Amanda Knox Case News Update: Guilty or Innocent? Appeal Decision on Knox Draws Closer, Coming March 2015?
It has been seven years since Meredith Kercher was found murdered in the home that she shared with United States exchange student Amanda Knox and other students. Italian prosecutors have been firm in their belief that the crime was committed by Knox, her then-boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito, and Rudy Guede. However, Knox remains adamant that she and Sollecito are innocent, and that they are being used as scapegoats by prosecutors desperate to pin the crime on a foreigner.
Though Knox and Sollecito were both originally convicted and served a long time in prison, an appeals trial overturned that decision, citing unreliable evidence used in the decision. That decision freed the two of them, and left Rudy Guede as the sole person convicted for the crime - he was convicted of the crime in a separate trial.
Knox was able to return to the United States, but was once again plunged into despair when the case was once again brought before the Italian court, and to her shock, she and Sollecito were found guilty once again. She has refused to return to Italy and is trying to live a normal life in Seattle, currently working as a writer for the West Seattle Herald. However, this year she awaits another appeals decision, which she hopes will clear her name once and for all.
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One petition circulated by supporters of Knox, which was posted on the Ground Report, is part of an article that claims that Knox has been the clear victim of a "witch hunt" initiated by Perugian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini.
According to the Ground Report, Mignini was facing charges for abuse of office relating to his "Narducci Trail" investigations. Both he and his colleague, Michele Giuttari, were indicted after Mignini had Mario Spezi arrested and briefly imprisoned in connection to the "Monster of Florence" crimes. However, Spezi was released just three weeks later, after a media campaign by his writing partner Douglas Preston.
The article claims that Knox and Sollecito's conviction were rigged from the start so Mignini could save face and continue to be seen as credible.
Depending on the latest ruling, which could be made as early as March 2015, it remains to be seen if the petition will make any impact on the case, and whether Knox will walk free or if her conviction will be upheld. If she is found guilty again, it is likely that she will remain in the United States, and that the Italian justice system will request her to be extradited back to prison in Italy. However, most analysts believe that the possibility of the United States extraditing her are slim.
Although the date of the appeals decision has not been set yet, it is believed to be scheduled for the coming months, with some reports claiming March could even be the date. For now, Knox continues to try and get her life back to normal in Seattle.
