American college student of University of Washington, Amanda Knox (dubbed by the press as “Foxy Knoxy”), and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were found guilty in the death of British exchange student Meredith Kercher, who was who was studying at Leeds University, yesterday, December 4, 2009, at 6 PM. EST. Italian presiding Judge Giancarlo Massei, a tough judge from Perugia Italy, sentenced Knox to 26 years in prison while Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
“No, no”
Amanda Knox, convicted murderer
Knox and Sollecito must pay $7.4 million (5 million euros) to the victim’s family. This excludes the amount that Knox should pay to Patrick Diya Lumumba, owner of Le Chic bar. Knox has been ordered to pay $60,000 (€40,000) damage to Diya Lumumba because she implicated him in Kercher’s murder. The court also will pay 8,000 euros in damages for unjust imprisonment to Diya Lumumba.
“This is just wrong”
Cassandra Knox, Amanda Knox stepmother
“We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter.”
Curt Knox, Father of Amanda Knox
Knox cried on while the jury reads their decision. She was comforted by her lawyers. Knox family blamed the media and the Italian legal system for the unfair treatment of their daughter.
It is said that Knox and Sollecito should be sentenced to life in prison because they committed murder and been lying in the court since the first day of the trial. But the jury shortened it to 26 years for Knox and 25 years for Sollecito because of their age and both have clean criminal records.
Meredith Kercher was stabbed to death in an extreme sex game where Knox and Sollecito were involved. (See the full story here – Amanda Knox and Rafaelle Sollecito). Knox and Sollecito claims that they were not on the crime scene. Knox said that she was with Sollecito at that moment having sex with him and watching the film “Amelie.”
Knox attorneys, Maria Del Grosso, Luciano Ghirga and Carlo Dalla Vedova, said that the 6 1/2-inch knife used as an evidence against Knox was too big to match Kercher’s wounds and even though it did match on Knox DNA, the amount of DNA collected was too small to be conclusive.
Curt Knox together with his family expected his daughter will be back home for Christmas but this will not happened anymore. They have to wait for 26 more years until Knox arrived home. According to seattlepi.com, the streets of Perugia had recently been strung with Christmas lights which is a reminder that Knox wouldn’t spend the holidays at home but inside the Capanne prison near Perugia.
The Meredith Kercher murder case, which is said to be the most controversial trial and drew intense media attention, finally come to an end. Millions of people, most specially from Italy, United States of America, and United Kingdom, have followed this trial from the beginning until the court convicted Knox and Sollecito on all charges except theft. It is said that Knox and Sollecito were not only being criticized here but they are also carrying their homeland’s name. Before the jury ends the trial, many commentors have said that if they didn’t win, it is big embarrasment to their country.
IMAGE CREDIT: cbc.ca
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