member of the dog pound coming up next. but here's the top of the hour. what would you say if you had just 20 minutes to defend your life? that is the question of american student amanda knox and she will have to answer that question because tomorrow she's on. she takes the stand in her own defense with her freedom hanging in the balance. cnn's senior international correspondent matthew chance has been watching this appeal trial for us from perugia and matthew, i said there -- people here appeal and take the stand to defend yourself, this is not going to go like a normal case in the united states where someone takes the stand and they're going to be asked questions. no. >> they call it the pleas of innocence here. both amanda knox and her co-accused accused and convicted already of course of murdering meredith kercher in 2007 will get about 15 minutes each. it's not been confirmed that rafaela will make a speech but definitely amanda knox, tomorrow morning, is going to be standing in front of that jury with a heartfelt last appeal for her freedom. >> reporter: it's said to be the speech of her life. soon amanda knox will make a final direct plea of innocence, a last chance to convince this italian court to set her free. >> is she ready? >> i believe she is. she's been thinking about it for well over three months and so i think it's going to be very heartfelt and it would be truly her and hopefully it will go over well. >> reporter: the american exchange student was convicted in 2009 along with her italian boyfriend of killing a 21-year-old british roommate. the body of meredith kercher was found half-naked in their perugia apartment drenched in blood. police found dna evidence now undermined by independent experts connecting knox and rafaela to the crime. the couple were also spotted shopping for underwear and kissing during the investigation, deemed callus behavior. at trial in 2009, there were lurid allegations of satanic yo orgies fueled by drugs during which meredith kercher had her throat slit. prosecutors and lawyers for the kercher family want the conviction upheld. >> translator: they are asking the court to confirm the truth and the truth as we always said was from in the first trial. >> reporter: throughout this murder appeal, knox has looked pale and stressed. her parents say she can hardly sleep, anxious as she prepares to learn her fate. well straight after amanda addresses the jury and the judge in that court, they will retire and consider what their decision will be, whether they will set her free or keep her behind bars here in this jail on the outskirts of perugia. back to you. >> matthew, this is the appeal but let's just say hypothetically she loses this appeal. does she still have any more options? >> she does. under italian law she has one more option which is to appeal to the supreme court. her attorneys have already said they will do that but it will still mean months more at least in prison here in italy. >> all right, matthew chance for us in perugia, thank you so much. four minutes past the hour. a new alert this morning for americans traveling anywhere. state department issued this worldwide travel alert due to fears of retaliation attacks over the government's killing of a key al qaeda leader. that leader, anwar al awlaki, killed in a cia drone attack last week. earlier the fbi and department of homeland security sent out the same warning to law enforcement. the alert is through november. president obama last night calling out every single one of the republican presidential candidates. he was talking about the don't ask/don't tell policy and the reaction to a day soldier's question at the last republican debate. first, i want you to listen to the president. >> we don't believe in a small america. we don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's okay for a stage full of political leaders, one of whom could end up being the president of the united states, being silent when an american soldier is booed. we don't believe in that. we don't believe in standing silent when this happens. we don't believe in them being silent since. you want to be commander in chief? you can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states, even when it's not politically convenient. >> now the moment the president was talking about you may remember. it was an incident from one of the republican debates where a soldier, a gay soldier, was asking a question. take a listen. >> in 2010 when i was deployed to iraq i had to lie about who i was because i'm a gay soldier. do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? >> yeah. i would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in -- >> no rick santorum went on and answered the question. you see he did not necessarily reference at all the boos and jeers you heard in the crowd. the viewers at home certainly heard it. he claims he did not hear it when he was there. he put out a statement later that said if he had heard the booing he would have condemned it on the spot. president obama's comments came during a speech to the human rights campaign that's a major advocate for the quality in the gay and lesbian community and he talk about his opposition to the defense of marriage act. he stopped short, however, of openly endorsing same-sex marriage. meanwhile governor rick perry is prepared to send american troops into another country. this one -- mexico. he says to battle drug cartels. the texas governor and gop presidential candidate made the comments at a campaign event in new hampshire. >> the way that we were able to stop the drug cartels in colombia. it was a coordinated effort. it may require our military in mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off of our border and to destroy their networks. >> perry also said the u.s. and mexico governments should meet after the 2012 election to try to discuss a