Italy sets March appeal for Amanda Knox acquittal
ROME (AP) - An Italian court in Perugia has set March 25 for the prosecution's appeal of Amanda Knox's acquittal in the 2007 murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher.
The conviction of the American student and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was overturned on appeal last year after the court ruled there was no conclusive evidence against the couple. The 24-year-old Knox was freed after four years in jail and returned home.
Her lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said Thursday that the hearing by Italy's highest appeals court would last no longer than a day. He said during the same hearing the court will consider Knox's appeal of her conviction for slander for falsely accusing a bar owner of being involved in the murder in the university town of Perugia.
The appeal hearing originally was set for this year, but was postponed because the judge was busy with another trial.
The conviction of the American student and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was overturned on appeal last year after the court ruled there was no conclusive evidence against the couple. The 24-year-old Knox was freed after four years in jail and returned home.
Her lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said Thursday that the hearing by Italy's highest appeals court would last no longer than a day. He said during the same hearing the court will consider Knox's appeal of her conviction for slander for falsely accusing a bar owner of being involved in the murder in the university town of Perugia.
The appeal hearing originally was set for this year, but was postponed because the judge was busy with another trial.
Well ....... it does look like she has pulled this one off, ....... and swung a book deal worth 4 million. This girl is going somewhere. Politics maybe.
Wow - this could get weirder.Â
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Under current international extradition law, the US could grant an extradition request from Italy if her case is successfully appealed. Likely after a DOJ and Dept of State magistrate examination of the matter, but they may be compelled to send her back.
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 That her conviction was overturned it seems outlandish that they want to appeal their own judges' ruling now, especially as she was freed and allowed to leave the country.Â
That, to me, would mitigate the basis of an extradition request from Perugia.  Â
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Can someone explain to me why Amanda Knox doesn't have an aliby, and actually made up a lot of stories about where she was on that night, and only once they were all proved wrong she came up with a "I don't remember where I was". Surely if you are accused of a murder and you have an aliby you should say where you were!
 @John Sutton Apparently you just believe everything you read that was written by some guilter. Knox DOES have an alibi, and she DOES and ALWAYS HAS recalled where she was that night - EXCEPT after a 6-hour uninterrupted grilling session by a tag team of Italian police bent on fitting her up for the crime, when she was so exhausted and frightened that she could barely remember her name. (Note that that midnight-to-dawn grilling wherein she was denied even restroom breaks came as the culmination of more than 50 hours of "questioning" over a period of just four days in a language she did not really understand or speak well - let alone write well enough to product the "statements" (2) in perfect Italian which she was forced to sign - all while she was locked out of her residence and all of her possessions were being stolen and destroyed by police.)
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Knox's memory and ALL of the forensic evidence and actual eyewitnesses in this case agree to this one critical point: Knox was not in the murder room when her roommate was brutally attacked and killed, and it was very unlikely that she was anywhere near the murder cottage at the time. She was seen some distance away just minutes before this attack began, and while the proven killer was caught repeatedly on security camera images as he approached the cottage, neither Knox nor Sollecito were EVER recorded out that night.
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ALL of the actual evidence in this case points to ONE attacker who actually attacked and mortally wounded the victim, Meredith Kercher, while she was fully clothed even to her running shoes and light jacket from her walk home that night. This was no "sex game gone wrong" and it was likely not even a "rape gone wrong": it appears to have been a deliberate EXECUTION carried out by just ONE man - Rudy Guede - and then staged to "look like" a rape or sex game after Meredith lay already dying. The only question is whether someone else put Guede up to it - and as neither Knox nor Sollecito knew Guede at all, it is very doubtful that Knox "instigated the murder while even staying in the other room" - as the demented prosecutor's last-ditch "theory" averred.
Well this should lead to an appeal of the appeal of the appeal! What a circus! I would suggest Amanda stay clear of Italy.
Man, those guys really just don't wanna let this go. I got a feeling they're gonna try to try her all over again, even though it would be double jepardy. Probably even now those whacks still don't realize they already got their killer, so let it go and be done with it. I sure hope Amanda is enjoying her freedom and hopes that even she doesn't decide to ever go back there. They'll probably try to nail her to the wall for anything the first chance they get!
 @Zoso I remember in one of her interviews, she was looking forward to going back to visit Italy. She must have a death wish. :(
 @anon4444 I think not so much a death wish as an actual love of Italy and its people - and a mysterious inability to see that there are some people who are out to get her merely BECAUSE she is the American and she did not die as they had planned.
 @anon4444 Oh yeah, that was my exact reaction! I really hope her family changes her mind on that. If I were her, I'd be too terrified to go back! I've had experience that left me too afraid to go back because of bad memories, but nothing even remotely to that level!
