Monday, March 25, 2013

Italian Supreme Court ruling on Amanda Knox retrial expected within hours

American college student <a href='http://topics.cnn.com/topics/amanda_knox'>Amanda Knox</a> spent four years in jail because of murder charges in the death of her roommate Meredith Kercher while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. She and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 to 25 years in prison (Sollecito got 26 years). The conviction was overturned in 2011. Here's a look at the characters in Knox's trial:
Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found dead with her throat slit in an apartment she shared with Knox on November 2, 2007. The police initially brought Knox, her former boyfriend and another man into custody for questioning.vWhen Knox was detained for questioning in 2007, she implicated Patrick Lumumba, the owner of a bar where Knox worked. Lumumba was taken into custody and released after two weeks in prison when his alibi is corroborated. He later won a libel suit against Knox.<a href='http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-28/world/world_europe_italy-raffaele-sollecito-profile_1_rudy-guede-bra-clasp-amanda-knox?_s=PM:EUROPE'>Raffaele Sollecito</a>, Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder, was convicted in December 2009 with Knox and released when their cases were overturned. Prosecutors testified that police scientists found Sollecito's genetic material on a bra clasp of Kercher's found in her room, while his defense claimed there wasn't enough DNA for a positive ID. Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast native raised in Perugia, was convicted separately from Knox and Sollecito and is now serving 16 years. Guede admitted to being with Kercher on the night she died but said he didn't kill her. Both Knox and Sollecito argued that he was the killer, and Guede suggested the couple took Kercher's life.Meredith Kercher's family lawyer Francesco Maresca, left, argued in court in 2011 that the multiple stab wounds implied that there was more than one aggressor who killed Kercher. Pictured from left are Maresca, Kercher's father John, sister Stephanie, brother Lyle and brother John at a press conference in 2008.Carlo Dalla Vedova, one lawyer on Knox's defense team, argued in court that "the only possible decision to take is that of absolving Amanda Knox" in his closing argument for her appeal hearing.<a href='http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/world/europe/italy-knox-appeal'>Carlo Pacelli</a> represented Patrick Lumumba in his civil suit case. He called Knox two-faced and a "she-devil." Giulia Bongiorno, the lead lawyer on Raffaele Sollecito's defense team, compared Knox to Jessica Rabbit on the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Knox is not bad, just "drawn that way," Bongiorno said in her closing statements in the 2011 trial.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • A decision on retrying Amanda Knox is expected soon
  • HLN analyst: Even if the Italian court orders a retrial, the U.S. could refuse to extradite Knox
  • Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were cleared of murdering a British student
  • Sollecito's father says his son has been trying to rebuild a normal life
Rome (CNN) -- Italian Supreme Court judges have heard the arguments, now they must decide whether to order American Amanda Knox to stand trial for a second time in the death of her former roommate.
The judges concluded a hearing into the question early Monday afternoon, and were expected to announce their decision soon.
Knox spent four years in jail before an appellate court overturned her murder conviction in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher. She returned to the United States in 2011. Prosecutors say that despite the appellate decision, they still believe Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are responsible for the death.
Prosecution plans to appeal Knox case
Knox's ex: We're like brother, sister
2012: Knox's life as a free woman
Knox: It's 'like everything isn't real'
"We are still convinced that they are the co-authors of Meredith's homicide," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Perugia, Italy, prosecutor Giovanni Galati as saying.
Knox, who is not in Italy for the hearing, is confident in the Italian legal system and hopes one day to return to Italy as a free woman, her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said Monday.
If the acquittal is overturned, the case will go back to an appellate court and Knox might have to return to Italy. If she refuses, the Italian government could appeal to the U.S. government for her extradition.
But even if it does, Knox still not might end up before an Italian court.
U.S. officials might reject such a request because it violates the U.S. legal principle that a criminal defendant can't be tried twice on the same allegation, said Joey Jackson, a contributor for HLN's "In Session."
Italy lacks the absolute prohibition present in U.S. law preventing authorities from retrying a criminal defendant who has been acquitted of a charge.
"We have principles that are well-founded within our Constitution, one of which is double jeopardy," he said. "So as a result of that, I think it would be highly objectionable for the United States to surrender someone to another country for which justice has already been administered and meted out. So I don't think or anticipate that that would happen."
The case began in 2007, after Knox moved to Perugia to study at the University for Foreigners of Perugia for one year
Knox, then 20, shared a room with British student Kercher, 21.
That November, Kercher's semi-naked body was found at the home, with her throat slashed.
Police arrested Knox and Sollecito, who was her boyfriend at the time.
Two years later they were convicted of murder, but were cleared when they appealed the verdicts in 2011.
Another man, Ivorian drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted separately of Kercher's killing.
Guede admitted having sexual relations with Kercher but denied killing her.
In legal paperwork published in December 2011, the judge in the case wrote that the jury had cleared the pair of murder for lack of evidence proving they were guilty.
Knox's family said last year the appeal was unwelcome, but no cause for concern.
"The appeal of Amanda's acquittal by the prosecution was not unexpected as they had indicated from the day of the verdict that they would appeal," a family statement in February 2012 said.
Knox has spent the last year and a half trying to resume a normal life, studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, her hometown.
She has written a book on her ordeal, titled "Waiting to be Heard," which will be published next month.
Francesco Sollecito, father of Raffaele, told CNN in a phone interview last year that the family was "not happy about the decision (to appeal). My son is trying to get back to normal life."
"We can do very little in this situation," he said, but as Italian citizens, they would have to accept the court's decision.
"We hope that the high court will finally put the words 'the end' to this story."

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