roommate, meredith kercher, which happened four years ago now. knox addressed the court just moments ago. >> translator: i want to go back home. i want to go back to my life. i don't want to be tarnished, to have my life, my future taken away from me for things i haven't committed. because i am innocent. i am innocent. raffaele is innocent. >> cnn's paula newton is live outside the prison where amanda knox will be held while the jury deliberates. she joins us live from thousand. paula, we heard amanda in her own words. now what's next? >> she will arrive at this prison in about 15, 20 minutes and what a day it will be for her. the judge has already said he does not a return back until at least 8:00 p.m. local tonight. 2:00 p.m. local our time back home. she got up and what was different this time carol, than other times, she didn't have a prepared statement, she might have, she perhaps discarded it, she perhaps committed it to memory. she was not composed enough to speak at first, she said, i am afraid. the judge said, you can sit down. she said basically no, i'll remain standing. she basically categorically underscored what she's been trying to tell jurors before her for four years now, i did not kill. i did not rape, i did not steal, i was not there. as we just heard, she underscored her innocence again. what was interesting here is this was more of a heartfelt emotional plea. she's made them before. but this time she seemed to go off-script and literally, plead for her life in front of this jury for what she says is something she did not do. carol? >> she was in tears for much of that statement. her italian was very fluent. she's much better at speaking of language. so it will be more effective. remind us what could happen, what the judge the or the jury rather, could decide. >> this is an appeals process. so either the last conviction will be upheld, which means she stays in jail for 26 years. so that appeal, it will be sustained, in the sense that they will reform it, they will exonerate her and throw it out and she goes home. in between, there's an option, is that her sentence will be reduced and she will be exonerated just for some crimes. she served almost four years, does that mean it will be time served? or it could be a sentence much more than that. a lot has been made of the fact that if she is ex onerated is that she is a flight risk. the italian justice system will continue to go on, i'm here for somethingdy not do, i just want to go home, i'm not running away from anything. >> as far as public opinion in perugia, italy, has it turned in her favor? do people think she's still guilty? >> i've been covering this for a few years now, and there are a couple of things. yes, definitely i've seen a turn in public opinion. and speaking to local journalists here. they say it's definitely there, that that's true. the problem, though, is that what's come out of this is basically an indictment of the italian justice system. what the defense lawyers call shoddy police work. prosecutors who made up fantasies about what happened in that room. and that's what many italians seem to be uncomfortable with. they don't want to make it seem as if it's the italian justice system that's on the hook here. at the same time, many people are sympathetic to what amanda knox has been saying now and when they look at what's happened with the dna evidence. they said look, there's no trace of amanda even being in the room of where meredith kercher was murdered. quail? >> paula newton joining us from dwrout side the jail where amanda knox is returning to. she made her statement before the judge and the jury in that italian courtroom in perugia, italy. shoo was in tears, she said i am innocent. i just want to return to my life. and she also mentioned her roommate who had been so brutally raped and murdered. she said, i miss her, she was my best friend. we'll continue to monitor the jury deliberations in the amanda knox case. we'll bring you the decision live. but the decision not expected to come at least 2:00 p.m. eastern our time. another closely-watched trial, that's of michael jackson's doctor. today, jurors are expected to hear from two emergency room doctors, who tried to bring the pop icon back to life before declaring him dead. three of dr. conrad murray's girlfriends are also expected on the witness stand. they're expected to discuss their conversations with murray before he realized that jackson had stopped breathing. jackson's mother will not be in the los angeles courtroom today. she took jackson's three children to canada to attend last night's premiere of cirque du soleil's tribute to jackson. a source close to the family said she will not return until at least next monday. be glad you were not flying jetblue or lufthansa over the weekend. severe turbulence hit planes from both airlines yesterday. it happened to a jetblue airbus flying from puerto rico to boston. six passengers suffered back or neck injuries and one suffered a serious burn from coffee. >> i saw the plane go down, down, down, i said oh, my god. >> it was so scary, i thought, my god, this could be it. but it didn't last that long. it was quite a surprise. >> the lufthansa plane ran into rough air on a flight from charlotte, north carolina to munich, germany. it was diverted to boston with 11 injured passengers. no word on the extent of their injuries. what started as a protest against wall street and whatever is gaining steam nationwide. this melee erupted saturday when police arrested more than 700 demonstrators as they attempted to march across a bridge into lower manhattan. the demonstrators are part of the occupy wall street protest. they've been protesting everything from what they call wall street breed to high prices at the gas station and inadequate health insurance. their movement has inspired similar protests in several other cities, including chicago, los angeles and seattle. another setback of sorts for tiger woods. for the first time in 15 years, he is