Amanda Knox Verdict
A court in Perugia, Italy, are now deliberating American Amanda Knox’s fate and the decision is set to be cast around 6p.m. ET.
Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are charged with the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher in the medieval town of Perugia. The trial has been going for the last year, and if convicted of the murder, they could be sentenced to life in prison.
They were charged back in 2007, with the murder and sexual assault of Kercher. Who was found in a pool of her own blood with her throat slit, in November 2007. She was found in the bedroom in the house she shared with Knox.
Knox, Kercher and Sollecito were all studying in Italy at the time. Kercher, the Leeds University student was murdered the night before she was found, Prosecutors are contending.
Both have pleaded innocent to the murder, although Prosecutors are hoping for life sentences if convicted. Including daytime solitary confinement for Know for nine months, and for Sollecito two months.
Knox could receive a lesser sentence as per Italian law, if convicted, and both defendants and prosecuters are able to appeal any sentence.
Curt Knox, the father of Amanda, told reporters in the courthouse, “They’ve got two 20-year-old kids and they are going to be determining their life.”
Knox, a former University of Washington student appealed that she was not a murderer and didn’t want to have “the mask of an assassin” forced onto her.
“I am scared of being branded what I am not” she spoke in near perfect Italian to the jurors.
Dozens of witnesses and 50 hearings have led the trial. One of Italy’s top criminal lawyers who is also a member of Parliament, was hired by Sollecito, while Knox has addressed the court numerous times.
Prosecutors also contend that Knox and Sollecito on the night of the murder, were at the apartment with Kercher and Rudy Hermann Guede. Guede ‘s DNA who is an Ivory Coast citizen, was found on the body of Kercher, was convicted in a separate trial and was given 30 years in prison. He is appealing the decision, and insists he was there the night of the murder but did not kill her.
The jury of eight, includes Judge Giancarlo Massei presiding, the Kercher family from Cousdon Surrey, England were also in Pergulia for the verdict.