strategy. republican presidential candidate herman cain is looking for a new communications director. alan carmichael who had worked for the campaign is resigning for personal reasons. she's the third staffer to leave the cain campaign. since june cain's campaign has really caught fire as of late. our political coverage continues at the bot ttom of th hour when we check in with candy crowley. this morning she'll have the former vice president dick cheney and his daughter, liz cheney. again, candy crowley will join me at the bottom of the hour for a preview. the brooklyn bridge is open once again this morning after protesters shut it down. police took away as many as 700 demonstrators who had taken to the bridge as part of a wall street protest. they're calling this the occupy wall street -- that's what they call themselves, these protesters. they've been gathering in new york for more than a couple weeks now. loosely coordinated effort it is so far to protest what they say is a financial system that favors the rich at expense of everybody else. this is the biggest disruption, at least we've seen, caused so far. police have been trying to keep the protesters away from wall street to this point. demonstrators also turned up in los angeles, chicago, denver and a couple of other places. nine minutes past the hour. reynolds wolf really got my attention this morning when he mentioned -- snow. i wasn't ready for that. >> here we are in the first weekend -- first weekend of october and it is like flipping in atmospheric switch where already we've already had rainfall in parts of the northeast but, yes, as t.j. mentioned, a little bit of snow. not talking about several accumulation or several feet but a light touch across parts of appalachians into parts of the you willer elevations, also up into new york and pennsylvania. plus a quick update on the tropics. >> a light touch of snow. i oversold it. didn't i? >> no, not at all. it's good. >> all right, reynolds, thanks. talk to you in just a second. want to share a story with you coming up about a girl in ohio who was just crowned homecoming queen but she was crowned queen several months after she was killed in a car crash. we'll tell you about the person who gave up their chance at the crown. that's coming up after the break. also after the break -- just about everything in vegas. right? check this out. a michael jackson slot machine is to be unveiled this week. but first, to our troops. a little shout-out for you now from the man himself, james todd smith, or you might known him as l.l. cool jay. >> to all the troops overseas, we appreciate your commitment, your dedication and the sacrifice that you make to preserve democracy and we just want you to get home safe so keep your head low, keep your honor and your integrity intact, be strong. peace. 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! 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[ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com. 14 minutes past the hour now this cnn sunday morning. a look at some of the stories making news cross country -- we start in ohio where the candidates for homecoming queen decided they don't want to be homecoming queen. they gave up the chance for the crown. why? because they wanted a friend to have it who had died several months ago in a car crash. they say she always wanted to be homecoming queen so they made sure they could not be queen and left it open for her. listen to her mother now. >> she was so excited about this year because she said she could get queen but i believe she's already got her crown and she's a queen in heaven. >> it's not easy really for any of us. even if we didn't have any interviews, even if we didn't -- if no one even knew what we were doing, we still were going to do this for her. >> that's a nice moment. always good when you see young people doing what's the right thing, not having an adult tell them what to do. now to another story of teenagers though, in florida a new teen sexting law has gone into effect. applies to teens who send sexually explicit photos on cell phones or computers. before this new law, teens could actually be charged with a felony for sending a sext message and also forced to register as a sex offender. now it is punishable by eight hours of community service or a fine. in vegas a new michael jackson slot machine is being unveiled this week. it features a surround sound chair that vibrates to michael jackson songs. we don't know which casino it might be in yet. right now it is just being unveiled at an expo where some of those casinos can which had whether they want it. but it is being unveiled this week and the manufacturer says this is just a coincidence that the game is being unveiled during the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor. let's say good morning to joe carter from hln sports. seems like we've done a lot of these over the past couple weeks, another brawl at a football game. >> yep. >> these kids are older than 13 though. right? >> this is a high school football game. half-way into the season we've already seen high school football brauls wls in pennsylv, north carolina, florida and now this happened in sacramento, california. between two rival high schools. started out pretty innocent, quarterback running the football, the other team slam him down to the ground. then it gets bad because both of the sidelines clear, they come out on the field and start mixing it up. referees are trying to break up the fight, coaches are trying to break up the fight. there was a large fight and several small fight. one coach claims he was punched in the face. referees called this game with five minutes to play. no word on what the high school athletic association of sacramento is going to do or either high schools yet but obviously not a part you want to see of high school football. we've seen this