FLORENCE, Italy, (Reuters) – American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty yesterday for the second time of the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher, in a retrial that reversed an earlier appeal judgment.
The verdict, after 12 hours of deliberations, confirmed Knox and Sollecito’s original 2009 conviction. Knox’s sentence was increased to 28 years and six months and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years. Knox did not attend the retrial, however, having gone home to the United States after the previous appeal.
“I am frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict. Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system,” Knox said in a statement.
Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno confirmed that her client would appeal to Italy’s highest court, and Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said he was “stunned”. The court will publish the reasons for its verdict in 90 days.
For Kercher’s family, who had pushed to have the appeal verdict overturned, the reaction was equally raw.
“We didn’t know what to expect. We are still in shock,” said Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, after the ruling was read.
If final appeals are heard, neither Knox nor Sollecito, who was banned from leaving Italy, would face arrest or jail time until a final verdict by the highest court.
Knox, who is in the United States and would have to be extradited to serve her sentence, attacked the “overzealous and intransigent prosecution” and “prejudiced and narrow-minded investigation” and said she had been wrongfully prosecuted.
