Knox acquittal full of mistakes – court
Amanda Knox speaks to Diane Sawyer in New York in this undated handout photo...Amanda Knox speaks to Diane Sawyer (not seen) in New York during an interview to air April 30, 2013 on the ABC television network in this undated handout photo released by ABC. Knox, 25, spent four years in prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher while both were exchange students at Perugia University in Italy. Knox was acquitted on appeal in 2011 and she returned to her Seattle-area home, but Italy's high court last month ordered a retrial. REUTERS/ABC/Ida Mae Astute/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS...A
THE acquittal of accused murderer Amanda Knox was full of "deficiencies, contradictions and illogical" conclusions, Italy's high court has ruled.
It ordered a fresh look at all the evidence to determine whether she did kill her flatmate Meredith KercherIn March, the Court of Cassation overturned Knox's acquittal in the 2007 murder of British student Ms Kercher and ordered a new trial. The court has now issued its written reasoning.
Ms Kercher's body was found in November 2007 in her bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia.
Knox, now 25, and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito (29), were initially convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, but a Perugia appeals court acquitted them in 2011, criticising virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.
A man from Ivory Coast, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the murder in a separate hearing and is serving a 16-year sentence.
In the 74-page Cassation ruling, the high court judges said they "had to recognise that he (Guede) was not the sole author" of the crime. The judges, though, said he was the "main protagonist".
They said the new appeal process would serve to "not only demonstrate the presence of the two suspects in the place of the crime, but to possibly outline the subjective position of Guede's accomplices".
The high court faulted the Perugia appeals court for "multiple instances of deficiencies, contradictions and illogical" conclusions.
The new court must conduct a full examination of evidence to resolve the ambiguities, it said.
Now a student in Seattle, Knox has called the reversal by the Cassation "painful" but said she was confident she would be exonerated.
hnews@herald.ie