9:40 a.m.

Court concluded just over an hour ago. Amanda Knox did not speak today. Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman ruled that, for the rebuttal, only one attorney on each side will have a chance. Some media in the courtroom suggest this will abbreviate the schedule to allow a Saturday verdict. The West Seattle Herald understands that at this point the verdict is set for Monday, following Knox's speech. We will attempt to clarify.

Today in court, Amanda's attorneys Carlo Dalla Vedova and Luciano Ghirga tried to appeal to the jury's sense of justice, while attempting to knock down DNA collection methods, the knife-the alleged murder weapon, the "staged" break-in, the heroin-addicted key witness, and the invasiveness into Knox's private life, which they said over-reached.

Dala Vedove went the first half, then Ghirga, a father figure to Knox, went. He compared her to his own children and said he has visited her over 200 times in prison. Courtroom observers said Knox appeared comforted by his tender, yet direct approach as he pounded head prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and the police for mishandling the case since the start, as he saw it.

Ghirga says prosecutors never found the knife that killed Meredith Kercher.

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6:00 a.m.

Knox's attorney is trying to discredit the prosecution's theory that Knox and Sollecito stage the break-in, and the attorney said that it was Rudy Guede, the "lone wolf" who entered the flat. He showed slides of glass and their placement in the flat to illustrate the rock was thrown from the outside in to gain entry.

The court is scheduled back from its lunch break now. The judge announced that there will be no court Saturday, as previously announced, but that the last day, and the verdict, would come Monday.

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2:15 a.m.

One of Knox's attorney's, Carlo Dalla Vedova, begins with the questioning. He says that Amanda became a suspect when questioned (just after the murder, Nov. 2007) and should have been assigned a lawyer. She knew little Italian then. She was advised not to, that "It would make things worse."
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Thursday, 1:15 a.m. (It is 10:15 a.m. in Perugia, Italy)

Court just began, with some 400 members of the media there.
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The West Seattle Herald has been closely following the appeal process of West Seattle-raised Amanda Knox, 24, especially the recent closing arguments here. Also here.

Tomorrow morning, Thursday, at about midnight tonight Seattle time, Knox's defense team will argue that she was in no way involved in the Nov. 1, 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while attending university in Perugia, Italy.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison on Dec. 4, 2009. Here was our story.

Friday and Saturday the prosecution and defense will rebuttal. Legal experts tell the West Seattle Herald that new evidence will not be allowed, just the questioning of what has already been addressed during the appeal trial.

A verdict is expected late Saturday once rebuttals conclude, or possibly Monday.

Making headlines in British newspapers, in its closing arguments in the appeal the prosecution called Knox a "she-devil", "satanic", and "a witch". The defense attorneys did not object, with he strategy that the prosecution will hurt its case by sounding odd and out of date, according to our sources.

Here is an article that appeared yesterday by the British paper, the Guardian, on the topic:

Headline: Amanda Knox is a witch? Sorry, are we living in 1486?
Witch hunts grew from a stew of emotions, notably fear of female sexual power. They have no place in a modern Italian court

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/27/amanda-knox-witch-h…

While Knox's Arbor Heights immediate family, most of them now in Perugia, including siblings, aunts, and uncles, must make plans to return to Seattle with her swiftly by plane to avoid a media circus in Italy, probably from the airport Rome, in case she is acquitted.

The prosecution is pushing for six months of daytime solitary confinement and life in prison for Knox.

TODAY SHOW Interview with Curt Knox

Said Amanda's father, Vashon Island-raised Curt Knox, "I would like to believe that the jury are going to focus on the actual evidence presented rather verses the emotion of it. There were some things that were done, specifically by the Kercher family lawyer in showing pictures of Meredith that I thought were disgusting. It leads me to believe that there is a bit of desperation on the prosecution side."

He was referring to gruesome, naked autopsy photographs of Ms. Kercher shown in court. The Kercher family has a civil suit against Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and their attorney has been fighting to keep the two in prison for the murder of their daughter.

Added Curt, "She's been working on (her statement) for over three months (...) You've got a 24 year-old kid essentially fighting for her life and this is her last chance to tell the judge and jury she had nothing to do with this historic crime."

Technically, if Knox loses the appeal, her case can then be bumped up to the Supreme Court in Italy, at least two years down the road. But, of course, her family and supporters are hoping and praying that she will be back in her West Seattle home by next week.