(Reuters) - American student Amanda Knox tearfully begged an Italian court on Monday to acquit her of murdering her British roommate during a brutal erotic game, saying she was paying for a crime she did not commit.
"I did not do the things they say I did. I did not kill, rape or steal. I was not there," she said, trembling and sobbing during her final plea to the court for freedom after nearly four years in jail.
"I want to go home. I want to go back to my life. I do not want to be punished. I do not want to be deprived of my life for something I did not do, because I am innocent," she said.
The Seattle native and her Italian boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, are fighting a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering Leeds University exchange student Meredith Kercher during a drug-fueled sexual assault.
Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in 2007 in the apartment she shared with the American student in this Umbrian hill town.
The panel of two professional and six lay judges retired to consider a verdict immediately after Knox's final plea. Their decision is expected after 8 p.m. (2 p.m.) on Monday.
Hopes are high among Knox's many supporters in the United States that the 24-year-old will walk free from a Perugia prison after a forensic review that cast deep doubt on DNA evidence used to convict her and 27-year-old Sollecito.
Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito given 25 years.
In his own final plea Sollecito offered judges a cream-colored plastic bracelet inscribed "Free Amanda and Raffaele" that he said he had worn for years.
"I am a Mr. Nobody but now they want Mr. Nobody to spend the rest of his life in jail," he said in a halting voice.
BRUTALITY OF THE CRIME
The appeal trial has gripped attention on both sides of the Atlantic, with an outpouring of sympathy and outrage from many in the United States who see the American as an innocent girl trapped abroad in the clutches of a medieval justice system.
But the Kercher family, who want the guilty verdicts confirmed on Knox and Sollecito, say they trust the court will not be swayed by the American student's "large PR machine."
"Mez has been almost forgotten in all of this," her sister Stephanie told a news conference as the family emphasized that the brutality of the crime must not be forgotten.
Their lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said they were stunned at the media clamor for the release of Knox and Sollecito.
Stephanie, Kercher's mother Arline and brother Lyle have kept away from the media hype for much of the trial, but they flew into Perugia on Monday for the verdict.
"Forgiveness doesn't come into it at the moment. Without a final ending to everything, it will be difficult to forgive anything at this stage," Stephanie said.
"What everyone needs to remember, is the brutality of what actually happened that night and everything that Meredith must have felt that night ... the fear, the terror and not knowing why. She didn't deserve that, no one deserves that, she loved this place," Stephanie added.
Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was on a year-long exchange program in Perugia when she was brutally murdered, bringing a flood of unwelcome attention to the hilltop Umbrian town.
Perugia residents resent the frantic media storm and feel the quaint image of their historic town has been sullied by allegations of drugs, booze and orgies among students there.
FOUR DESPERATE YEARS
Knox, who has become thinner and lost her once cheery demeanor since being jailed nearly four years ago, almost broke down at the start of her 10-minute address.
"I am not what they say I am," she said, seeking to rebut prosecution suggestions that she was a manipulative, sex-obsessed, pot-smoking "she-devil."
"I am paying with my life for things I did not commit."
She said she had been manipulated, her faith in the police betrayed and she had faced "unfair and baseless accusations."
"I insist on the truth, I insist after four desperate years on our innocence," she said after regaining her composure.
Knox barely spoke Italian when she was arrested days after the murder but addressed the court fluently, having learned the language in jail.
Knox and Sollecito have steadfastly maintained their innocence throughout. A third man, Ivorian drug dealer Rudy Guede, was imprisoned for 16 years for his role in the murder.
Prosecutors say Kercher was pinned down and stabbed to death when she resisted attempts by the three to involve her in an orgy. They have pointed to Knox as the key figure in the crime -- painting her as a cold-blooded, sex-driven girl who led her boyfriend astray and drove the knife into Kercher.
Prosecutors have asked the court to extend Knox's term to life in jail, saying she killed her roommate for no reason.
But their case was weakened by a review by forensic experts that dismissed police evidence that traces of DNA belonging to Knox and Kercher were found on a kitchen knife identified as the murder weapon.
The experts also said alleged traces of Sollecito's DNA on the Briton's bra clasp may have been contaminated.
The defense has argued that no clear motive or evidence linking the defendants to the crime have emerged, and say Knox was falsely implicated in the murder by prosecutors determined to convict her regardless of the evidence.
Among the many supporters Knox has won over the years is her prison chaplain, who defended her as she awaits her fate.
"She is certainly not this diabolical creature," Don Saulo Scarbattoli said. "Even if you were pretending you would never be able to pretend for four years."
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