Amanda Knox and Raffeale Sollecito are charged a second time in the murder of Meredith Kercher
Amanda Knox and Raffeale Sollecito are facing their second appeal trial. In 2011 Knox and Sollecito were acquitted of charges that they murdered Meredith Kercher. However, the acquittal has been overturned. The retrial of Knox and Sollecito opened Monday with neither physically present in the courtroom.
While studying abroad in Italy, Knox was accused of the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Kercher, was found dead in Perugia Italy in November 2007. The 21 year old exchange student, was found in the shared apartment with her throat slit.
Knox was taken into custody for the murder in 2007 and spent 4 years in jail. In 2009 Knox was convicted by Italian courts and sentenced to 25 years. Raffeale Sollecito, her boyfriend at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 26 years. The conviction was overturned in 2011 due to “lack of evidence.”
After her acquittal, Amanda Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle. Now 26, Knox still lives in Seattle and is currently a student at the University of Washington.
Though Knox and Sollecito are once again being charged with the murder of Meredith Kercher, neither was in attendance at the opening of the retrial. Italian courts do not require the two be physically present as the trial goes underway. Knox, who expresses concern over returning to Italy where she was detained for 4 years, has decided against being present for the hearing.
New evidence in the case could determine the outcome for Knox and Sollecito. A piece of evidence labeled 36-I has yet to be tested. This is trace evidence from the blade found in the home of Raffeale Sollecito, the blade which prosecutors claim was used to kill Meredith Kercher. Trace evidence 36-B, deemed in the original trial to be Kercher’s DNA, was found on the knife, but not the victim’s blood.
However, Trace evidence 36-B was thrown out by the appellate court due to unreliable police laboratory testing. At the time, this meant that the knife could not be connected to Meredith Kercher. According to the Italian Supreme Court, trace evidence 36-I has become a decisive factor in the case of Amanda Knox and Raffeale Sollecito.
Judge Alesandro Nencini is presiding over the appeal in Florence Italy. Both defense and prosecution attornies have commented assuredly on the proceedings. A decision is expected to be reached by the end of the year. The trail will resume on Friday when Luciano Aviello, a man who served jail time with Sollecito, will testify.
