and emotional verdict tonight. an italian night sets amanda knox free. here's the scene inside the courtroom. >> translator: on behalf of the italian people, after having examined section 6 and 5 of the criminal procedure code -- >> as the verdict was read, knox broke down, hugged her attorneys, then was rushed from the courthouse. she and her one-time boyfriend have been in jail since 2007 when they were arrested for the brutal murder of knox's british roommate. they were convicted of murder two years ago. both appealed. today both won. shortly after the verdicts, knox' sister faced the cameras outside the courthouse. >> we're thankful that amanda's nightmare is over. she's suffered for four years for a crime that she did not commit. >> cnn's senior international correspondent matthew chance is outside the courthouse in perugia now. you were in the courthouse when the verdict was read. describe the moment when knox and her family realized she would be set free. >> reporter: it was a very, very emotional moment, indeed, john. when the verdict was read out, there were woops and cheers from the amanda knox corner where her family had gathered to witness this experience. amanda knox herself was, i think, she was actually devastated. she was in tears. she was hysterical. she could hardly stand up she was crying so much as she was sort of escorted by the guards out of the courthouse. she walked right past me. out of the door and away. it was a totally emotional experience. raffaele sollecito as well, very emotional. very highly charged atmosphere inside. very electric. not just for the celebrations going on, but there were tears as well because the family of meredith kercher, the murdered girl, were also inside the court. the mother, arlene kercher, the sister, stephanie kercher, they were there, too. they didn't want this to happen, they've made it quite clear. stephanie kercher broke down. she was in tears. she was being comforted by the person next to her. the whole thing combined, the joy on the one side, the pain, agony on the other side, created a very tense atmosphere, indeed, john. >> matthew, we could see amanda knox's emotions in the court. we could hear her sobbing. we could see the guards rushing her out. now we know she left the prison within the past hour. what's next for her? i understand she has told someone her first wish is to lie down on a green field? >> reporter: yeah. well, she's told everybody. what the lawyers of amanda knox have told us, what the parents have told us, the people she's been speaking to at the prison told us is that she wants to get back home as soon as possible. she told the court that, in fact, earlier today. she begged them. she pleaded with them to stop punishing her for something she hadn't done. she pleaded with them to set her free so she could resume her life back in seattle and be back with her family. that's exactly what we understand she's about to do. she's left the prison already as you mentioned to an undisclosed location. we understand she's going to take the next available flight back to seattle to go home. john? >> matthew chance live outside the courthouse, thank you for the fabulous reporting. our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin is with us from new york tonight. jeffrey, four years since she was arrested. nearly two since she was convicted. what changed over time that led to this dramatic reversal today? >> the evidence against her was somewhere between thin and nonexistent. two things. a confession that was confused and simply unbelievable and not really a confession at all. and a dna test of blood on a knife that turned out not to say what the government said it was. take those two things away, there's simply no case against her. >> jeff, stand by. we'll have much more on this story coming up in just a few moments. first, other breaking news tonight. cnn is told tonight the new jersey governor chris christie is on the verge of announcing whether he'll seek the 2012 presidential nomination. in conversations with several sources today it was clear the governor wants to make his decision this week. one of the sources told me christie spent time this weekend in discussions with his wife about the pros and the cons of a late entry into the race. this source said look for a decision within the next 48 hours. will he or won't he? that depends on who you ask. one long time advocate or a christie presidential run says he senses a change in the governor, end quote, i see him running. another says christie is methodically going through the challenges he will face and says, quote, i hope he does, but i think wiser minds will prevail. i'm joined by cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger who's been reporting this story all day. he's under incredible pressure to make a decision and make it soon. why so much pressure to decide quickly? >> first of all, it's really late, john. there are other people in the field. i spoke with one republican today who said, look, he can't be like sarah palin when it comes to this. he's got to make a decision because fundraisers have to commit. out of courtesy to the other candidates, they got to know. so soon. >> what are the biggest challenges? you mentioned fundraising. you mentioned other candidates. you have to organize. you have to get out to iowa and organize. you have to get up to new hampshire or south carolina. it's a big national infrastructure you have to put together. what about other concerns? in fact, one of the people i talked to said, you know, if he decides no, if he decides not to run for president, the longer he stretches this out, the more damage it might do him at home in new jersey if he decides instead of running for president to seek re-election for governor. >> right. he's not a shoo-in in his re-elect. the first thing in talking to lots of people today, the question is campaign is asking is, how do you get -- if chris christie runs, you're going to need to get him up to speed. this is somebody whose area of expertise is not national security. it happens to be barack obama's strength. if someone said to me, look, he's a very smart guy who can learn, but there's not a lot of time here. so that's very important. also those early states that you talk about. