After four years in jail and two trials, Amanda Knox thought
she could finally return to normal life. A year and a half have passed since
Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were acquitted of the murder of
her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007. The two women were exchange
students living together in Italy when Kercher was found with her throat slit
and multiple wounds on her body.
Prosecutors argued that Knox, Sollecito and Kercher had been
involved in a sex and drug game that went bad, resulting in Kercher’s death.
Knox was imprisoned for four years awaiting trial, all the while claiming
innocence. They were tried and convicted in 2009, but after a successful
appeal, she and Sollecito were finally acquitted in October 2011—after it was
revealed that police had tainted critical evidence and that DNA samples had
been handled improperly. An Ivory Coast man was convicted of the murder and was
sentenced to 16 years in prison.
But on Tuesday, an
Italian high court ordered the acquittal be overturned and Knox and Sollecito
be retried for the murder. This comes after Knox has finally returned to
normal classwork at the University of Washington in Seattle. Giulia Bongiorno,
who was Sollecito’s lawyer in the case, says the ruling is simply a call for
further study of the successful appeal made by Knox and Sollecito.
“No matter what happens, my family and I will face this
continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our
heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable
adversity,” Knox said in a statement.
There is some doubt that it was possible to get a fair trial at all the first time,
according to US legal commentator Kendal Coffey, "In this country we would say, with this kind of media exposure, you could not get a fair trial".
At this point in time, many legal experts doubt that Knox
will have to return to Italy, especially since her lawyers are likely preparing
arguments against her extradition. Knox has already been acquitted of the
crime, which would invoke double jeopardy in the U.S.—but her trial took place
in Italy, so it is unlikely that will apply to her.
“They’re going to start looking for cases where
[extradition] requests were turned down or courts have blocked it,” said
Stephen Vladeck of American University’s Washington College of Law. “I suspect
they will try to make a version of the double jeopardy argument anyway.”
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