too often. it is only five, six games of the season. >> what is going on? is it we have more video or were they always happening? >> it's a good question. i'd like a sports psychologist to help answer that. didn't happen when i was in high school. this story is not pretty. >> nasty things happen at the bottom of the pile. this though is just not cool. this is just like guy code. check number 45 clearly knees number 70 right in the groin. jonathan brown, looks to his right, to his left, then drops the knee. totally not cool. he thought the officials weren't looking but they did see him. they penalized him. he actually had two personal fouls. illinois did win this game. illinois off to a 5-0 start. people surprised by that outside of the big ten. >> he just got a regular 15-yard penalty for that? that was just 15 yards? >> i'd like to see what the coach is going to do to him this week in practice though. >> that's a 100-yard and two touchdown penalty right there. another football story. consider this a comeback that maybe some people could cheer for this young man. do we want him back? >> lso got their star quarterback back, jordan jefferson. not all the fans at lsu happy about his return though because he was involved in a bar brawl around campus. he was suspended first four games of the season, charged with a felony but a grand jury dropped it to a misdemeanor account. eyewitnesses said that he kicked a marine in the face but the grand jury determined it was not enough evidence to hold up the felony charges so they reinstated him but like i was saying, fans are mixed about this one. he did go on to the field for the very first time, you hear the lsu faithful, some cheering, some booing. les miles said he wasn't happy with the fans booing. grand jury relieved him of the charges but you have to think in some way he was involved when he shouldn't have been involved. >> joe carter, good stuff but kind of some ugly stuff on the ugly side of sports. 19 minutes past the hour now. coming up in a few minutes, tell me -- you tell me, joe -- would you want to sit behind this guy at a football game? well -- there he is! well, you're not going to have to sit behind him this morning but you're going to have to sit with him and listen to him because he got kicked out. he's a big fan. why would they want him out of the stands? well, they say he was actually standing a little too much. we'll talk to this guy. stay with me. look closely at the screen. just look at crowds of people. can you tell me anything about this crowd? did you notice anything in particular? maybe not but i can tell you that there are no men in that crowd. grown men have now been sidelined from this soccer match. ladies only. we'll explain why. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. and who ordered the yummy cereal? 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[ male announcer ] no matter what the future holds, we're making tomorrows people can count on. what can we make with you? transamerica. transform tomorrow. 22 minutes past the hour. time for our "morning passport." how are you going to keep me, a sports fan, out of a game and tell me i can't go? no men allowed. >> it is interesting, seems today this morning it is all about men behaving badly. but it's interesting. what happened is, one of the most popular soccer teams in turkey -- they call it football there, but for all-purposes it is soccer in this country. there was a pitch invasion. fans stormed on to the pitch and the federation said they have behaved so badly. are you seeing them there? can you imagine this disruption? this is during the game. >> this was earlier this year? >> it was a few months ago, yes. so what the federation said is as punishment which is a common thing to do in europe, your next home game is going to be behind closed doors with absolutely no spectators. so they came back at them and said, okay, the spectators whob so why don't we allow women and boys under 12. so what you're seeing now is the cause and what they had was 42,000 women then attended the next game. let me tell you, there was much less swearing, much less spitting, there was much less trash on the street, and what the turkish football federation said the atmosphere was extraordinary! so let's do it again. and what they've just proposed is that they have entire sections in turkey for football matches which are only women. >> why did the guys storm the field in the first place? >> well, obviously they weren't happy -- >> about something. >> -- with the score. >> are they drinking at these games? >> drinking copious amounts at these games so alcohol consumption was much less with the women. spitting was less. sales of women's wear went up. >> don't get any ideas here in the states, all right? it is probably not a good segue. we got a guy coming up who was kick out after football game. some say he was behaving badly. we'll get that in a second. nad nadya, thank you. denmark doing something the whole world is going to be watching, including you. putting a fat tax on foods that aren't healthy for you but they taste so delicious! the whole world is watching to see what kind of effect it has there. maybe this could be coming to a country near you. also coming up next, is this the guy you want to sit next to during a football game? but even more specifically, do you want to sit behind him? i'm talking to the cleveland browns season ticket holder who was kicked out for being too big of a fan. he's next. stay with me. great shot this morning. central park, new york city. good morning to you all. why can't we all be friends? this is the song of war, funk bad, put together in 1969. one of the rock and roll hall of fame nominees. i think there are 15 of them. we'll find out soon how many of them will actually get in. we'll share more of these songs with you over the coming weeks. well, as we get c