Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito,
have arrived in court at the start of the 20th and decisive hearing of
their joint appeal against convictions for the murder of the British
student, Meredith Kercher.
Both appellants are expected to plead in person for their appeals to be upheld and their sentences to be overturned. The frescoed and vaulted 14th-century courtroom was packed with jostling camera crews and reporters as proceedings began more than half an hour behind schedule.
Monday's proceedings were due to open with a final rebuttal from Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga. After the personal statements by the
Both appellants are expected to plead in person for their appeals to be upheld and their sentences to be overturned. The frescoed and vaulted 14th-century courtroom was packed with jostling camera crews and reporters as proceedings began more than half an hour behind schedule.
Monday's proceedings were due to open with a final rebuttal from Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga. After the personal statements by the
American
student and her ex-lover, the two professional judges will retire
together with six lay judges who are to help them reach a decision.
Knox
is fighting a 26-year prison term. Sollecito is serving 25 years.
Both have already spent almost four years behind bars since their arrest
in November, 2007.Local auguries for their appeal were
inconclusive,
but showed up a division that did not bode well for the appellants. A
survey among Italian university students, carried out by the website
Universinet.it, found that the 6,130 respondents split almost evenly
between those who thought the couple were innocent (44%), and those
who thought they were guilty (48%), with the remainder uncertain.
But
the balance of opinion was starkly different according to gender.
Only 21% of men thought Knox and Sollecito should continue to serve
their sentences. Among women, the proportion rose to 68%.The poll, reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, is particularly relevant in the light of the predominantly female panel that will reach a decision. Both the professional judges, who
will cast three votes between them, are men. But the lay judges, who have six ballots, include five women.
Kercher,
from Coulsdon in Surrey, was found with her throat slashed in the flat
she shared with Knox in Perugia where both women were studying at the
city's university for foreigners. After the American student and her
then boyfriend were arrested, it was discovered that a third person,
Rudy Guede, had left extensive evidence of his presence at the scene
of the crime.He has since been convicted and sentenced to 16 years in jail. Two appeals by Guede have been turned down.
The appeal by Knox and Sollecito took a sensational turn in June when two, independent, court-appointed experts dismissed as
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