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Amanda Knox’s Legal Limbo Almost Over
She was convicted, then acquitted, and then re-convicted. Today, after more than seven years of legal limbo in the Italian justice system, Amanda Knox is expected to hear a verdict from Italy’s highest court to determine if her murder conviction will be upheld. If found guilty for a third time, Knox may find herself in an extradition battle between the U.S. and Italy.
Judgment day: Court to decide Amanda Knox’s future http://t.co/uS1fyoEhHH via http://t.co/nyDdMYjJKC pic.twitter.com/D4oULavgWT
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 27, 2015
If you are not familiar with the Knox case, or just a little hazy on all of the details, here’s a quick refresher:
In 2009 Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of murdering 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, who in 2007 was found stabbed to death in the Perugia, Italy villa that she shared with Knox. Knox was sentenced to 26 years, and Sollecito to 25 years. Then in 2011, after having already served four years behind Italian bars, both Knox and Sollecito were found not guilty on appeal and released. Knox returned to Seattle. That acquittal was short lived because in 2014, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the appeal, convicting Knox yet again. This time, Knox was sentenced to 28.5 years in prison, Sollecito received 25 years. Now the Italian Supreme Court will decide if they will uphold Knox and Sollecito’s murder convictions, enter a new appeals round, or issue a ruling that amounts to an acquittal.
Knox, who never returned to Italy after being released, awaits a verdict from Seattle, while Sollecito, who has had his passport seized, has attended court proceedings in Italy.
So what does this all mean for Amanda Knox?
If found guilty, again, the Italian government may attempt to extradite the 27-year-old to Italy in order to serve out the remainder of her sentence. Normally that would be the case because of a 1983 extradition treaty between Washington and Rome, which allows individuals charged or convicted of certain crimes in one country to be detained and sent back to the other. However, it’s doubtful this will ever happen for Knox. In accordance with that treaty, the United States will not extradite a person who has previously been acquitted, which Knox was at one point. The U.S. Constitution also protects Knox from double jeopardy, which forbids an individual from being retried for the same charges they’ve been legitimately acquitted or convicted of.
According to CNN, the statute of limitations is double the sentence, meaning the Italians have 57 years to bring her back to the country. In order for Knox to be sent back to Italy, the American Secretary of State must first sign off. But due to the high profile nature of the case, including Amanda’s large number of supporters, and accusations of Italian police mishandling, this outcome is highly unlikely.
If Knox is found guilty and refuses to go back to Italy she will have an international arrest warrant lingering over her head, essentially making international travel for her an impossibility. Sollecito, on the other hand, has way more to lose, given that he is already in Italy and can be taken into custody immediately following the verdict.
Both Knox and Sollecito have never wavered in insisting their innocence in Kirchner’s murder. A judgment is expected to be handed out sometime Friday. We’ll continue to watch with the rest of the world to see what Amanda’s fate may be, but as of now it’s very uncertain.
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