Meredith murder, Amanda Knox sentenced to three years for slander

For Amanda Knox, the three-year sentence (already served) for having slandered Patrick Lumumba in the early stages of the investigation into the murder of Meredith Kercher (which took place in Perugia on the evening of 1 November 2007) was confirmed, involving him in the crime for which he was later acquitted, having been found to be completely innocent. This was decided by the Florence Court of Appeal. Knox attended the reading of the sentence with her husband and her defence lawyers at her side. The conviction for slander had become final but then the Court of Cassation ordered a new examination of the charges after theEuropean Court recognised the violation of the right of defence.

The verdict was read today by the president of the jury, Anna Maria Sacco, in the presence of the defendant, who had come especially from the United States, with her husband Christopher Robinson. Lumumba, an offended party in the trial, was absent. Even if the verdict were to become final, after a possible forthcoming passage in the Supreme Court, the 36-year-old American citizen would still not go to prison, having already served almost four years before being acquitted on appeal together with Raffaele Sollecito for the Kercher murder. For the murder of the British schoolgirl, the only person sentenced to 16 years in an abbreviated trial was Rudy Guede.

Amanda Knox burst into tears after reading the sentence of the Florence Court of Appeal that confirmed her responsibility. To her defence lawyers, Carlo Dalla Vedova and Luca Luparia Donati, who were beside her, she said: 'I did not expect this, I am very disappointed'. Knox and her husband then left the courthouse. 'She thought she could put a definitive stamp on her innocence,' the lawyers said again. They announced that they will have to read the motivations before the appeal to the Supreme Court, which seems more than likely.

Amanda Knox called her then employer into question several times in a memoir written on 6 November 2007. Lumumba remained in prison for 14 days and was later exonerated: no traces of him were ever found in the murder house and the testimony of a Swiss professor confirmed that on the evening of the crime he was working in his pub, where Amanda was a waitress. Knox was thus sentenced by the Perugia Court of Appeal to three years imprisonment for slander. The retrial was held in Florence after the Court of Cassation, on 12 October, upheld the appeal filed by Knox's defence against the conviction on the basis of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Knox's right of defence had been violated during the interrogation in police headquarters during which she accused Lumumba of the crime.