Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Amanda Knox faces final judgement day after eight years of trials - Telegraph.co.uk




Raffaele Sollecito (AP)


In December 2009, Knox and Italian Sollecito were sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for their part in the killing.


After four years in jail, the pair were acquitted on appeal in 2011 and Knox returned to the United States.


The couple were found guilty again in a shock about-turn in January last year after judges ruled Kercher died after a row with Knox which spiralled out of control.


The Seattle native, who now works as a journalist and is reportedly engaged to a childhood friend, was handed 28 years in prison, while Sollecito was given 25 and had his passport confiscated.


The Italian, who faces immediate imprisonment if the guilty verdict is upheld, has said he will be present in court.


"We do not expect this to be the last hearing. We hope the court will annul the verdict and send the case back to appeal," Knox's lawyer Luciano Ghirga told AFP.


He refused to speculate about a possible move by Italy to extradite Knox if her conviction is upheld. The American has said she will have to be dragged back "kicking and screaming".


Legal experts are divided as to whether an extradition request would succeed.


Amanda Knox speaks to ABC News in January 2014


Public opinion in the US has long felt the case against Knox was flawed and that Italian detectives made mistakes - such as using dirty gloves to collect evidence - which mean the case should have been thrown out years ago.


The appeals court found the pair guilty based on DNA evidence the prosecution said linked Knox, Sollecito and Guede to the murder scene.


Sollecito's DNA was found on a bra strap the defence team says was contaminated by police incompetence.




Meredith Kercher (PA)


Knox's DNA was found mixed with Kercher's blood, but in the bathroom, not the bedroom where she died, and DNA traces on the presumed murder weapon were so small they were dismissed as inconclusive by the defence.


Guede's DNA was found on Kercher's body.


Sollecito's lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said she thought the convictions would be thrown out.


"There are no (DNA) traces in the crime room, other than those of Rudy. The judges say the other traces were cleaned up, but you cannot clean selectively," she said.


Prosecutors say the stab wounds show more than one person was involved, and insist Knox and Sollecito fatally slashed Kercher while Guede held her down and sexually abused her.


The appeals court placed importance on a written confession Knox made under police questioning, in which she said she had been in the house and had heard the murder, but had not taken part.


She also initially accused a local barman of the murder, but later retracted the statements, claiming they had been made under duress.


Knox and Sollecito have provided each other with alibis, claiming they smoked marijuana and slept together at another apartment on the night of the crime.


But Sollecito admitted last year that he could not remember if Knox was present all the time.



Amanda Knox timeline: eight-year saga of Meredith Kercher murder




Timeline



Nov 2, 2007


Perugia, Italy




Body of Meredith Kercher, 21, pictured above, is found in her apartment in Perugia. Investigators say she was killed the night before.




Nov 6, 2007


Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, pictured above, are arrested along with Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, Congolese owner of pub where Knox occasionally worked.




Nov 20, 2007


Lumumba, implicated by Knox's statements to police, is released from jail for lack of evidence.




Dec 6, 2007


Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede is extradited from Germany, where he was arrested, and jailed on arrival in Italy.




Dec 14, 2007


Kercher is laid to rest after London funeral.




Oct 28, 2008



Judge indicts Knox and Sollecito on murder and sexual assault charges. Guede, pictured, who was granted a fast-track trial, is convicted of murder and sexual assault and sentenced to 30 years in prison.




Jan 16, 2009


Trial of Knox and Sollecito opens in Perugia.




Mar 06, 2009


Patrick Lumumba sues Knox for defamation.




Dec 4, 2009


Court finds Knox guilty of murder and sexual assault; sentences her to 26 years in prison. Sollecito is convicted of same charges and sentenced to 25 years.




Dec 22, 2009


Appeals court upholds Guede conviction and cuts sentence to 16 years.




Nov 24, 2010


Appeals trial for Knox and Sollecito opens in Perugia.




Dec 16, 2010


Italy's highest criminal court upholds Guede's conviction and 16-year prison sentence.




June 29, 2011


Independent forensic report ordered by the appeals court finds much of the DNA evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito is unreliable.




Oct 3, 2011


Knox and Sollecito cleared of Meredith Kercher's murder. Knox told to pay 22,000 euros in compensation to Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a barman she falsely accused of the murder.




Mar 26, 2013


Italy's Supreme court orders Knox and Sollecito stand trial again for the Kercher murder, overturning their acquittals on a point of law.




Sep 30, 2013


The retrial begins in a Florence appeals court. The defence hinges on the fact there was no DNA evidence which linked Knox and Sollecito to the murder.




Jan 30, 2014


Knox and Sollecito lose their appeal as the Florence court upholds their guilty verdict. Knox is sentenced to 28 and a half years. Sollecito is sentenced to 25 years.




Jan 31, 2014


Knox’s parents say she will not return to Italy to serve her sentence. On the same day, Sollecito is found by police in a hotel, close to the Austrian border.




Feb 18, 2014


A recording of Knox being interrogated in Italian prison is released for the first time.




Apr 29, 2014


Florence court releases full report saying that Kercher’s injuries indicate she was killed by multiple attackers but they believe the fatal wound was dealt by Knox.




July 1, 2014


Sollecito holds a press conference where he says “I am an innocent person” and distances himself from Knox.




Nov 5, 2014


Knox begins working for the West Seattle Herald as a freelance reporter.




Feb 12, 2015


Knox is engaged to musician, Colin Sutherland.




Mar 25, 2015


Italy's Supreme Court in Rome due to decide whether to uphold Knox and Sollecito's convictions for killing Meredith Kercher.












Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1BmtSGQ

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