Amanda Knox Trial: Multiple Stab Wounds Helped Reconvict Meredith Kercher Roommate As Sexual Motive Dismissed? [VIDEO]
An Italian court has handed down their reasons for reconvicting American Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, claiming that the 21-year-old Brit's wounds indicate she had been stabbed by multiple assailants.
Meredith Kercher Death Ruled 'Clearly Unnatural?'
An appellate court in Florence issued their 337-page explanation for reconvicting Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Tuesday, and the report indicated that Kercher was stabbed by multiple assailants in what is no longer being claimed as a sexual game gone wrong.
It is unclear what the exact reason for Kercher's murder was, though Gazzetta Del Sud reports that the murder was the result of a mounting quarrel between the roommates, and not a sex game that also involved Sollecito and drifter Rudy Guede.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Turning On One Another?
It has also been reported that the two roommates had argued over money on the night of the murder.
The theory that Kercher had been murdered after she refused to participate in a brutal sex game had long been considered a bizarre motive in the grisly crime, but according to The International Business Times, the judges who reconvicted Knox and Sollecito did not believe that had been the case.
"It is not believable that a group sexual intercourse had started," the judges wrote in their decision. "This hypothesis is not consistent with the personality of the English girl."
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.
In January of this year, the Italian Court reconvicted Knox and Sollecito in a retrial that was reportedly focused on DNA evidence. At this trial, Knox was sentenced to 28 years in an Italian prison, while Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
Now that the reasoning for the reconvictions has been released, the verdict has officially been opened to appeals by both Knox and Sollecito. However, if the Supreme Court of Cassation confirms the convictions, Sollecito, who is still in Italy, will be brought to prison.
Know, who resides in Seattle, Wash., would then become the focus in what would likely be a long extradition fight between the U.S. and Italy.
Back at the time of her January 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. "I'm going to fight this until the very end."
Knox has yet to respond to the reasoning for her conviction.
ABC US News
