The Italian judges who reinstated the guilty verdict against Amanda Knox in January say that she was the one who delivered the fatal blow that killed British student Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were originally convicted for Kercher’s murder in 2007, but an appeal saw them acquitted in 2011, with that ruling overturned in January.
Explaining why the appeal ruling that acquitted Knox was overturned, the appeals court in Florence said that she and Sollecito killed Kercher after an argument turned violent in November 2007.
The judges said that they believed a third accomplice, Rudy Guede, held Kercher down, while Knox and Sollecito wielded kitchen knives and sexually assaulting her.
Dismissing the original claim that Kercher had died after a sex game spiralled out of control, presiding judge Alessandro Nencini concluded that it was Knox who delivered the mortal blow with a kitchen knife after a violent row about money.
Knox was originally sentenced to 28 years and six months, with her ex-boyfriend receiving a 25 years sentence, and Guede faced 16 years in prison. Guede was never acquitted.
The case will now go back to the Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest court, where the judges will finally decide to uphold or overturn the convictions.
The the guilty verdict is upheld, then the Italian authorities will begin the extradition process to bring Knox back to Italy from the US to carry out her sentence.
Following the verdict, Amanda Knox issued the following statement:
I have stated from the beginning of this long ordeal that I am innocent of the accusations against me. I was found innocent by the only court in Italy that retained independent forensic experts to review my case. I want to state again today what I have said throughout this process: I am innocent of the accusation against me, and the recent motivation document does not – and cannot – change the fact of my innocence.
The recent motivation document does not – and cannot – change the forensic evidence: experts agreed that my DNA was not found anywhere in Meredith’s room, while the DNA of the actual murderer, Rudy Guede, was found throughout that room and on Meredith’s body. This forensic evidence directly refutes the multiple-assailant theory found in the new motivation document. This theory is not supported by any reliable forensic evidence.
The forensic evidence also directly refutes the theory that the kitchen knife was the murder weapon: the court-appointed independent experts confirmed that neither Meredith’s blood nor her DNA was on the alleged murder weapon, which experts also agreed did not match the stab wounds or the bloody imprint of a knife on her pillow.
In fact, in the prior proceeding in which I was found innocent, the court specifically concluded that the forensic evidence did not support my alleged participation in the crime and further found that the circumstantial evidence was both unreliable and contrary to a conclusion of guilt.
The recent motivation document does not – and cannot – change the fact that the forensic evidence still does not support my participation and the circumstantial evidence still remains unreliable and contrary to the conclusion of guilt.
And the recent motivation document does not – and cannot – identify any legitimate motive for my alleged involvement in this terrible crime. No fewer than three motives have been previously advanced by the prosecution and by the courts. Each of these theories was as unsupported as the purported motive found in the new motivation document, and each of these alleged motives was subsequently abandoned by the prosecution or the courts. Like the prior “motives”, the latest “motive” in the new motivation document is not supported by any credible evidence or logic. There is simply no basis in the record or otherwise for this latest theory.
I will now focus on pursuing an appeal before the Italian supreme court. I remain hopeful that the Italian courts will once again recognise my innocence. I want to thank once again, from the bottom of my heart, all of those—family, friends, and strangers—who have supported me and believe in my innocence.