total cost of doing business. would that really cause you to lay a lot of people off if all your competitors had to do it too. if all your competitors had to do it and your cost of business went up 1.5% wouldn't that leave you in the same position you are now? why wouldn't they all be in the same position? and why wouldn't you all be able to raise the price of pizza 2 herz? i'm a satisfied customer, i'd keep buying from you. >> first of all mr. president with all due respect, your calculation on what the impact would do, quite honestly is incorrect. let's take, for example, the fact that after i went through my calculations your calculation, or your example of the 6% or the 7.9 and in my case it works out to 7.9%.

let's suppose that 30% of my costs are labor costs, 7.9 times that would be the 2 to 2.5% that you're referring to. the problem with that calculation, sir, is the fact that those -- most of those 30% of the people currently have zero. so when i calculate in the fact that i have to go from no coverage on those employees to full coverage at the 7.9% rate, it actually works out to be approximately 16%. so what i'm saying and suggesting is that the assumptions about the impact on a business like mine are simply not correct because we are very labor intensive, we have a large number of part time and short-term employees that we do not cover for one simple reason, we can't afford it. megyn: you're not expected to know the math or remember the

math. but the point is the dynamic, and what we were seeing unfolding there. joining me now brad blakeman a former deputy assistant to george w. bush and kirsten powers who is also a fox news contributor. the numbers, i don't know about you, my head was swimming. but i get what was happening between those two men. you've got a real live businessman challenging a president on a proposed government healthcare program which at the time was being referred to as hillary care, and mr. cain held his own, brad. how does it play today? >> he certainly did. raising cain with a sitting president but doing it factually on something he knows b.e's a sitting ceo of a corporation, against a president who has never really held a job in the private sector, and basically telling a businessman, suck it up, pass the cost along you'll be fine. no, i think that is exactly what americans like to see. they like to see a no nonsense business guy taking on a politician and winning on the points and the facts and the

policies. megyn: here is the reason why i think it's interesting, kristen because romney and cain have been dueling it out about who is the real businessman, who really knows what they are doing. now you have video 17 years ago of herman cain actually running a corporation, going to a town hall to take up his business issues with a democratic president in a respectful but firm way, which you can tell he knows what he's talking about. >> yeah, yeah, well it's definitely a very impressive exchange. and i think, you know, if you want to sort of play this out, what does this mean for him in terms of debating, how would he debate obama i think this situation is a little different than your average debate especially because this is something that herman cain obviously knows intimately, right? i mean this is his business, this is something he knows backwards and forwards. with other issues he isn't going to have as strong of a command as he does on this issue. for example in foreign policy which isn't something that he's had to spend a lot of time on when it comes to a business

issue, especially one who specifically affects them he has a very, very strong command and was able to hold his own against the president. megyn: that is certainly not his forte, foreign policy, he's made blunders on that front there is no question. but, brad what this election seems to be boiling down to according to the polls is the economy. who can fix the economy, and there is still a lot of anger over healthcare and the fact that it was paosed, the way in which it was passed. herman cain gave a great answer to that at the fox news debate that was received very well. about his own experience having survived stage iv cancer. does that play into that narrative for him? >> it does. the election in 2012 almost certainly will turn on the economy. there are other issues important to a candidate. foreign policy is one of those. having prior government experience, intelligence community. there are so many other issues that a president needs to be on top of, not just the economy. herman cain does have a disadvantage on those issues, but having said that he is

certainly a formidable debater and campaigner as we've all come to know him and concern lee i think he's got a great shot at getting the nomination. but he doesn't have much time to show us the other characteristics which will make him a good president. megyn: kirsten does herman cain as a possible contender to president obama scare democrats? do you think he could actually win? >> i don't think it's something democrats ha frankly given a lot of thought to. this whole herman cain sort of, hermentom going on is a fairly new thing. i don't think anything is really giving it much pause. right now they'd problem below say no, they are not that concerned about it. of course one of obama's serious strengths is his strength among the african-american community, so if there is any chance of peeling off any of those votes that would be very dangerous for him. megyn: got to run we are on verdict watch next. constated? phillips' caplet use gnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally wityour colon than stimulant xatives,

