A verdict of "guilty," "not guilty" or "not proven" could come as early as Jan. 31, if the judges feel they are prepared to decide the fates of the defendants, Abdel Basset Al Megrahi and Lamen Khalifah Fhimah, according to trial reports.

The likelihood that a verdict will be ready by Jan. 31 is "remote, " said Donna Arzt, a Syracuse University College of Law Professor, citing the words of presiding judge Lord Ronald Sutherland.

It is also possible that the three Scottish Supreme Court justices may return on Jan. 30 and say they are not ready to set a verdict date, Arzt added.

"It is truly guesswork," said Suse Lowenstein, whose son Alexander was killed when the plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. "We are afraid if they come back on the 31st it would be a 'not guilty' verdict."

Alexander Lowenstein was among 35 students enrolled in the Syracuse University Division of International Programs Abroad who died when the plane crashed over the sleepy Scottish farm town four days before Christmas in 1988.

Lowenstein, her husband Peter and their son Lucas plan to travel to the Netherlands at the end of this week to await a possible verdict on Jan. 31. The trial is taking place at Camp Zeist, a former United States air base about 10 minutes outside of Utrecht.

The Lowensteins, who have family in Germany, plan to stay in Europe for several weeks if the judges are not ready to deliver their verdict Jan. 31.

But most victims' families are finding it difficult to make travel arrangements within the United States to watch the proceedings at remote viewing locations in New York City and Washington, D.C., said Bob Monetti, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, a family support group.

The United States Department of Justice pays for American victims' families to travel to the remote viewing locations run by the Office of Victims of Crime.

Monetti, whose son Richard was an SU student who died in the crash, said he thinks most of the American victims' families will opt to travel to the viewing locations in the United States because of the potential short notice of a verdict date.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime said that although the office makes travel arrangements for victims' families to travel to Camp Zeist, it does not know what Tuesday's announcement will bring.

The office has advised families to book flights leaving for Amsterdam on Jan. 30, to avoid the possibility of being stranded in the Netherlands by giving them cancellation notice.

Regardless of what the verdict may be, Monetti said he hopes the trial is close to an end. The 12-year investigation into the origin of the terrorist bomb that blew apart the plane has caused victims' families a terrible stress, he added.

"I'm getting real tired of this thing," Monetti said from his home in New Jersey. "We used to have lives before this."

Magin McKenna, Verdict date in Flight 103 trial expected by month's end. , University Wire, 01-22-2001.