Post date: Jan 31, 2014 1:15:52 PM
Italian newspapers have splashed the guilty verdict for American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito over all their frontpages as the couple are condemned for a second time for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
FLORENCE, ITALY (JANUARY 31, 2014) (REUTERS) - The Italian justice system appeared to gain global notoriety on Friday (January 31) after a court in Florence handed down a guilty verdict for a second time to U.S. student Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
The verdict, after 12 hours of deliberations, confirmed Knox and Sollecito's original 2009 conviction. Knox's sentence was increased to 28 years and six months and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years. Knox did not attend the retrial, however, having gone home to the United States after the previous appeal.Many people outside Italy questioned how such a verdict could now be decided following the release of Knox and Sollecito but Italians appeared to be content with the sentence.
"I think it was right. She was very smart to go to a country where they won't extradite her," said Florence resident, Antonio Rossi.
"I think she is guilty" said another woman. "..because she wasn't clear in the way she explained things," she said.
Sollecito's lawyer Giulia Bongiorno confirmed that her client would appeal to Italy's highest court, and Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said he was "stunned". The court will publish the reasons for its verdict in 90 days.
Outside the hotel in Florence, where Meredith's brother and sister are due to hold a news conference, media from all over the world gathered to hear their judgement on the verdict.
"Certainly the verdict was a surprise to everyone who expected them to be acquitted," said Sky Italia journalist Pina Esposito.
"On one hand you have the lawyers of Raffaele and Amanda saying that this was a verdict without evidence. However, there are those, including the civil parties who say that while there is no decisive proof, the smoking gun, there are several indications that prove they are responsible and that they were in the house together with Rudi Guede when the crime was committed," Esposito said.
Italian newspapers all ran the Knox verdict on their front pages, with headlines ranging from: "They killed Meredith" to "Are we now certain that Meredith was killed by Knox and Sollecito?"
If final appeals are heard, neither Knox nor Sollecito, who was banned from leavingItaly, would face arrest or jail time until a final verdict by the highest court.
Knox, who is in the United States, would have to be extradited to serve her sentence.