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out on the drug war tearing mechanics owe apart. five years after an offensive launched against the country's main drug cartels there is new word that mexico is now dominated by two powerful cartels that appear to be in a dangerous battle over control. trace gallagher following us live from the west coast newsroom. >> reporter: the mexican drug war is pushing deeper and deeper into mexico into tourist cities, acapulco where they found dozens of body dumped in the middle of a very busy road. acapulco could now be the new battleground for the biggest sar tells. the zeta and the sinaloa cartels that are fighting for the corridors in and out of the united states as well as the sea ways. when the drug wars began five

years ago the zeta were not a cartel, they were former military experts, enforcers. now they broke away. they say zeta is responsible for the worst massacres across mexico. the sinaloa cartel focuses mor on business and smuggling drugs and humans. as the zeta's get nor violent the fear is the sinaloas will have to match them and become more violent in turn. both sides, if you can believe this are actually involved in a public relations campaign down in acapulco, putting up banners, donating money to schools, buying food, trying to get people to come to their side, kind of talibanesque, where they go for hearts and minds. they are not getting hearts and minds, they are getting guns and bombs. 40,000 people killednd counting. megyn: incredible.

fox news alert on an angry exchange in washington. after one of the world's top terrorists was killed in a cia strike last week. vice president former dick cheney praising the mission and suggesting the white house owes the bush team a possible apology. wait until you hear the white house response, right after this break. live pictures from outside the prison where amanda knox is currently awaiting a verdict that could be moments away, folks. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. megyn: fox news alert we are now officially awaiting the verdict in perugia, italy. this is the appeal for an american college student convicted of murder overseas, that is where we begin this new hour of "america live." welcome, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. we are expecting a decision as of this moment forward. this is a live look at the courthouse in italy where amanda knox earlier today, in italian,

made an emotional appeal for her freedom this morning. knox was sentenced to 26 years behind bars for killing her roommate in a bizarre sex game, that is the prosecution's theory. the defense says that is utter nonsense, she wasn't even in the apartment on the night her roommate died. she claimed to these jurors that she is paying with her life for a crime she did not commit. >> i have not killed, i have not raped, i have not stolen anything. i wasn't there. i was not present for the crime. megyn: greg burke is streaming live to us from perugia, italy. now we hear reports that there were actually jurors in tears as amanda knox delivered her remarks in italian to the panel that will decide her fate today. >> reporter: megyn that is right. she was really right on. when you say decide her fate

today, the bells are ringing right now. it's 8:00 local here. they said the verdict could come not before 8. we heard the italian news agency flashing that it will come in 9:30. they are normally pretty reliable. could be a little later than that. that is what they are aiming for. lots of british and american media here to be sure but also loads of curious onlookers as well as you see outside of the courthouse right now. basically, you know, the brits because of merdith kercher, the victim, the americans of course because of amanda and amanda's family did a very good job in this appeals trial keeping the story alive and basically the story of the innocence of both their daughter and of her former boyfriend raffaele sollecito. earlier today amanda made the final plea and she was really ready to go. she speaks italian very well. she was ready for game day. on the initial trial she had been fumbling around, rambling all over the place, not very

clear at all. today it was just the opposite. she said i did not kill, i did not rape, i'm innocent. i was not there. and i think that really did probably strike a chord with the jurors. fine lease, megyn, despite the momentum that there is for the defense in not only what amanda had to say, that helps but the essential thing as really been this independent review of the dna evidence in this appeal, that seems to be the momentum, sources here say be careful. this is a come mr. indicated case, the burden is on the defense to show that the first trial was somehow mistaken and it's not a don deal. you also have that other charge, serious charge amanda was convicted of of slander which was in the u.s. would probably be obstruction of justice, accusing a man she knew to be innocent of the crime. megyn. megyn: greg burke, thank you. just to tell our viewers exactly what is at stake here. so what happened was after she had been arrested and interrogated overnight by herself without an attorney she ultimately when pressed by this

prosecutor pointed the finger at a bar owner who had nothing to do with the crime. that resulted in the slander charges against her, and was one of the things that prosecutor prosecutors -- would later point to as evidence that she must be guilty because she wrongly pointed the finger at somebody else. her lawyers say, what would you do? you're a young girl, you're in italy, you don't speak the language that well and you've got a prosecutor interrogating you, hour after hour after hour and you're face wed no attorney present asking you to name somebody, and they say that it was that prosecutor that first offered up the name of that bar owner for her to name as a sacrificial lamb. in any event just a clarification there. we are now officially awaiting this verdict, folks. they apparently have one. we are just awaiting the announcement of it. you heard greg burke saying that could come within the next 90 minutes. we will wait for that here. we will wait for word of it. one never knows how word gets out in the italian justice system but sometimes it does. and the stakes for this young woman could not be higher.