not listed as one of golf's top 50 players, according to the official world golf rankings, woods entered the weekend holding down the 50th spot. but was knocked out of it as another player moved ahead of him. so i guess now tiger woods is listed as 51. let's head to atlanta and yankees fan, rob marciano. did you hear that the tigers won game two yesterday? >> i forgot, i didn't see that part. i'm still wallowing in the victory of the yankees in game one. which was a two-day game, so it counts twice as much. >> but, no, it doesn't. good morning, rob. >> good morning, great weekend of baseball. and football as well. and it certainly felt like a fall weather, across much of the eastern third of the country. a chill in the air. we've got a couple of storms to deal with and maybe some travel delays in some spots as well. new york metro, the stubborn system going to create more in the way of unsettled weather today. we'll see delays of maybe an hour in new york and boston. and we're book-ending the country with a couple of storms, one of which will head into the northwest and san francisco. look at some of the temperatures this morning, into the 40s to start off your day. first week of the october. 47 in memphis. 46 degrees in atlanta. those peaches got a little bit of chicken skin going on as far as it being a little chilly this morning. there are your two storms, in the middle part of the country, it will be windy, but dry. this system out west is pretty impressive. look at the pinwheel making its way toward vancouver, canada. first winter storm watches up of the season. six to 12 inches of snow above 7,000 feet in the sierra nevadas. 76 in atlanta, 59 degrees in new york city. 85 in salt lake city. kind of out there. yellowstone national park, got a little ireport want to share with you. the grand geyser. some folks were out there hiking along and checking out the scene and there you go. look at the color popping, huh? nature at its finest there in yellowstone. i had a feeling that was taken, if not a few days ago, maybe a few weeks ago when the sun was a little high in the sky. but if you've never been to yellowstone, this is old faithful, it's a sight to behold. >> that picture, it looks fake. >> doesn't it in. >> quite honestly, i haven't checked it out that much, it might be. we have people for that. it's a gorgeous shot. good monday morning to you, carol. >> good morning to you, too, and thanks for sharing that beautiful photo. in the news today, we're going to go back to italy. matthew chance inside the courtroom for the amanda knox appeal trial. he sat through her entire statement before the judge and jury. we'll go back live to italy and talk with matthew chance, next. ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. 12 minutes past the hour. good monday morning to you. american amanda knox pleading to an italian jury to overturn her murder conviction. her emotional statement came just a short time ago. cnn's senior international correspondent, matthew chance joins us now. he's outside the courthouse now. but he actually was inside and matthew, before we get to it, let's hear a bit of what amanda knox had to say before judge and jury. >> translator: i want to go back home. i want to go back to my life. i don't want to be banished. to have my life, my future taken away from me for things that i haven't committed. because i am innocent. >> matthew chance live in perugia, italy. matthew, you were inside that courtroom. you heard it life and in person. amanda knox was very emotional. >> she was. she looked very emotional, actually when she arrived in the court. she was being escorted, as she always is, by the various police officers. escort her into the court. she had her head hung down, she looked extremely pale indeed. first to speak was her former boyfriend, raffaele sollecito. he was very emotional. he made that point to the judge and jury, he wanted to say lot more, but he couldn't. and amanda knox stood up to address the jury in that court. this must have been the biggest moment in her life. to insist that she was not guilty of killing meredith kercher. she was very upset indeed. the judge said at one point she could sit down. but she didn't. she kept on standing. she managed to compose herself and say ha she wanted to say. her parents told us earlier that she had been months working on the contents of that address to the judge and the jury and as you just heard, she insisted that she did not kill meredith kercher. she insisted she was innocent. she spoke with meredith kercher as someone who was a friend who she lost. she also spoke about the police here in perugia. said that she went to them out of duty, initially on november 1st, 2007, after november 1st, 2007, when the murder took place. and she felt she had been betrayed by them. she felt essentially she had not been given a fair hearing by the authorities. so it was a very emotional plea. it lasted about 15 minutes, i'd say or is. the court is now retired. the judge saying we're not going to have a verdict until about, not before 8:00 local time. which is in about just under nine hours from now, carol. >> matthew, we're looking at the van that's transported amanda knox back to jail, where she will be awaiting word from the jury about whether or not they've upheld her appeal. you talk about her statement and how she was working on it for months. usually in past court proceedings she read from a prepared statement. this time it seemed quite extemporaneous. she also mentioned that the things that they are saying about me, and this is, i'm quoting her, are not true. we've heard amanda knox being described as a femme fatale, as a jessica rabbit type. were her words effective? >> yeah, we'll see. certainly what she was referring to then, was the fact that she's been sort of painted by some quarters in the media, but particularly the prosecution, as this scarlet woman, this person who indulged in extreme activities, i think was the words of one prosecution