As Amanda Knox awaits word on whether she will be forced to head back to Italy to serve time for allegedly murdering her former roommate, the role the U.S. State Department can play in keeping Knox out of prison has come into question.

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According to an April 25th article on Ground Report, a citizen journalism platform, the U.S. State Department, which has the power to keep Knox in the U.S. and can block her extradition to Italy, failed her once before. They could have their decisions concerning the case questioned once again if they don't protect the accused murderer of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher back in 2007.

The article notes several times during Knox's original 2009 trial and prior 2007 arrest where the State Department not only chose not to interfere in what has become considered an increasingly more corrupt Italian justice system, but appeared to ignore everything that happened to Knox while she was in police custody.

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"Some of the indignities that befell Amanda during the first year were legal in Italy while others were not. All should have raised the hackles of State Department lawyers," the article states. "Her phone was wiretapped; she was forced into cautionary pre-trial detention for an entire year; in prison, a lascivious male guard accompanied her to every doctor visit; her personal diary containing private medical information was removed from her cell by police and subsequently published by a journalist."

Now, following the reconviction of both Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, the article ponders whether Knox will be given genuine support from her home country this time around.

"According to predictions, the presiding judge will explain that he was required to find the defendants guilty by virtue of the fact that the accusations and evidence against them were accepted by the courts that ruled against Rudy Guede," the article says. "In other words, Amanda and raffaele will have been tried and convicted at trials in which they were not legally represented. If this happens, will the US State Department finally speak up?"

Knox, Sollecito and Guede were all arrested in connection to Kercher's death back in 2007. While Guede was convicted of murder and given a 16-year sentence, Knox and Sollecito both pleaded not guilty and served four years in an Italian prison before their convictions were overturned in 2011.

However, earlier this year, an Italian court reconvicted Knox and Sollecito in a retrial focused on DNA evidence. At this trial, Knox was sentenced to 28 years in an Italian prison, while Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.

At the time of her reconviction, Knox said she would never willingly go back to Italy and serve her sentence.

"I'm not prepared. I will never willingly go back," she said at the time. "I'm going to fight this until the very end."


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