Amanda Knox’s legal troubles have been through a series of unpredictable twist and turns. In 2009, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito (Knox’s former boyfriend) were convicted of murder. An Italian court found the pair guilty of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British student and Knox’s former roommate.
In a surprising twist of fate, the Italian court changed its mind and acquitted them in 2011 after they had each already served 4 years behind bars. Now, the two have been found guilty yet again…and the saga continues.
Only one day after receiving news of her reinstated guilty verdict, Knox appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to vent her feelings.
“I’m going to fight this to the very end,” Knox said in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts. “This really, it hit me like a train. I didn’t expect this to happen. I really expected so much better from the Italian system. They found me innocent before; how could they say beyond a reasonable doubt?” she continued.
In the interview Knox also revealed that she sent a letter to the parents of Meredith Kercher, to express her sympathy for the loss of their daughter.
“They deserve respect and the consolation of some kind of acknowledgement,” she said. “I really wish them the best.”
The 26-year-old Knox still maintains her innocence and said she will “never go willingly”. She believes the renewed guilty verdict is as a result of “overzealous prosecutor”s and “coercive interrogation”.
At the moment, Knox resides in Seattle, Washington, and would only have to do jail time if she returns to Italy or if she is extradited to Italy–both scenarios seem unlikely. The U.S., does however, have an extradition agreement with the Italian government so it is still very much possible that she could go back to prison.
On Friday, police found Raffael Sollecito at a hotel near Italy’s border with Slovenia and Austria, just hours after he and Knox’s guilty verdicts were announced.
According to Luca Maori, Sollecito’s lawyer, his client was near the Italian border because that’s where his current girlfriend lives. After being apprehended, he voluntarily went with police to the station while his girlfriend drove behind.
Upon arriving at the Udine police station, police confiscated his passport and stamped his identity papers to show that he cannot leave Italy. As per a Florence appeals court, Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to 28 ½ years and 25 years respectively. Neither have been detained pending a final appeal, which could take up to another year.
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