“They kept shooting him even after he was dead,” she said.

She followed the trial as closely as the nearly 200 attorneys who represented the victims against the defendants. The 10-month-long trial included more than 40,000 documents, according to the attorney Abu Bakr. Sayed has studied the evidence presented at trial and conceded the prosecution did not present a strong case. So do the attorneys. The case against Mubarak’s sons, Gamel and Alaa, is particularly weak, Abu Bakr said.

Both Mubarak and Habib al-Adly, his minister of interior, have denied issuing orders, calling the shootings the work of rogue state security services. The prosecution never proved that Mubarak or Adly ordered the killing of protesters. One of the victims' attorneys, Amir Salem, explained that it was difficult to obtain evidence from a police state.

“How can I get a record of what they said to each other?” Salem asked. “But they were the only ones under the constitution allowed to give such an order. They are responsible. The police acted on their own? Who gave them live ammunition?”

Sayed offers a simple argument for conviction: “The world saw what happened. No one could do anything in this country without Mubarak knowing.”

Mubarak and his co-defendants also face charges of accepting bribes and gifts from a developer for projects in Sharm el Sheikh, as well as a series of corruption charges. The prosecution, according to the victims’ lawyers, did a better job of proving those parts of their case against the regime. But Salim believes the state purposely gave the prosecution more evidence.

“Corruption is easier to prove, and they know we have to find Mubarak guilty of something,” Salim said.

Although the killing charges carry a maximum death penalty, Sayed expects Mubarak to receive a light sentence for financial crimes and that the case will be mired in appeals. She is also prepared for the judge to delay the verdict at the last minute amid heightened political tensions. The nation is bracing for violent protests in reaction to the verdict.

Sayed said that regardless of the outcome, she would keep fighting for the goals of the revolution. Salem, meanwhile, said he has decided that Saturday’s verdict does not matter anymore.

“For me we already got the verdict because he was in the cage,” Salem said. “For me, it’s done.”

McClatchy special correspondents Mohanned Sabry and Amina Ismail contributed to this article.