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, nevada, all require a lot of organization, john. very early. and that's another thing chris christie does not have. organization. people believe he can raise the money, but the first two hurdles are very difficult. >> gloria borger helping us out tonight. again, i'm told look for a decision definitely this week. one source saying from governor christie look for that decision within the next 48 hours. more politics tonight. president obama speaking bluntly today about his chances in 2012. this afternoon abc's george stephanopoulos asked the president about a new poll showing only about 37% of americans think the president will win next year while 55% think he'll lose. >> are you the underdog now? >> absolutely. because, you know, given the economy, there's no doubt that, you know, whatever happens on your watch, you've got -- >> you embraced that pretty quickly. >> you know, i don't mind. >> one of the things the president doesn't have to worry about that republicans do, the 2012 presidential primary calendar keeps moving up. it's first reported on cnn this morning south carolina republicans scheduled their primary for january 21st. initially they wanted to hold it in late february. they blame florida which moved its primary to the end of january. >> 49 states played very pretty in the sand box. only one decided to do it wrong. >> that one, they say, is florida. we'll watch that one pray out. in other news tonight, the u.s. auto industry back in a big way. general motors today reported its sales rose nearly 20% in september. ford sales were up 9%. the chrysler group reports september sales jumped 27%. tomorrow is a big day for apple and the nation's number three cell phone provider, sprint. apple said to unveil its new generation iphone 5 which reports say will have a better camera, larger screen, longer battery life and a faster processor. also for the first time, it's expected to be available on the sprint network. "the wall street journal" reports sprint/nextel making a $20 million investment in the phones gambling they will keep the company competitive. wall street joins markets around the world in closing sharply lower today. that in turn raises questions about whether greece can get another bailout. and avoid a default. turns out the lockerbie bomber no longer is near death nor in a coma. in a new interview with reuters in libya, he says, quote, new facts about the bombing of pan am 103 over scotland in 1988 will come out, quote, one day and hopefully in the near future. there's word today of a new assault on anti-government protesters in syria. it comes just after syria's opposition group tried to draw up a united front during a meeting in turkey. cnn's arwa damon keeping track of developments from beirut. >> arwa, the opposition says there's a massacre going on in a town just outside of alms. what's the latest you know? >> reporter: well, what activists are telling us, that there's now a campaign of mass detention saying that some 3,000 people have been taken in by syrian security forces who are trying to hunt down elements of or information about the free syria army. now, this free syria army was actually established in august. but has only really begun to gain traction in the last few weeks. it is still just compromise of a few thousand individuals, def t defectors mostly from the syrian military. they are increasingly they say carrying out operations to try to defend civilians from the syrian security forces. that is why activists say we saw this massive crackdown in that area. >> arwa damon in beirut tonight. arwa, thank you. the nobel prize committee says a share of this year's medicine award will go to canadian board scientists who worked at new york's rockefeller university even though he died friday. the prize committee didn't know about ralph steinman's death when it announced this morning that he and two others are sharing this year's medicine prize for research on the immune system. still to come here, a busy night of breaking political news. president obama plays 2012 odds maker. new jersey's governor nears his decision on joining the republican race. plus, the italian legal system handed american amanda knox a 26-year prison sentence and then tonight set her free. how differently would this case have been handled here in the united states? that's tonight's truth, next. 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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. if your booking's not right, we'll help make it right, right away. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. from the price to the room to the trip [ boy ] hey, i thought these were electric? uh, it is, yeah, it's a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? american student amanda knox is free tonight. a friend tells cnn amanda will leave italy for seattle on tuesday. an italian court cleared her and her former boyfriend of murder. today's dramatic decision came hours after amanda knox made an emotional statement proclaiming her innocence. >> translator: i haven't the things that they are suggesting that i've done. i haven't murdered, i haven't raped, i haven't stolen. i wasn't there. i wasn't present in that crime. >> that was a translator there. knox spoke in italian. knox was convicted in december 2009 on charges of murdering her roommate, meredith kercher. back then her home state senator complained perhaps anti-american sentiment played a part in the verdict. is the italian system that different from the american system? here's tonight's truth. let's take a look at compare them as we go through. the first trial, of course, was a jury trial. amanda knox was convicted in the first trial. how does the italian system stack up next to the american system. number one, the biggest difference, the judge is nonn t nonneutral. in our system is judge is neutral. here a judge determines if the charges have merit, the jury decides if the charges have merit. the jury includes the presiding judge. in the american system the judge is neutral. prosecution and defense both given equal time. the jury decides the verdict. the judge has no role in that process at all. that's the trial process. it was here that amanda knox was found guilty. now, of course, today was about the appeals process. there are, again, significant differences here. in the italian