Amanda Knox Conviction Upheld in Italy

U.S. student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have had their sentences in the 2007 murder, in Perugia, Italy, of British student Meredith Kercher upheld by an Italian court. Knox and Sollecito were previously convicted in the case in 2009. Knox, who is currently living in the United States, had her original 26 year sentence increased to 28 years and six months. Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=l06arKR9i9U
 
The third person convicted in the murder was Ivory Coast born Rudy Guede. He is currently in jail although, oddly enough, reports say he will be eligible for work release this year. Guede was the only person whose DNA was found at the crime scene, seemingly irrefutable proof of his sole guilt. Yet the Italian prosecutors were able to get convictions against Knox and Sollecito based partly upon statements made by Guede implicating them. They also had statements made by Knox and Sollecito under interrogation, that the two defendants claimed were coerced.

The convictions of Knox and Sollecito were overturned in 2011 for because there was no corroborating evidence to tie them to the crime scene. Italy’s Supreme Court decided to retry the case in March 2013, saying that the acquittal came about because the jury failed to consider all the evidence. The retrial began in September 2013. Sollecito return to Italy to defend himself and continued to insist there was no basis for him to be accused of this heinous crime.

Amanda Knox became the center of a media circus as a result of the case. She has been living in Seattle since her 2011 acquittal. Upon learning of the recent decision and new sentence, Ms. Knox told the media that she will never return to Italy voluntarily.

Legal experts all over the country are, of course, weighing in on whether Knox can be extradited to Italy. If Italy makes an extradition request, Knox will have the right to challenge it in an American court.

Cynically referring to Knox’s physical appearance, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said: “As popular as she is here and as pretty as she is here — because that’s what this is all about, if she was not an attractive woman we wouldn’t have the group love-in — she will be extradited if it’s upheld.”