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    Italy: Prosecutors Appeal Knox Acquittal

    Italian prosecutors have launched an appeal against the acquittal of Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend over the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

    A 112-page document has been lodged with the country's highest criminal court, more than four months after an appeals court threw out the convictions against Ms Knox, 24, and Raffaele Sollecito, 27.

    Perugian prosecutor Giovanni Galati said he is "very convinced" the pair are responsible for the stabbing death of 21-year-old Ms Kercher , who shared an apartment with Knox in the university town of Perugia.

    Mr Galati told reporters in Perugia that the appeals sentence must be thrown out, saying it was full of "omissions and many errors", news agency ANSA reported.

    The prosecutors' appeal, which was expected, marks the third and final stage in the criminal case against Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito.

    The two were found guilty in a lower court of killing Ms Kercher, in what prosecutors described as a sex-fuelled attack in 2007, and were sentenced to 26 years and 25 years respectively.

    An appeals court then said the evidence did not hold up, freeing Ms Knox to return home to the United States after serving four years in prison.  

    Mr Sollecito lives in Italy.

    His lawyer, Luca Maori, said the high court was expected to issue its decision towards the end of the year.

    "We will write our brief to say it's a mistake," Mr Maori said.

    The high court cannot hear new evidence, and will make its decision based on what has been submitted in earlier trials.

    The fatal blow to the prosecution's case was a court-ordered DNA review in the appellate trial that discredited crucial genetic evidence used to convict Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito in 2009.

    While clearing the pair, the appellate panel stopped short of saying what might have happened on the night of the murder.

    A third defendant, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted in a separate trial of sexually assaulting and stabbing Ms Kercher.

    His 16-year sentence, reduced in appeal from an initial 30 years, was upheld by Italy's highest court in 2010.

     

    8 comments

    • * ScottishGirl*  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      Guilty as sin !!!!!!!!!!! No hope of her being extradited
      • Annie 3 months ago
        Too true.
    • johnp  •  3 months ago
      What a shower of rubbish most of you speak. You know nothing of the case just possibly tabloid dross you have read.. Knox was innocent of this crime from the beginning, she was a victim of Italian police trying to cobble evidence together to get a fast result for the benefit of iinternational public relations. She spent time in prison and suffered brutality unnecessarily - you cannot put a price on that.
    • John  •  Jersey, Channel Islands  •  3 months ago
      Even if the do find her guilty again she will not be sent back to Italy, the US do not extradite their own citizens to other countries
    • Neil McGowan  •  Moscow, Russia  •  3 months ago
      This murderous yankee sow should have gone to the electric chair.
    • Greg  •  Cork, Ireland  •  3 months ago
      How can this be ??? 4 months after her acquittal ??? One way or the other, I don't see her ever being extradited back to Italy from the US in the event that the Italian Appeals Court overturns her aquittal in the lower Court.,
    • Copius  •  3 months ago
      If the US fails to allow her to be extradited, none of our citizens should be allowed to be sent over there.
    • Tony  •  Hounslow, England  •  3 months ago
      The acquittal of these two murderers represented a huge miscarriage of justice. Knox and Sollecito got away for two main reasons:
      First, on technicality because the investigation botch ups e.g. evidence wasn't collected properly (the bra clasp was collected from the murder scene only 43 days later) and other mistakes were made during police procedure which helped them all along. The Italians had no choice but to acquit or hell would have broken lose on their heads.

      Secondly, due in no small part to a PR blitz mounted by Knox's family, friends and their Seattle-based publicist. They were assisted by the US national media, left and right.

      Acquittal doesn't make Knox and Sollecito innocent. There was still plenty of other evidence to prove they are guilty such as the endless lies, false accusation (blaming the black guy because it truly is a tried and proven method to get the police off your back especially in the US), lack of alibi (to this day nobody knows their whereabouts the night of the murder), conflicting statements, Knox’s DNA mixed with the victim's blood in bathroom, total lack of remorse, odd behaviour, conflicting computer and mobile phones records, staged burglary, foot prints set in blood, Sollecito and Knox incriminating each other, Knox incriminating herself in writing stating she was indeed at the crime scene. Both Knox and Sollecito knew details about the murder before the police even released cause of death. Before his arrest Sollecito had already heavily lied in an interview with a UK news paper about his whereabouts the night of the murder which was different from the yet different versions he told the police afterwards...and even more lies than one can possibly imagine!

      “Innocent” people don’t lie repeatedly or incriminate others unless they have something to hide. Most of all they do not voluntarily write confused confessions that they actually witnessed the crime and were present then make a complete 360 to say they weren't there.

      Sollecito and Knox reek of sociopath and the many lies that fluidly dripped from their mouths attest to that! It will be a hard task to bring them back to justice and if they get away once again this time (which I suspect is likely to happen) I hope these two murderers fade into obscurity and will decide not to make any money out of a poor family's misery.
    • Sally Poter  •  Swindon, England  •  3 months ago
      I am increasingly convinced there is a higher Judgement awaiting us all when life here expires.The guilty will never escape divine Judgement and punishment.
      • * ScottishGirl* 3 months ago
        well until then i'd concentrate on the here & now Sally