lawyer. one of them said she had a split personality, was angelic on one side, but demonic on the other side. she was returning to the jury and speaking flute italian. the past several years in jail she's managed to perfect her italian spoken lang wanl. so i think that may have had a really important impact as well. she was trying to make the point to the jury, that she is not as she's been painted by the prosecution. and that's something that was backed up again by raffaele sollecito as well. because he also spoke. he pulled out a bracelet which he was wearing on his wrist. saying he had been wearing it since he was put in prison. on it was written, "free amanda and ral yelffaele." he said he wanted it to be part of the past. >> and as i said, amanda knox has been transported back to jail. well she will be awaiting the jury and the judge's decision. matthew chance joining us live from perugia, italy. we thank you. and as matthew told us, the decision is not expected to come for hours and hours. we're expecting it around 2:00 p.m. eastern. that's our time. and of course, we'll continue to monitor the jury deliberations in the knox trial. we'll bring you the ruling live as soon as the jury reaches a decision. we're going to take a quick break at 17 minutes past the hour. we'll be back. it's 19 minutes past the hour. good morning to you, scientists are sounding the alarm in one part of the world where they are celebrating big progress in another. let's go to hong kong. the bad news, scientists are concerned about another hole in the ozone. tell us about that. >> that's right. this is a very significant story. ozone loss over the arctic was so severe this year, the scientists say it could be called another ozone hole. according to an article in "nature" about 13 miles above the north pole, some 80% of the ozone is lost. the cause is an unusually long period of cold weather. that activate these ozone-destroying chemicals. and while the antarctic hole remains stable, we're seeing these major changes in the arctic and researchers are call for more work into why. gop candidate, herman kane is on a roll, hoping to shake things up in the 2020 rains. you know who he's meeting with today, that would be donald trump. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. 23 minutes past the hour time now for your political ticker with pam kirkland from morning briefing. she's live from washington, good morning. >> good morning, carol, how are you this morning? >> i'm terrific. as i'm sure you are. getting up so early in the morning. let's talk about herman cain, shall we? he's supposed to meet with donald trump today. he's been on quite a roll. >> he has been. he'll be in the big apple today, as you said, scheduled to meet with donald trump where the two i'm sure plan to talk politics, business, maybe a little pizza. according to trump all of the gop candidates have reached out to meet with him. and for the support in their presidential campaigns. herman cain is just the latest of the field who's going to meet at trump towers. rick perry and mitt romney actually met with trump just a few weeks ago. congresswoman michele bachmann reportedly met with him earlier this year. sarah palin even met with him, though we don't know her presidential ambitions she met with him for a slice of pizza back in may during her one nation bus tour. >> how could we forget. let's talk about senator john mccain. he has a warning about the new york governor chris christie. there's all this talk about him getting into the presidential race. it has nop stopped. john mccain issued a warning. >> if governor christie decides to run, i wish him luck. i think there is a bit of a caution that always, the swimming pool looks a lot better until you jump right in. the water may not be quite as warm as you think. >> yeah. just ask rick perry. but if christie is going to run, he's going to have to make a decision very soon. the florida primary is moving up. >> exactly, the buzz now is that the christie team is assessing how fast they could put together a winning 2012 campaign. we're getting close to the start of the primary season and christie is expected to announce within days whether he will join the presidential fray. but the florida gop may have thrown a wrench in his plan. last week they announced it would hold its primary on january 31st. and that's going to bump up the whole nominating calendar. so now christie and sarah palin for that matter, suddenly have less than, at least a month less to pull a campaign together. to compete in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and nevada. >> understood. we're going to talk to senator john mccain a little later on "american morning." pam kirkland, thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. a vote of confidence for the obama administration from a very unlikely source. coming up, what former vice president dick cheney said about the president. and california shoots down san francisco's attempt to ban circumcisions, we'll have details, next. [ male announcer ] it's a fact: your nutritional needs can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge! good morning to you, it is monday, october 3rd, this is your "a.m. wakeup call." i'm costello. it's 30 minutes past the hour. a very emotional appeal from american amanda knox, pleading with an italian jury to overturn her murder conviction. it happened just moments ago. here's part of what knox said. >> translator: he was always kind to me. my friend has been murdered and i've always wanted justice for her. i'm not escaping the truth. and i've never tried to escape the truth. i insist on the truth. i insist that after four desperate years, i insist my innocence, our innocence. because it is true, and it's got to be defended and recognized. >> knox and her former italian boyfriend were convicted of killing knox's british roommate, meredith kercher four years ago. both maintain their innocence. the jury is expected to issue its ruling around 2:00 p.m. e