she has spent four years in an italian skwraeufplt it all started back in november 2007 when her roommate merdith kercher's body was found in the italian apartment the two women shared. just days later amanda knox and her boyfriend were questioned by the police and then ultimately they were put on trial for merdith kercher's murder. in december of 2009 amanda was found guilty and sentenced to 26 years in prison. her boyfriend was also convicted, getting 25 years in prison, and then a third man, randy guede came forward, he was convicted as well. he's been sentenced to 16 years in prison. many folks believe that he was in fact the actual murderer and there is a question about whether a manned tk and her boyfriend were also involved. getting in me ear now that amanda knox will be leaving prison. this is a live shot of the jail, will be leaving prison any moment and will be heading back to the courthouse to hear the reading of the verdict. you will see it right here

live. we have cameras in the courtroom. we will watch it together as amanda knox is about to leave prison for what she hopes will be the last time. if she is set free she will entirely, if she is set free entirely she will need to return to america after getting her passport in order as soon as humanly possible because there are now reports that the prosecutor in this case is considering charging her again. if she is acquitted, just as soon as she is acquitted there are reports that he may be considering slapping brand-new charges in connection with the same case on her since there is no double jeopardy rule in italy. that is only one of the possible outcomes. she could be convicted again. this appeals court in italy has what we call a de montesquiou standard of review which basically means a fresh look at the evidence. they don't have to be deferential to the court that found her guilty in the first place. they need only take a fresh look at the evidence, and the do have a beyond a reasonable doubt standard in italy. if this court believes that it

is beyond a reasonable doubt that she murdered her roommate merdith kercher it could uphold the verdict. the major things that happened on the appeal is the court takes a fresh look at the evidence related to the dna evidence. there had been in the first trial evidence that what they believe was the murder weapon, a knife that was found in the boyfriend's apartment had amanda knox's dna on the handle and merdith kercher's dna on the blade. they also believed that the boyfriend raffaele, that his dna was found on the bra clasp of the murder victim. all of that dna has now been called into question by independent experts appointed by the appeals court to take a fresh look at this and come back with unbiased reports. they cast edit all into doubt saying it was contaminated, it wasn't handled appropriately. it was handled by dirty gloves. no dna, six weeks later miraculously there is a match. real evidence about how the

evidence was handled. we don't know whether that would make a difference to this court. on the other side amanda knox gave conflicting stories. first she said she wasn't even in the apartment that night she was over at the boyfriend's house who was ultimately also convicted. then after being interrogated by police she ultimately said she had been in the apartment that night, and then pointed the finger at this bar owner who really had nothing to do with it. why did she do that? also the police had been taping her phone calls, she had an incriminating conversation with her own mother suggesting she had been at the apartment. the prosecution has relied on that as well. there have been multiple accounts of her bizarre behavior after meredith was found dead. when she was taken to the police station she was hugging, kissing, coddling with the boyfriend. she did a cartwheel outside of the police station hours after she found out her roommate was murdered. her father told me she was in shock she didn't know how to handle it. in the toughest times she took solace in her boyfriend and

different people handle stress in different waeufplt ways. you can see why there is such a division in this case and the freedom of an american woman hangs in the balance here. as we see the bars open this could be amanda knox leaving the courthouse now. we do not know for sure. we are awaiting her departure. she will head back to the courtroom to hear the verdict read live. there are two judges and six jurors. the system does not look much like the one we in the united states. by the way, folks we can be very thankful that we live here. the chief judge has basically two votes, the side judge has one vote, and the six jurors each have a vote. if it is a split verdict then we will have -- then they will be set free. a tie counts in favor of the defendant. all they need is a majority one way or the other for the verdict to come out. so if these jurors are split, you know, just one more vote on the side of acquittal then she will be acquitted. she could be acquitted all

together. she could be acquitted and sentenced to time-served. in other words, acquitted but they are not willing to say completely innocent. either way shaoed he'd get out of jail which would be good news for her. or she could have her conviction upheld and be sent to jail for longer. the prosecutor wants a sentence of 26 years upped to a lifetime in prison. those are the stakes for this young woman as we eye wait and watch the streets of italy awaiting with us. we will layout more of this evidence. we will have this debate ahead in "kelly's court" especially in the wake of what we saw this morning, this powerful statement by amanda knox and that of her boyfriend as well. in the meantime for full coverage you can go to our website foxnews.com where we have all the details of this case. i want to get to other breaking news now. a developing story in washington. the administration and former

