Italy's highest appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, bringing an end to the long-running legal saga. The Court of Cassation's final ruling, issued on 27 March 2015, quashes the guilty verdicts that had been reinstated in 2014.
Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old exchange student from the UK, was found with her throat cut in the flat she shared in Perugia, Italy, in November 2007. Three individuals were tried for her murder: US student Amanda Knox, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast. Guede was convicted and sentenced to 30 years, later reduced to 16 on appeal, and his conviction remains in place.
The case has been marked by a series of legal twists. Knox and Sollecito were initially convicted in December 2009, with Knox receiving 26 years and Sollecito 25 years. They were freed on appeal in October 2011 after doubts were raised about forensic evidence. However, in March 2013, prosecutors successfully appealed, leading to a retrial that reinstated their guilty verdicts in January 2014, with Knox sentenced to 28 years and six months and Sollecito to 25 years.
The Court of Cassation's latest decision overturns those 2014 verdicts, meaning no one now stands convicted of acting with Guede to kill Kercher. The court criticised the 2011 appeal hearing for disregarding important DNA evidence, including a bra clasp with Sollecito's DNA and a knife with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's on the blade. The court also noted that Knox had originally accused an innocent man, Patrick Diya Lumumba.
Prosecutors had argued that the motive for the murder stemmed from arguments between Knox and Kercher over cleanliness, triggered by an unflushed toilet. However, the defence maintained that the evidence was flawed. Knox, who was tried in absentia, sent an email to the court proclaiming her innocence, while Sollecito, who attended the trial, denied involvement.
The case has attracted global attention due to the young ages of the victim and defendants, the attractive appearance of Knox and Kercher, and the alleged sexual nature of the crime. As defence attorney Alan Dershowitz noted, it is a case where public opinion has been sharply divided, with many Americans believing Knox is innocent and many Italians believing she is guilty.
