ITALY: Lawyers representing U.S. student Amanda Knox begin their final defence, urging an Italian court to overturn her murder conviction

Record ID: 862556

  • Title: ITALY: Lawyers representing U.S. student Amanda Knox begin their final defence, urging an Italian court to overturn her murder conviction
  • Date: 30th September 2011
  • Summary: KNOX BEING ESCORTED INTO COURT AND SITTING DOWN ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SOLLECITO ARRIVING AND SITTING DOWN KNOX SITTING AND TALKING TO LEGAL TEAM SOLLECITO SITTING AND TALKING WITH LAWYER LUCA MAORI JUDGES ARRIVING/ JUDGE CLAUDIO PRATILLO HELLMANN SITTING DOWN AND ADJUSTING MICROPHONE WIDE OF PANEL OF JUDGES AS PRATILLO HELLMANN ADDRESSES COURT PANEL OF JUDGES SITTING WIDE OF COURT AS HEARING BEGINS KNOX SURROUNDED BY POLICE WIDE OF COURT
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics:
  • Reuters ID: LVAAB62J35AJ6PSH057EY2VPG1SH
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  • Story Text: Lawyers in American Amanda Knox's defence team began their closing arguments in her appeal against a murder conviction on Thursday (September 29) in a court in Perugia, Italy.
    The Seattle student is serving a 26-year jail term after being found guilty, along with her Italian ex-boyfriend, of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007 during an orgy that turned violent in Perugia.
    A verdict in her appeal imminent, following the closing arguments.
    Knox's hopes of walking out of an Italian prison after nearly four years were boosted by a forensics review that discredited key DNA evidence used to convict her, and Knox's family, including father Curt Knox and mother Edda Mellas, says they are optimistic she will be freed.
    Knox, whose fresh-faced good looks have helped drive interest in the case, has appeared gaunt and pale during closing arguments by prosecutors and lawyers who have described her as a cunning, sex-obsessed girl with a penchant for dangerous games, and even a 'she-devil'.
    On Tuesday (September 27) Sollecito's defence lawyers - the Italian is also appealing his conviction and 25-year sentence -- said she was instead a young woman in love who was wrongly convicted, and compared her to the misunderstood Jessica Rabbit, a voluptuous, sultry but faithful character from the 1988 movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
    Kercher's half-naked body, with a slit throat and more than 40 wounds, was found in November 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, a hilltop Umbrian town popular with foreigners studying Italian.
    Knox, now 24, was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder while Raffaele Sollecito got a 25-year sentence. Rudy Guede, an Ivorian drifter with a prior criminal record, is also serving time for taking part in Kercher's murder.
    All three have maintained their innocence.
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