Amanda Knox Trial 2014: Third & Final Appeals Case Destroyed After CCTV Footage Shows Meredith Kercher Roommate At Murder Scene? [VIDEO]
As she prepares for a third and final appeal to overturn her second conviction in the murder of Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox may see her alibi for the night of the crime called into question.
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Knox has maintained throughout her six-and-a-half year ordeal that she had spent the entire night of Kercher's murder at the apartment of then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, but some new CCTV footage released by Italian TV Program Quarto Grado appears to poke holes in her claims.
According to The Independent, the grainy footage shows a young woman with a strikingly similar appearance to Knox, wearing jeans and a long coat, was seen outside the home she and Kercher shared in Perugia, Italy, the night of the murder. She is seen in the car park for the home at 8:53 p.m. The shot was also compared to another still of Knox on other footage, comparing the way the two women walk and drawing similarities in their stride.
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If the prosecution uses this footage to help reaffirm Knox's conviction, it could mean the American student will once again find herself behind bars in an Italian prison.
The footage was released just one week after the Italian court that reconvicted both Knox and Sollecito in the crime, sentencing them to 28 and 25 years in prison respectively, released its 337-page ruling establishing motive and what it felt was sufficient evidence proving the two had played a role in the 21-year-old British student's murder.
After the findings were released, Knox appeared on CNN to maintain her innocence once again, saying that motives including claims she and Kercher had been fighting over money the day of the crime were false.
"I did not kill my friend," she said. "I did not wield a knife, I had to reason to. In the month that we were living together, we were becoming friends. A week before the murder occurred we went out to a classical music concert together. We had never fought."
She also reiterated that the lack of DNA evidence on both her and Sollecito's parts further proved that they were not involved in the crime.
"There is no trace of us. If Rudy Guede committed this crime, which he did, we know that because his DNA's there, on Meredith's body, around Meredith's body, his handprints and footprints in her blood," Knox said. "None of that exists for me, and if I were there, I would have had traces of Meredith's broken body on me, and I would have left traces of myself around Meredith's corpse and I am no there, and that proves my innocence."
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.
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.
Knox, 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.