vice president dick cheney engaged in a testy exchange over the war on terror. it started last week when the cia killed cleric anwar al-awlaki, the man who helped inspire the fort hood attack and so-called underwear bomber to name a few. some conservatives quickly pointed out that this was the sort of tactic president obama criticized the bush administration for during his 2009 speech in cairo. >> just as america can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter or forget our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. the fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. we are taking concrete actions to change course. megyn: well now former vice president dick cheney pointing at those remarks and suggesting

the bush administration may be owed an apology. >> the thing i'm waiting for is for the administration to go back and correct something they said two years ago when they criticized us for, quote, overreacting to the events of 9/11. they in effect said that we had walked away from our ideals, or taken policy contrary to our ideals when we had enhanced interrogation techniques. they clearly have moved in the direction of

>> he has used some of them, not the enhanced interrogation techniques, but others. the debate will go on for some years. megyn. megyn: once again we are awaiting a verdict in the amanda knox appeals trial. the decision expected very shortly. she will be leaving prison momentarily. she may have already left. we saw a consider a van leave the prison. we don't know if she was in it. she will leave momentarily or just left to go to the courthouse to hear the verdict read. we are breaking down all the evidence in "kelly's court" just ahead as we await the verdict. plus, president obama may be getting the cold shoulder from wall street, a sign that some of america's wealthiest political donors, liberal democrats may be holding back. karl rove on that three minutes away. he insists he is not running for president. but new jersey governor chris christie is making some moves right now that have supporters thinking otherwise. [ gong ]

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megyn: new questions today about whether the president's re-election team is facing an uphill battle when it comes to calm main cash. now reports suggesting wall street donors may be holding back creating a quote, donor crisis for president obama who reportedly wants to raise one billion dollars toward his re-election efforts. karl rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to president george w. bush and a fox news contributor and a man who knows about raising campaign cash but for the other side. that is your term a donor crisis. the "l.a. times" has an interesting article on how president obama failed to sell out a fancy dinner at the four seasons that warren buffet was hosting at a bargain. $10,000 a plate. he's hosted other fundraisers at $35,000 a plate, and they had trouble filling it. they are having trouble getting the fat cat wall street donors

to cough up the dough, why in. >> he's been attacking them and on the wong side of big issues with them. look, the president had a lot of support in the new york financial community in the 2008 election but starting in a 60 minutes interview in december of 2009 he design to pick out the quote, fat cat wall street bankers end quote and escalated that rhetoric throughout 2010. he sort of dropped off the rhetoric earlier this year but has come back with a repb srepbg talking aboua vengeance, talking about billionaires, and corporate jet owners. there are people on wall street that voted for president obama and supported him generously with hair wallets thinking he was going to change the tone of politics and was going to get the american economy moving. they are terribly disappointed in his policies and they are personally offended by the dark attacks they'v he's made upon

them. megyn: new york is very liberal but wall street despite the millions and millions, most people assume they must be republicans. no, wall street is very liberal and supports liberal democrats and did so with president obama in the last election, which is why this is so interesting, now that according to the "l.a. times" they say that they take goldman sachs, for example, which swung heavily for obama in 2008. they gave six times as much money to mitt romney in president obama in the donations reported so far. then romney went and had pwrebg nass with jaime diamond the ceo of jpmorgan chase at a sold out breakfast fund-raiser afterward and apparently jaime diamond he could be getting behind romney. this is a guy who was rumored to be obama's pick as treasury secretary at one point. >> right, right. look, president obama has a donor crisis. it's not just wall street, it's throughout a bunch of his donors. if you take a look at it in 2008

there were 3,950,000 people who donated to president obama's campaign. in the first quarter this year 290,000 of them, or 7% renewed their support of the president's political efforts with a contribution in the first quarter of his fundraising. experts i talked to tell me that is one quarter to 1/3 the rate it should are been. in other words he should have had 6 to 800,000 people renew their support if it was a normal political effort. i think for a variety of reasons, but mainly policy and tone people are walking away from the president. that is a problem. the president has been reduced in his fundraising appeals on the internet to asking people to give 5 bucks. the other day michelle obama asked people to send him 3 bucks. i think the strategy is to get people back into the habit of giving and hit them up for $5 or $3 gifts over the course of the next months and hope to get the kind of money they use tow get from them. you mentioned the billion dollar goal i want to you think about this.

