Amanda Knox Guilty Again: 'We're All Ready to Fight This' With Appeal, Says Family
After Judge's Arguments Are Released, Knox and Lawyer Have 90 Days to File Appeal in Italian Supreme Court
Amanda Knox was found guilty of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher by an Italian court in Florence Thursday, but the 26-year-old Seattle girl said that she would not stop fighting because she is innocent. After the verdict, her lawyers have 90 days to appeal the ruling in Italy's Supreme Court, but regardless of what happens, Knox refuses to go back to the country willingly.
Amanda Knox's guilty verdict came via a six-person jury and two judges, unlike her first, juryless trial in Italian court which led to her serving four years in prison. Knox did not go to Italy for the trial for fear of being immediately imprisoned for her 28-and-a-half-year sentence, but she was still shocked at the verdict, which she saw on TV as it was read by the judge aloud.
"I did not expect this to happen. I really expected so much better from the Italian justice system," she told "Good Morning America" Friday. "They found me innocent before (in the appeal). How can they say that it's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?"
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Knox's lawyer, Ted Simon, told CNN that the process of appealing the guilty verdict would take at least a year, which silences talk of a possible extradition to Italy.
"I will never go willingly back to place where I— I'm gonna fight this until the very end," Knox said.
Knox's family is supporting her and ready to fight against the perception of the Seattle girl's guilt.
"Amanda's upset, we were all shocked and upset, but we're all ready to fight too," Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, told ABC. "Everyone in the family, everyone in the extended family are all ready to continue to fight for truth and fight for her freedom and it's not going to stop."
"If you look at common sense, you look at evidence, you look at the fact that Amanda is nowhere in [the room that Meredith Kercher was murdered], then no, I wasn't expecting this, absolutely not," her father Curt added. "They got it right in the first appeals trial where they found her innocent and allowed us to bring her home. And this is totally wrong."
Knox's ex-boyfriend, 29-year-old Raffaelle Sollecito, was also found guilty in the Italian court. He was stopped by the Italian-Austrian border and had his passport stamped, which prevents him from leaving the country.
Meredith Kercher was discovered dead underneath a blanket in her room in a Perugia townhouse after having been stabbed over 40 times. Knox who shared the apartment with Kercher discovered her body alongside Sollecito and Italian authorities.