system a defendant can ask to have a case retried with all of the evidence reheard. this is very important. new evidence can be introduced in the italian appeals process. a jury of eight decides the verdict. that jury includes two judges and six civilians. again, judges involved. judges involved in the process there. in the american system a defendant can dispute the lower court process in the legal arguments. again, you can revisit the case. but you can't bring new evidence in an american appeals system and a judge decides the verdict in the american system here. that's one of the things. what was fascinating in the italian case is not only do they have the normal decision like you would an american appeal, do you uphold or reverse the conviction, well, in italy the appeals process, you can actually add time to a defendant's sentence. that's something prosecutors were shaking in the knox case. they wanted her to get a longer sentence. let's take a closer look at the italian system that first convicted amanda knox and then tonight ordered her set free. joining us from perugia italy, a reporter for news weekdayly beast and author of angel face. cnn's senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. as you're in this courthouse, explain to americans, there's been a lot of talk, a lot of commentary that the italian system was unfair, that amanda knox was treated differently or unfairly because she was american. is that a valid criticism or is the system just different? >> i think the system is simply just different. raffaele sollecito who's also italian was also convicted of this murder in the first trial. i think shouting anti-americanism doesn't make sense on a lot of different levels. i think amanda knox was very much out of context, though, here in italy. i think that when the investigators first talked to her, when she was first noticed mingling around the crime scene, i think they had their eye on her then. i don't think it was because she was meamerican. i think it was because she was different and acting in a way they felt inappropriate after something as disastrous as her roommate being murdered. >> jeff toobin, for an american who might follow court cases in this country and not just spend a lot of time on this one, let's go through a couple of issues. in an appeal in the italian system you can bring new evidence into lay. you can't do that in a traditional american appeal, can you? >> no. you have what's called the record. which is the evidence that was brought to the trial. and except in extremely unusual circumstances, that's it. that's what you're arguing about in appeal. there's no new fact finding, no new jury. you just have to deal with the hand that you dealt and you were dealt in the trial court. >> and also judges. jeff, let me stay with you for a minute. the judges are involved. in an american system the judge presides over the trial. the jury goes off. that's all lay people. in the apeoples system, again, an appeals system here, judges make the decisions period. how unusual, how different does it make it that you have six citizens plus two judges diseasidisease i deciding the case? >> this is the heart of the difference. in italy, spain, france, you have the judge as really an active participant in the case. that goes through the apeoples process. that's what an inquiztorial system is. we have an adversary system. prosecution, defense with a neutral judge. again, i don't think one is necessarily better than the other in general. but both of them make mistakes some of the time. it certainly seems like initially the italian court really blew this case. >> barbie, as you track this case over the years, at what point did the knox team think, we actually have a chance here in this appeal, we may get this reversal? >> i think, you know, the big difference between the first trial and second trial, it really comes down to the fact that in the appellate level they allowed for an independent review of two very contentious pieces of forensic evidence. the defense asked for that in the first trial. it was denied. the fact it was granted in the second trial and those two pieces of forensic evidence were really the only two things linking amanda knox and raffaele sollecito to the murder were thrown out. that was a real game changer between the first trial and second trial. >> jeff stoobin, are we done? could there be subsequent proceedings in which an italian court says come back, we need to talk to you? >> there could be. there is one more route for the prosecution. it's important to remember about this case, rudy guede, whose evidence, fingerprints, dna is all over the crime scene, he's in prison. this crime is solved. the mystery was why they wanted to prosecute two other people. but the killer in this case is in prison and has been for years. >> and so barbie, on that point, is there naval gazing, reflections, a debate in italy. they know this case attracted attention not only in the united states but around the world. has there been criticism of the system there or do they think this is proof their system actually works just fine? >> well, i think we have one clarification. rudy guede was actually convicted as one of three people who killed meredith kercher. this is what the italian press is talking about tonight. you know, rudy guede passed through the high court level, confirmed his conviction with two other people. right now, you know, there are two people who are also responsible for meredith kercher's murder. and the italians are asking who are those people if amanda knox and raffaele sollecito aren't them? i think in italy 50% of all cases that go to the appellate level are changed or modified in some way. this is proof of that theory. this is proof of that statistic. the prosecutor in this case has said that he's going to appeal an acquittal and i'm sure he will. i suspect also the lawyers for rudy guede are preparing their petition to reopen his case as well. because the high court as we just said has him as one of three for the murder of meredith kercher. >> barbie, we're going through the legal rules and requirements in the process. you're there and you've been covering this case for some time. just take us back to that moment, the emotions of the moment, when amanda knox -- we saw her on television sobbing. found out s