![image: [ Louise Woodward is in legal limbo - unable to return home until her appeal is decided ]](/olmedia/75000/images/_78541_louise_waiting_300.JPG)
Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court has contacted reporters and editors to tell them they will receive the decision by e-mail at 1000 on the day it is to be released.
Journalists will then be able to publish the judgement on their websites.
The court could decide to allow the British au-pair to return to England; she could be sent back to prison; or she could be ordered back to court for resentencing.
Court spokeswoman Joan Kenny said: ''There's been extraordinary media interest in this case and this is the first time that we have used the court's information technologies to respond to the enormous number of inquiries."
Louise Woodward, 20, from Elton in Cheshire, was found guilty of killing eight-month-old Matthew Eappen.
She has been in legal limbo since Judge Hiller Zobel reduced the jury's second-degree murder conviction to manslaughter and set her free, sentencing her to the 279 days she had served since her arrest.
The decision to distribute the appeal judgement by e-mail is the second time electronic technology has been exploited in this case. Judge Zobel used the Internet to transmit his ruling.
Ms Woodward was ordered to remain in Massachusetts while both sides appealed. Prosecutors have asked the court to reinstate the jury verdict and the mandatory 15-year minimum prison sentence it carries.
Defence lawyers meanwhile want the court either to overturn the conviction or uphold Zobel's ruling so that Louise Woodward can return to England.
British press mocks 'bizarre' net move
(06 Nov 97 | UK)
Louise Woodward Campaign for Justice
The Massachusetts Courts System
Media coverage of Woodward case
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Timetable of Woodward case
Louise Woodward's day in court
How Louise Woodward escaped a life-sentence
Judge without television set shows he's still wired
Judge Zobel's order, a summary