Amanda Knox Guilty Again Over Kercher Murder

Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have again been found guilty of murdering British student Meredith Kercher after an Italian court ruled the pair should not have been cleared. Knox, who was in her hometown of Seattle when she learned her conviction had been reinstated, has been sentenced to 28 years and six months.

 

The 26-year-old said she was "frightened and saddened" by the ruling.
Sollecito, 29, who was not in court but had attended lengthy hearings, was sentenced to 25 years. Their lawyers have said they intend to appeal to Italy's highest court and a long legal battle for Knox's extradition is now expected.
Miss Kercher's sister Stephanie and brother Lyle were both at the Nuovo Palazzo di Giustizia courthouse in Florence to hear the outcome of the third trial in the case.


Speaking outside the court, Mr Kercher told Sky News he could never forgive those responsible for his sister's death.
 
"I think you'd have to be a very strong-willed - arguably religious - person to find that forgiveness," he said.

"I think it is so easily forgotten what happened to Meredith.

"When I read reports even now, I find myself skimming past the paragraphs that refer to what actually happened to her because it is so horrific."

Knox and Sollecito were charged in 2007 after Miss Kercher's semi-naked body was found with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in the central Italian city of Perugia.

The 21-year-old Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, had been sexually assaulted. Two years after the pair were found guilty at their original trial in 2009 - and handed jail terms totalling more than 50 years - the verdicts were overturned and both walked free from court, with Knox returning to the US and going on to sign a book deal.

Their acquittals in 2011 came after a damning 100 page report outlined a catalogue of errors and breaches of procedure that had been made in collecting evidence. The third trial began last September in Florence.

After nearly 12 hours of deliberations on Thursday, the court upheld the 2009 convictions. Knox, who claimed she could not attend the retrial because she could not afford to travel to Italy, said after the latest ruling: "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."
She said in a pre-recorded interview for BBC's Newsnight that she would only be extradited "kicking and screaming".

Though Knox has remained in the US, she emailed the court to protest her innocence in a statement read out by her lawyer in which she insisted she ''was not a monster".

Speaking outside the court, Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said she will launch an appeal against the decision.

He added: "For those that, like me, are convinced that Amanda is innocent, it is a very difficult time.

"We have to respect the verdict but we will challenge them. We're very sad at the moment."

Sollecito's lawyer Luca Maori said: "There isn't a shred of proof."

Drug dealer Rudy Guede was sentenced to 16 years over Miss Kercher's murder. Investigators said he did not act alone.