that is his goal, a billion dollars. the first quarter he raised between the democratic national committee and the obama campaign 86 million. the second carts, the quarter we just evened on friday they said their goal they thought they'd raise about 55 million. that means in every quarter to come, the four 1/2 quarters left before the election they have to raise 191 million a quarter in order to get to that goal. that will be hard to do when you have used up the easy given from the easy places and the president did a lot of fundraisers. 33 of them. you've got $86 million, now you're going to have to be raising one at 2.5 times that clip between now and the end of campaign. not on pace, no. megyn: thank you, sir. fox news alert from the campaign trail. our harris faulkner spoke with herman cain about 15 minutes ago as the candidate left a meeting with donald trump. that is three minutes away. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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megyn: fox news alert now to italy. american student amanda knox is about to learn her fate. we understand that she is on her way to the court now from the italian prison, expected to hear the verdict once and for all in her appeals case. the american student convicted of killing her british roommate merdith kercher back in 2007. amanda knox pai maintaining her innocence. she was sentenced to 26 years in prison and has spent four years behind bars. her fate rests in the hands of an appeals court in perugia, italy. the court could choose to set her free for increase her prison term. the victim's family maintains that the prosecution got this right, that amanda knox did lie about her behavior on the night in question, gave inconsistent stories and was as the prosecution alleged involved in

some sort of bizarre sex ritual that led to the death of merdith kercher. we will wait to hear the appeals court verdict. as you can see those on the streets of italy awaiting the verdict as well and we will await the first sighting of amanda knox back in the courtroom as we await the verdict to be read live on the stand. you'll see it right here with us. another fox news alert, this one is from the campaign trail. presidential candidate herman cain just wrapping up a meeting with donald trump moments ago, and our own harris faulkner snagged an exclusive one-on-one interview with the former ceo of godfather's pizza right after it happened. >> reporter: some political observers call donald trump of apprentice tv show fame and once potential presidential candidate himself somewhat of a king maker. politicians invited to trump towers like sarah palin and mitt

romney look favorably upon a chance to sit down with trump. about an hour ago it was herman cain's turn. i asked what the sue ceo's talked b. he said jobs, and th this. >> we talked about jobs. when i explained to him how my 999 plan. [inaudible] he goes, oh, wow. nobody has ever brought that up. i did. i understand that stuff, okay. he really was impressed with that. >> you called him don. >> i did, i did call him don. >> reporter: i asked if they were going to become friends or political alliances. he is hoping both. after winning straw polls in florida and a republican convention in kansas city he won a straw poll there as well he told me there were a couple of things he thought were true. trump took notice of him, he was impressed by him and an

endorsement would be important. what about an endorsement from donald trump? how important is that? >> i believe that if he were to endorse me that would be huge, because he's such a well respected businessman, and because he has a platform that a lot of people listen to him. obviously it would be something that is welcomed. i happen to think he's going to wait a while longer until the field narrows before he decides if he's going to endorse someone. >> reporter: did you ask him for his endorsement? >> no i did not. if he wants to endorse you he'll let you know. >> reporter: you know, he's got a lot of pep in his step right now, megyn, he says this he's really feeling quite a momentum after these recent straw patrols wins. he's hoping that will translate into fundraising cash. his new book rolls out. you can watch this officially happen on fox news channel exclusively on hannity later this evening at 9pm eastern. megyn, campaign cash, a pep in

his step, herman cain enjoying his meeting with trump today and he hopes it's all tied together to build momentum, back to you. megyn: thank you. alternate the same time that mr. cain is in new york governor chris christie in new jersey, his supporters are ramping up the pressure on the garden state chief executive to run for president. they've even launched a new website today that seeks to draft christie into a presidential run. is that how it works? joining me now is "new york post" columnist and fox news contributor michael goodwin. you wrote an interesting piece, inside the passion of the christie. folks on the east coast know governor christie fairly well, i think a lot of the folks in the midwest and elsewhere are asking themselves, what is so great about chris christie? what is so great about him? why is there this incredible speculation about him? >> i think it's all about expectations. for chris christie a republican first of all to win in new jersey was a very big deal, and to govern successfully as he has been doing.

