Amanda Knox has been sentenced to 26 years in prison for the violent murder of Meredith Kercher an exchange student from Southwark, London who was knox’s room mate. Amanda Knox’s former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito was sentenced for 25 years for his involvement in the murder. Rudy Hermann Guédé had already been sentenced in 2008 for 30 years for his involvement.
Amanda Knox was found guilty of all 6 charges against her including Sexual Assault and Murder. Knox has said from prison that her “rights were respected” during her trial and she believes she will be freed on appeal.
The trial has been attacked, especially from the US media and public due to the Italian justice system. In the U.S., it is being widely claimed that the verdict which was announced on the early hours of Saturday was a direct result of anti-Americanism.
[media id=35 width=620 height=280]Those claims have been angrily denied in Italy and by Meredith’s parents. ‘It’s ludicrous,’ says John Kercher, the victim’s father. ‘I believe the verdict was based entirely on the evidence.’
According to Walter Verini, a centre Left Parliamentary deputy who visited Knox in jail she said “I had thought I would be home by Christmas, but I shall have to wait, but there is only one road I have chosen to get out of here, and that is the appeal my lawyers are preparing”.
Knox and Sollecito have the write to 2 appeals in which the first will be held by next Autumn if Knox and Sollecito apply for it. Their lawyers have said they will exploit “holes in the prosecution case” including allegedly flawed DNA evidence linking the pair to the crime scene and “the lack of a clear motive” for the murder.
It was claimed that the trio was high drink and drugs and that they tried to involve her in a sex game. Mr Sollecito is believed to have held Ms Knox down as Guede tried to rape her, and when Miss Kercher resisted, it is believed to have been Knox who stabbed her.
[media id=36 width=620 height=280]Knox’s strange behaviour, turning cartwheels in the police station as she waited to be questioned, raised suspicions. She gave a series of different statements to police before making a bizarre confession, blaming innocent local bar owner Patrick Lumumba for the crime.
The knife that was allegedly used in the incident was particularly important in the sentencing as traces of the DNA’s of Meredith Kercher and Knox was on the knife. The 12in kitchen knife was found in Sollecito’s apartment, further linking the couple to the killing.
The knife is also central to the prosecution case because of the DNA traces on it that supposedly link Knox to the murder. But her defence team argues that it may have been contaminated, and that the quality of the DNA evidence would not have been acceptable in an U.S. or British court.
The legak team of Knox say that she was ‘brainwashed’ and forced into making a confession in which she falsely accused bar owner Patrick Lumumba of the killing and she admitted being in the house at the time of Meredith’s murder and
She later, changed her story, saying police threatened her with violence. Knox was interrogated for nearly 53 hours over five days, part of the time without a lawyer.
However, the interrogation fell into an uncertain area of the law because she went voluntarily to the police station and was initially interviewed as a potential witness, not a suspect.
Amanda Knox’s parents have defiantly vowed to fight on to have their daughter cleared of murdering British student Meredith Kercher.
The American exchange student’s parents say she was ‘completely crushed, devastated, in shock’ when they saw her for the first time after her conviction.
the two killers (Knox & Sollecito) should be punished!!!
As I’ve heard the story over and over I realize that the poor defense has had to spend their entire time defending “the” most ridiculous theory and theory. They were not drinking and the “drugs” was marijuana, which definitely not make you violent. You pretty much don’t do anything when you’re high from marijuana. I have seen the facts, which are completely opposite of these CRAZY theories. Nobody buys it anymore. Amanda wouldn’t have even had the strength to slash her throat the way it was deeply cut across the entire front of her neck. They simply were not there. As the matter of fact the whole thing is a simple crime. A horrible crime, but a simple one. PS Spelling names correctly has nothing to do with anything, seriously. Tabloid vs. Fact, that’s all this is.
It was claimed that the trio was high drink and drugs and that they tried to involve her in a sex game. Mr Sollecito is believed to have held Ms Knox down as Guede tried to rape her, and when Miss Kercher resisted, it is believed to have been Knox who stabbed her…..they held ms. knox down and killed her?! A woman is spending 25 years of her life in jail! Atleast get the names correct!