In November 2007, Kercher was discovered lifeless within the residence after what seemed to be a sexual assault. Knox was arrested alongside her then-boyfriend, Italian pupil Raffaele Sollecito, 23, and a neighborhood bar proprietor, Patrick Lumumba, 38, whom Knox initially implicated within the crime.
Practically twenty years of authorized drama, anguish, and uncertainty adopted for all these concerned.
We revisit the trial that captivated the world.
Amanda Knox: a timeline of her homicide case and authorized battles
November 1: Kercher was discovered semi-naked together with her throat lower within the bed room of an residence she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy.
A floral tribute on the funeral of murdered Meredith Kercher
PA Archive
November 4: Submit-mortem examination revealed proof of sexual exercise.
November 6: Knox was arrested together with her then-boyfriend, Italian pupil Raffaele Sollecito. Knox initially advised investigators that Patrick Lumumba killed Kercher (later, Knox would say she falsely implicated him below strain from police).
November 9: Decide dominated the three suspects could possibly be held for as much as a yr pending investigation.
Accusations: Knox claimed Patrick Lumumba was the assassin
November 11: Kercher’s physique was repatriated.
November 15: DNA was reportedly discovered on a kitchen knife belonging to Sollecito, with Knox’s DNA close to the deal with and Kercher’s on the blade. The knife and DNA proof later grew to become a topic of controversy, with questions raised in regards to the reliability of the forensic evaluation.
November 20: Rudy Hermann Guede, a 21-year-old from the Ivory Coast, who had fled Italy, was arrested in Germany. He later admitted to being in the home on the night time of Kercher’s homicide however insisted an unidentified Italian man was additionally concerned. Patrick Lumumba, whom Amanda Knox initially accused, was launched with out cost.
April 1: An enchantment to have Knox, Sollecito, and Guede launched from jail was denied, regardless of issues over their extended detention with out trial.
July 11: Knox, Guede and Sollecito had been formally charged with homicide by Italian prosecutors.
Knox attends her trial in Perugia
September 16: Decide Paolo Micheli granted Guede’s request for a fast-track trial.
October 28: Guede was convicted and jailed for 30 years for sexual assault and homicide, lower to 16 years on enchantment.
January 16: The trial of Knox and Sollecito started. Reporters from the world over flew in to look at.
February 6: Sollecito advised the court docket he was not violent and had nothing to do with the case.
June 6: Kercher’s mother and father, John and Arline, gave proof saying they’d by no means recover from her dying.
June 12: Giving proof, Knox mentioned she accused Lumumba “in confusion and below strain”.
December 4: Knox and Sollecito had been convicted of killing and sexually assaulting Kercher. Knox was jailed for 26 years and Sollecito for 25. Knox was discovered responsible of slandering Lumumba. She mentioned she was pressured into accusing him by police, who additionally slapped her.
Standing trial: Knox in court docket
November 8: Knox was ordered to face trial for slandering law enforcement officials throughout the homicide investigation after she accused them of slapping her.
November 24: The enchantment began.
December 19: Court docket allowed a evaluation of DNA proof.
September 24: Prosecutors requested the court docket to maintain Knox and Sollecito behind bars for all times.
October 3: The trial verdict was quashed. Knox and Sollecito had been launched.
October 4: Knox returned to the US.
Knox exhibits her aid as she is cleared of the homicide of Kercher and free of jail in Italy
March 26: The Court docket of Cassation overturned the acquittals after prosecutors filed an enchantment saying the jury hadn’t thought-about all of the proof and discrepancies in testimonies. Knox mentioned it was “painful” to have the acquittal overturned however mentioned she was “assured” that the reality would emerge.
September 30: The re-trial started. Knox remained within the US.
November 6: Sollecito took the stand and mentioned the costs towards him had been “absurd”.
December 17: Knox maintained her innocence with a written assertion offered by her lawyer.
January 30: Knox and Sollecito had been convicted of homicide for a second time. Knox’s sentence was elevated to twenty-eight years and 6 months.
April 29: An Italian court docket mentioned it had proof that multiple individual killed Kercher, citing the character of her wounds.
Knox prepares to depart the set following an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America in New York in January 2014
AP
March 27: Italy’s highest court docket overturned the convictions of Knox and Sollecito, noting the dearth of ‘organic traces’ belonging to them on Kercher (Guede’s DNA was discovered within the room and on Kercher’s physique). The court docket concluded that the prosecution’s case relied on unreliable forensic proof.
January 24: The European Court docket of Human Rights ordered Italy to pay Knox greater than €18,400 (£15,382) in damages for failing to offer Knox a lawyer or translator throughout questioning.
June 5: Knox was reconvicted of slander. Nevertheless, she didn’t serve extra jail time because the three-year sentence counted as time she had already served.
March 25: Knox’s memoir, Free: My Seek for Which means, was launched. In it, she mirrored on her experiences, persevering with to advocate for legal justice reform and elevating consciousness about wrongful convictions.