one of the things that people don't understand about what he's done with the new jersey budget he's been governor for 18 months, he's submitted two consecutive budgets that are lower than the one before it. it's 7, $8 billion lower than when he took office, that is an extraordinary achievement. megyn: he made real cuts, deep cuts but he made them. >> almost across th board, not quite, but almost across the board. there's been a lot of squealing. this is what new jersey voters are happy about. he has put a cap on property taxes. a lot of local communities raise property taxes to make up for the can you. he's put a cap on that. he's done this by working with a democratic legislature. there you see two examples who has put a fiscal house in order or at least on the right path and he's done it in bi-partisan fashion. that is the sort of things that people across the country are looking for. megyn: you say he sees leadership as a verb. >> right when you talk to him, when you hear him talk he's very strong about, you see a problem, you fix it. you don't wait for somebody else

to take the lead, a clear shot at president obama when he talks like that, and he's somebody who sees the job of the chief executive to lead the way to solve the problems. now, having said that, he is not a strict conservative. a lot of conservatives i think will not be happy with a lot of his positions. he's, you know, for some gunnery streubgss and in other ways he has sort of split the difference between real conservatives and real liberals, but i do think for the independents in this country who are really the third party now, there are almost as many independents as there are democrats and republicans, he really does speak to their issues about getting things done in a bi-partisan fashion. megyn: michael goodwin thank you so much, sir. >> my pleasure. megyn: we continue to await. we are on governor chris christie announcement watch but also on verdict watch. amanda knox arriving back at the courthouse. she is back in the courtroom where she will learn her fate once and for all. we are live with the breaking news, next. we're america's natural gas

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we are live in perugia, italy, where we have confirmed that amanda knox has left the prison and has arrived at the courthouse where she will be hearing her fate in a matter of moments. the appeals court has a verdict, they will read it live, we will see it together within the hour, we understand. the young american student, sentenced to 26 years, 26 years in prison for the murder of her roomate, meredith kircher as amand i

don't knox was studying abroad. she has spent the past four years in prison and has maintained her innocence the entire time. the media in italy, the media in the united states, for that matter, arguably engaging in a rush to judgment, quick to condemn amanda knox, until a closer look at the evidence followed. there are facts to condemn amanda knox, that is clear, she has given conflicting stories, there are real questions about why she pointed to a bar owner as the murderer when he turned out to have an air tight alibi, and other questions as well, but there are also real questions about the prosecution's case, some of which we've outlined here on this show. these are live pictures outside the courthouse in perugia, italy. would you look at the interest among italians in this case that involves -- that centers around an american student. this has dominated the headlines in italy, it has dominated the headlines here, and the nation now

awaits, two nations how sit and await a verdict in this case. our sister network, sky news, wall to wall coverage with this. i mean, the world is sitting here watching, waiting for this verdict involving this young woman. we thought she was just going to study abroad, and wound up being sentenced to spend the vast majority of her life in prison there. agreeing burke is live in perugia, italy as we await this verdict, the reading of it. greg, they have the verdict. >> reporter: megyn, that's right. and we actually just saw a few minutes ago those two vans go by, containing both amanda knox, also raffaele sollecito, her co-defendant, and within about an hour that, is the plan, anyway, 9:30 local, you spoke earlier about the charges and what could possibly come in the verdict. i just wanted to go over what the charges were, the most serious, a murder charge, also sexual assault, there are lesser ones, possession of a lethal weapon, also theft because meredith's cell phones were stolen, as well as some money. something that could be a

problem still for a3457bda -- amanda, similar ulation of a crime scene, part of this evidence brought forward was that there was a staged burglary in the house, to hide in some way the murder, then the one charge that amanda has and raffaele, slander, that for accusing her former boss as you pointed out earlier. amanda's team points out there, or defend her on that, saying that was under duress, a long police interrogation at night and you have to take that into account. finally megyn, i just want to mention here, the intense interest, not only in the media, but also the people, and also just local people here in perugia. i think anyway it was very much antiamanda. we talked about the amanda knox p.r. campaign and it's been very good but in the early days the police were also good about leaking information about amanda, her boyfriends, her sexual life, all that kind of stuff and it certainly pointed against her, but talking to some people on the street now, after this appeals trial, they think also that

the opinion in italy is changing, not totally in amanda's favor, but certainly a lot closer to 50/50, a lot of serious questions about how the investigation, the trial, was done. megyn. megyn: greg, thank you. we will be back to you often throughout the next hour as we await this verdict. thank you sir. in the meantime i want to go to ann bremner, spokeswoman for friends of amanda. she joins me on the phone. that is a group whose maintained her innocence, and ann, what are your hopes as we await the reading of this verdict. >> we hope she's coming home to seattle after four long years. we always believed that amanda is innocent, and we are trying to turn around what was a supertanker of salacious and false information about her that came from leaks from the proceedings early on, so it is kind of heartening now megyn to hear the prosecutor say ignore the media that supports amanda knox. that sure wasn't the case in the beginning. megyn: i want to ask you about the evidence against her. let's move on from the dna

