Knox and Sollecito guilty of Kercher murder
An Italian court has ruled that American Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were guilty of the murder of British woman Meredith Kercher in 2009.
The appeal from Italy’s supreme court on Thursday night overturns a previous appeal from 2013 that found the pair not guilty.
The judge put a travel ban on Italian Mr Sollecito, 28, and sentenced him to 25 years in jail. Mr Sollecito was not present in court when the verdict was read out. Ms Knox, now 26, faces a sentence of 28 years and 6 months in jail. She plans to remain in the US however it is expected that the Italians will start extradition proceedings.
A statement sent out by her lawyer said:
“I am frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict. Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system.
“The evidence and accusatory theory do not justify a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Rather, nothing has changed. There has always been a marked lack of evidence. My family and I have suffered greatly from this wrongful persecution.”
Ms Knox asked that the Italian justices consider issues in the prosecution of the case.
“I beseech those with the knowledge and authority to address and remediate the problems that worked to pervert the course of justice and waste the valuable resources of the system: overzealous and intransigent prosecution, prejudiced and narrow-minded investigation, unwillingness to admit mistake, reliance on unreliable testimony and evidence, character assassination, inconsistent and unfounded accusatory theory, and counterproductive and coercive interrogation techniques that produce false confessions and inaccurate statements.
“Clearly a wrongful conviction is horrific for the wrongfully accused, but it is also terribly bad for the victim, their surviving family, and society.”
American student Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were accused of the murder of 21-year-old Kercher in 2007 during what was alleged as a drug-fuelled sexual assault. The pair were initially found guilty and were sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively.
A third person, Rudy Guede, was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison, later reduced to 16.
Convictions overturned
But the convictions of Knox and Sollecito were overturned in 2011 after forensic investigators challenged the scientific evidence provided by the police, and they were both were released from prison.
The appeals court that acquitted them criticised virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors, noting that the murder weapon was never found, that DNA tests were flawed and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.
Retrial ordered
However, in 2012 prosecutors filed a motion appealing against the acquittals, calling the verdicts “contradictory and illogical”, and in March 2013 Italy’s top court overturned their acquittals, and ordered a retrial.
Knox, who returned to her home in the States after she was released from prison, has not returned to Italy for the current hearing.