American Amanda Knox may have an even harder time proving her innocence when her final appeals trial for the murder of Meredith Kercher heads to court later this year.

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Know, who was convicted earlier this year for the second time of murdering her one time roommate in the Perugia, Italy flat they shared back in 2007, may be forced to face a judge on her own, as the lawyers of her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have officially moved to have his case tried separately from hers.

Knox, Sollecito and a third man, Rudy Guede, were all arrested in connection to Kercher's death at the time. While Guede was convicted of murder and given a 167-year-sentence, Knox and Sollecito pleaded not guilty and served four years in an Italian prison before their convictions were overturned in 2011.

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However, in January of this year, the Italian Court reconvicted Knox and Sollecito at a trial that was reportedly focused on DNA evidence. Sollecito received a 25-year-sentence, while Knox was hit with a 28-year-one.

Now, in a press conference on Tuesday, July 1, Sollecito and his lawyers moved to have the cases separated for the first time, a radical departure from the past seven years, where the two stuck together.

Now, Sollecito has called his ex-girlfriend's version of events on the morning Kercher was found stabbed to death, "imagination and hallucination," though he still believes she is innocent.

He also maintained his innocence, saying he never has been a criminal.

"This has been a real tragedy," he said. "I'm not a criminal."

His lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno also defended the radical change in stance, comparing the prior tactic of trying the former lovers together to Siamese twins.

"They are not Siamese twins-one body with two heads," she said.

Her co-defendant's change in stance is not the only thing affecting Knox's current work on an appeal, as The Daily Mirror reports that authorities have found new connections to cocaine dealers that can enforce a warrant to have Knox extradited to Italy-meaning if she is reconvicted she will immediately begin serving her sentence.

Knox, who has been residing back in Seattle, Wash. since her 2011 acquittal, refused to go back to Italy for her second trial, and maintained her stance after the conviction, but lawyers are reportedly now poised to use her alleged links to local cocaine dealers in Italy as a means of getting her extradited.

Information allegedly obtained from Knox's cell phone connected her to a drug ring that was supplying narcotics to university students and professionals-including Knox's, and authorities claim that Knox had the number of a known dealer in her phone at the time, and that calls between the two were exchanged in both the days before and after the murder.

It is unclear how these reported connections could result in Knox being extradited to Italy, though if officials bring her up on separate drug charges unrelated to her murder trial, she could very well be forced back to Italy, and if she does remain in the country and her appeals case fails, she will be forced to serve her sentence.

Watch Sollecito's press conference here.

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Amanda knox