for now because that's being called into question by the independent experts, and the dna is what it is. there are questions about that, we understand that. apart from the dna, some of the pieces of evidence that did not bode well for her was after an interrogation by police, she did point the finger at a man named patrick lamumba, who was the owner of a nightclub where she worked, claiming he was the assail sailant and went on to describe meredith kircher's screams. why did she do that if she was innocent? >> let's start with this, she didn't have an interpreter, a lawyer, and she didn't speak italian. she speaks it now because she's been in prison four years. what they did was to imagine her if she was there, what could have happened and then she gave him, you know, if i was there, x. it was never a confession, they asked her to theorize, so it's always been mischaracterized as a confession. she was questioned, interrogated, overnight, and then with a question of patrick ma -- lamumba, they made questions of someone

match thank description being there, i know that patrick, he match that is type of description. i'm getting very generic. that's all it was. it's not like she confessed and tried to point the finger at somebody else and that was mischaracterized in the press for years. megyn: she gave conflicting stories. first of all, she said i was never at that apartment that night, i was at my boyfriend's house, and then she ultimately said i was there, i was at my apartment. that's one thing. you can say that to a prosecutor who's interrogating you. what happened on the taped phone conversation with her mother that the prosecution claims is damning to her? >> that's actually what that was was that quote, i was there, that they had a conversation in prison, and that was out of context and not even talking about the murder house. so that was put out in the press like she said i was there but it wasn't referring to the scene of the crime. megyn: why did she ultimately tell the prosecution after she was she was not there that she

was there. >> she didn't. megyn: well, according to them, first she said she was not there, she spent the night with her boyfriend, then she ultimately said she was at the murder house, where she stayed in the kitchen. >> no, she never said she was at the murder house and that was, again, out of context in conversations with her mom, totally unrepresented to the murder house itself. she always maintained she was with her boyfriend, that was her quote unquote alibi and she came the following morning and took a shower at the house and meredith was ultimately discovered, that's what's characterized in the press, to say i was there was a completely out of context statement, and it was put forth. megyn: this prosecutor has been manipulating these statements. there's no question that he has been leaking things out of context, because he's got an axe to grind against her, he clearly thinks she's guilty and wants to ensure a conviction. >> that's right. he's the one calling her a she devil, angel face, part of like a satanic ritualistic slaying.

in the trial, it of all of these kinds of characterizations about her, character assassination, when he in fact in public said he could not put her in that murder room, there's no hair, finor, fingerprints, no dna, nothing, and he's resorted to character assassination at the end of the day and it's inflammatory, it's cause the -- it's how the case started and ended. megyn: would you do me a favor of hanging out? we're going to go to break and bring back a legal panel after this break, but i don't want to lose you because you know so much about the case and i think you're a valuable resource. we'll have a break and we're on verdict watch, if they have a verdict in the case of amanda knox, she is in the courtroom or will be brought in mom earth, they -- momentarily, and we will hear her fate in moments.

megyn: fox news alert. these are live pictures from inside the courtroom in perugia where we just saw amanda knox's family enter

the courtroom. here on screen right, you can see her sisters and her mother, sitting there, drinking out of a bottle of water, and what must be a tens tense moment to amanda knox's family. akpwhrapbd is at the courthouse and will be brought into the courtroom shortly where she will hear the verdict read, at the same time, we will as well. joining me now, legal analyst and defense attorney. panel, when you know there's a verdict, it's always a gut wrenching moment, not just for the -- >> for both sides. megyn: for the prosecution and those in the courtroom, the lawyers as well. >> absolutely. i mean, neither side knows what's going to happen, megyn. we can speculate, and both sides have had a tough go of this. you know, the prosecution really has to prove the case all over again in the second trial. not like an appeal would be done in our system. and you know, the dna evidence as we talked about really has not been thrown out, it's been totally