I agree with most on here that if I were her, I would never return to Italy. I don't agree that she is innocent. While she may not have committed murder, I think she knows more than she let on. Otherwise, why the lies? But having said that, I think the Italians need to let it go at this point.
 @Anarchy If you don't agree that she is innocent, you simply have not studied the case - or you have been studying via the lies posted on the guilter sites, TJMK and PMF. This case was never about justice in the first place - it was about anti-Americanism and a cover-up - but it has inspired a plethora of insecure and abusive stalkers like Quennell and Ganong to put up lie after lie after lie after lie to try to "prove" an innocent young woman "guilty".
 @Anarchy she didn't lie the police bent the truth to suit them and get a conviction. this is not the u.s.a. this is the same government who sided with germany in WW2. i have read accounts and feel Amanda was not there and had nothing to do with it. she was with her boyfriend that night or she too would have been killed by the burglar. the cops asked her boyfriend if she was there all night and he said he didn't know because he was asleep so the cops said she did it.
 @32jim2 Actually, had Amanda been working that night as scheduled, she would have returned home to change about 90 minutes before Meredith arrived - would have encountered the murderous Guede on his FIRST foray into the flat (as recorded by the security camera across the street) - and would have been the person found brutally murdered and "raped" when Meredith got home. And I feel quite certain that American Amanda - not the English-speaking Brit Meredith - was the hired killer's real and intended target that night.
 @32jim2 She was with her boyfriend? Yes, except that her boyfriend, after Ananda lied repeatedly about where she was, said "I am done covering for Ananda". They were using the internet? Except that the computer shows no use of internet use. Basically she is a compulsive liar who has no aliby for that night. She even said "sorry, I don't remember where I was that night".
Amanda:
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Hint.
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Don't go to Italy or Europe for that matter. They aren't going to let this go.
Seems the Italian court entertains exercises in futility. They can't do a damn thing with her now.
Amanda just stay out of italy. and the rest of us don't buy Fiat 500s. protest Italian government treatment of u.s. citizens BOYCOTT them.
Here I thought this was over already (anything for headlines eh Italy?)
Have to admit I'm not happy with the supreme court's decision on healthcare but man oh man....sure glad I don't live in Italy. No plans to visit their fine country either!
I guess they have never heard of double jeapordy. C'mon Italy, leave her alone. If she was guilty, the prosecution didn't do a very good job. Her defense was excellent. You lost Italy, get over it. -- btw KOMO, I am not too fond of this new comment system. I move you move back to the old one.
 @acmariner99 Double jeopardy doesn't exist in many countries. Not every country in the world has to be like yours. Some countries respect international law, don't invade others to steal oil, have universal medical care, and don't have double jeopardy.
Sorry, KOMO, but this new comment system sucks.
 @Mumblix Grumph Especially the no-edit feature.
@Mumblix Grumph Please let us know what, specifically, you do or don't like about the new system. We understand that change is not always easy, but we plan to continue to make improvements to the commenting system. The new platform brings a tremendous number of technical and moderation improvements that we hope will drastically reduce the level of abuse we saw with the previous system.
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Also feel free to email us at webteam@komonews.com with any thoughts.
 @KevinC  @Mumblix Grumph Comment editing would be nice.
 @KevinC I lost my post count & points!! And I had JUST reached 118!!!! :(
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What is this "abuse" of which you speak?
@KevinC Can you make a mobile version of the site?
 @Rider  @KevinC We already have a mobile version of the site. If you access KOMO news from a mobile device you should be automatically directed there. Please let me know if you're using a device for which that is not happening correctly.
 @Mumblix Grumph Then don't use it.
apparently double indemnity does not apply to Italian law.
meant double jeopardy!
 @johnbe2 Actually, it does not. But it does here - thank God and our founders - and Amanda is HERE - not there.
 @johnbe2 Aw heck, you made me smile so it was a "good" thing :o)
Northwestsurfer, well it didn't seem appropriate to make my point under the story about the Edmonds scientist who discovered the planet. Which was infinitely much more interesting.
I can't believe that the Italian prosecutors won't just let this one die. They haven't proven their case, so she's innocent. Besides, there's no way in hell they will ever get her back there for another trial anyway.
 @Magic 8 Ball I agree - no matter how the appeal goes, you can bet I wouldn't be going back to argue it anyway! Amanda's seen the last of Italy in this lifetime.
I agree.
I still think she's hot :D
 @JoeKing May I recommend Lasik surgery? Freaking' bowser. Lady looks like a dude in a wig.
 @Terry Haddalittalamb If that's your idea of a dude in a wig I'd hate to see the women you actually like!
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Not Her, again? Must be a slow news day!
@Seattlebcc and yet here you are, reading the story