AN ITALIAN COURT has convicted American Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for a second time for the murder of a British student in Perugia in 2007.
The court sentenced Knox to 28 years and six months in prison and Sollecito to 25 years for the murder of Meredith Kercher, over two years after Knox was released from prison.
She and Sollecito had served four years in prison.
Their convictions were overturned in October 2011, but the Italian criminal justice system does not preclude double jeopardy.
Today, after nearly 12 hours of deliberations, an appeals court reinstated the original verdicts for the pair.
Solecito was in court this morning, but did not return for the verdict. Knox, meanwhile, was in America with, in her words “her heart in her throat”.
The verdict raises the possibility of a lengthy legal battle between the US and Italy. If Italy submits an extradition request, the US will have to decide if the request falls under the extradition treaty, but even then, there is no guarantee they would send the 26-year-old to Italy.
An Ivorian drifter, Rudy Guede is currently serving a 16-year term for Kercher’s murder.
AFP provided reporting
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