called into question and that was dna evidence that was part of the first conviction. megyn: and later this independent panel found it had been contaminated and was unreliable and so on, so forth, so the dna has been called into question, mark, and yet, when she comes into this courtroom, let's talk about what she could hear. it's not just going to be affirmed, go back to jail for 26 years, or reversed, you're free. there are all sorts of options in this italian court system as to what this court panel could say. >> there are. keep in mind the prosecution not only wants this conviction upheld, they want her sentence to go up to life. she wants it obviously overturned completely. now, one of the things that i think that adds some light to support for her is that the co-defendant, the most culpable fellow, got his sentence reduced from 30 years, down to 16. megyn: just to clarify, there are two co-defendants, she has her boyfriend, raffaele sal sito has been sentenced to 25 years, his fate comes out, but randy guide, he has the dna match

and so on and he's gone to jail for 16 years. many people believe the case against him is open and shut. there's just a question about whether the other two were also involved. go ahead, mark. >> so it would be fundamentally unfair first of all to keep her sentence at 26 years, when he's at 16. secondly, everyone needs to understand that the criminal justice system both in italy and here is not whether somebody did it or they didn't do it, it's whether there's proof. megyn: here comes curt knox entering the courthouse. go ahead mark. >> the issue then is are there reasonable doubts in this case and certainly if they weren't there originally, they are there now. as lis said, with the dna allegedly being contaminated and tainted and not necessarily worthy of trust, you've got questions about the credibility of the officers who claim that there was a confession when there was no interpreter used and who asked her to hypoth size how that happened and called that a confession. i think there's enough here to create reasonable doubt. megyn: with the prosecutor

saying if she gets exonerated here he might refile charges against her in connection with this very case. there's no double jeopardy in italy. >> there's no double jeopardy. megyn: how do they get sure she gets out of italy asap and back to the united states if she has a favorable verdict? >> i have to believe -- by the way this prosecutor has a horrible past, convicted of all sorts of terrible things and that has to come into play in the jury and judge's mind in this appeal, but i have to believe that this prosecutor thinks there's a very, very good chance that she will be set free today, and that he has already drafted new charges, as you say, double-dip doesn't apply -- double jeopardy doesn't apply, new charges will be waited to be slapped on her. >> and there's a real question about what the u.s. state department should do. >> stand by, hard break in four seconds. we'll be right back with the panel and ann bremner, next.

megyn: fox news alert, we continue to await the reading of the verdict in the akpwhrapbd knox appeals trial. the verdict is in, we are simply waiting for the court members to read the verdict. it will happen within the next 30 minutes, we are told. ann bremner is with me on the phone, as well as my legal panel, me is a spokeswoman for friends of amanda. if this prosecutor, if she is acquitted, which is still a big if, and let go, with the prosecutor suggesting he may refile charges against her almost immediately, not even just appeal, but refile more charges, what would then happen for amanda, what would her options be? >> well, i mean, she's going to have to come home. i mean, under the circumstances, she can come home,. >> megyn: she can. >> she can. can. and i think that she should, of course. and the friends of amanda knox, we feel she's an innocent abroad, many people around the world feel that

way. there's a dirth of evidence in this case and she's been held in an italian prison for four years and she should come home. like lee said, the prosecutor has been convicted of abuse of office. there are questioning techniques, like in this case, it's become a personal vendetta where it's face saving at the end of the day and it's time for justice to prevail, now, and the time is today. megyn: thank you very much. i want to get back to mark and lis. i don't want to forget the victim, meredith kircher. many 12eu8 -- still believe that amanda is guilty, and point to the bizarre behavior, after her discussion with the police and so on. is there real evidence to support this conviction in this case, if you look at it from the prosecution side, mark? >> believability, and accuracy are completely two different things. i feel for the family, i believe that they believe that she's culpable. however, accuracy is something also that's very different. in this case, if it was a confession, given in her

tongue, at the time, she did not speak italian, she had only been there two months, she wasn't clear on the questions being asked. there's at least a reasonable doubt concerning that. you know, i don't think that they have it, megyn. megyn: lis, i'll give you the final word. >> they do have some sort of a confession and they do the bizarre behavior, happen i nets, kissing her boyfriend afterwards, but what they don't have, they don't have a motive here. i never understood this motive that she was a wild sex party that went crazing and the stabbing happening. megyn: they don't have anything close to a confession, they have the statement i was there. that's a big difference. we will be right back. stay with us. slowly digestibles to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. [ ma announcer ] glucerna. helping people with diabetes find balance. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromisen taste?

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>> amanda knox told the court today "i am innocent." in 30 minutes the court will tell her if it agrees. the judge will read the verdict and the world will know the outcome in a matter of minutes. thanks for watching. i'm megyn kelly. here's