Amanda Knox awaits murder appeal verdict four years later

Four years after she was jailed over the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox could walk free from prison next week.

The American is now just days from learning whether her conviction for the killing in the Italian town of Perugia will be overturned, after launching her appeal in court almost a year ago.

Although both she and her family will be wary of getting their hopes up, the climax of this process could well bring the outcome they have been desperate for since she was locked up.

Summing up in the appeal is due to start on Friday, with a verdict expected around the end of next week.

The 24-year-old University of Washington student from Seattle was detained shortly after the discovery of the body of her housemate, Ms Kercher.

Convicted two years later, along with her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 26, she has continued to protest her innocence from behind bars, while her family have determinedly and expensively carried on the fight on the outside.

Ivory Coast-born drifter and small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede was also jailed for the murder, which prosecutors said began as a sex-game in which University of Leeds student Miss Kercher was not a willing participant.

Their version of events has been strenuously denied by Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito’s lawyers, who have spent the past year mounting a comprehensive – and possibly devastating – attack on the case against the former lovers.

Ms Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, was found dead on November 2, 2007 in her bedroom at the house in the Umbrian hilltop town that she shared with Ms Knox and others during her year abroad.

Her throat had been slit and her semi-naked body was partially covered by a duvet.

When Ms Knox was found guilty of murdering British student Ms Kercher, it brought to an end only the first stage in a long legal process.

It had taken more than a year for her trial to come to court after she was jailed on suspicion of the killing, and another year after that for it to end in a conviction.

But the sentencing of the young American student dubbed Foxy Knoxy to 26 years in prison did not mark the end of the story.

Instead, it merely heralded the next round in the protracted judicial tussle that has played out over four years in the Italian town of Perugia where Ms Kercher died.

That Ms Knox would appeal against her guilty verdict was never in doubt.

As her ashen-faced father left the court after it was delivered on December 4, 2009, he was asked if the family would fight it.

Faced with the prospect of his daughter being held behind bars until her 40s, Curt Knox replied: “Hell, yes”.

In Italy, those convicted of crimes are entitled to two appeals, meaning cases can drag on for years without a final resolution.

In Ms Knox’s case, the 21 months since her conviction have been spent anxiously waiting and hoping for the verdict to be overturned – or at the very least, for her prison sentence to be slashed.

It was, however, almost a year after the trial ended before she and her Italian ex-boyfriend Mr Sollecito – also convicted of the murder – could return to court to launch their appeal. And, as with the rest of the justice process that began after the University of Leeds student’s body was found in November 2007, it has been slow going.

But the ordeal has not been without small victories and glimmers of hope for the former lovers and their families and defence teams.

In December, their case was given a boost when they succeeded in their bid for a full review of the forensic evidence used to convict the couple.

Jurors in the original trial had heard prosecution claims that DNA found on a knife allegedly used in the murder, and on the clasp of Ms Kercher’s bra, inculpated the pair.

But this evidence was fiercely disputed by the defence, who maintained it was inconclusive and argued it may have been contaminated when analysed.

They appeared to be vindicated when experts told the court in July this year that the forensic scientists involved had made a series of glaring errors.

The genetic evidence was tainted by the use of a dirty glove and failure to wear protective caps, the experts claimed. Defence lawyers have also argued that the prosecution’s case was based on hypotheses and that any motive for the murder was lacking. In the last hearing before closing arguments are made, the court rejected a prosecution request for new DNA tests, deeming them unnecessary.

By this stage, even the prosecutors appeared to be admitting defeat, with one, Manuela Comodi, reportedly saying she could envisage the pair being cleared.

The prosecutors too have appealed, as they can in Italy, because the sentence fell short of their demand for life in prison.

But by the time the last day of evidence was heard, they were said to lack confidence that the original verdict would even be upheld.

Key events

2007

November 2: Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old exchange student from Coulsdon, Surrey, is discovered with her throat cut in her bedroom at her house in the Italian town of Perugia. Her body is partially clothed and under a duvet.

November 4: A post-mortem examination reveals evidence of sexual activity at some point before Ms Kercher died.

November 6: Police arrest Ms Kercher’s American housemate, Amanda Knox, then 20; Mr Knox’s boyfriend, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, 23; and Congolese Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, 38, who runs a local bar.

Police claim Ms Kercher was murdered because she refused to take part in violent sex. Ms Knox is said to have broken down and confessed to the crime and implicated Mr Lumumba. The three are held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit manslaughter and sexual violence.

November 7: It is reported that Ms Knox told officers she covered her ears to the sound of screaming coming from Ms Kercher’s bedroom.

November 9: Judge Claudia Matteini rules that the three suspects can be held for up to a year while the investigation continues.

November 11: Ms Kercher’s body is flown home. Ms Knox’s mother, Edda Mellas, says Ms Knox did not hear Ms Kercher’s screams the night she died, but was with Mr Sollecito at his house.

November 15: DNA is reportedly found on a kitchen knife belonging to Mr Sollecito, with Ms Knox’s DNA near the handle and Ms Kercher’s on the blade.

Police are unsure whether the knife is from Mr Sollecito’s kitchen or the house the women shared.

November 19: A fourth suspect is named as Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, from the Ivory Coast. He is thought to have left Perugia for Milan after Ms Kercher died.

November 20: Mr Guede is arrested in the German city of Mainz after travelling without a ticket on a train bound for Frankfurt. Mr Lumumba is released without charge.

November 22: Mr Guede admits being in Ms Kercher’s house on the night of the murder but says an Italian man he did not know committed the crime.

November 30: A court in Perugia rejects Mr Sollecito and Ms Knox’s appeals to be released from Capanne prison after lead investigator Giuliano Mignini warns the court they might go on the run if set free.

December 6: It is revealed that Mr Guede has been extradited from Germany back to Italy.

2008

September 9: Mr Guede’s lawyers say he will ask to be prosecuted separately from Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito in a fast-track trial after talk of a possible pact between the former lovers to frame him.

September 16: All three suspects appear before a judge in the first of a series of pre-trial hearings in Perugia. Judge Paolo Micheli grants Mr Guede’s request for a fast-track trial.

September 26: Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito come face to face in a closed courtroom for the first time since being jailed after the murder.

October 28: After 11 hours of deliberation, Judge Micheli sentences Mr Guede to 30 years for the murder of Ms Kercher. He also orders Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito to stand trial for murder and sexual violence.

October 30: Judge Micheli rules that Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito will remain in prison while they await trial.

2009

January 16: The trial of Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito begins.

February 6: On the first day of evidence, Mr Sollecito tells the court he is not violent and has nothing to do with the case.

June 6: Ms Kercher’s parents, John and Arline, give evidence. Mrs Kercher says she will never get over her daughter’s murder.

June 12: Ms Knox gives evidence in fluent Italian. She says she accused Mr Lumumba “in confusion and under pressure” and that a police officer hit her on the head during her interrogation.

November 21: Prosecutors ask for life sentences for Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito.

December 4: Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito are both found guilty of the murder. Ms Knox is sentenced to 26 years in prison; Mr Sollecito to 25.

December 5: Ms Knox’s family say they will immediately begin the process of appealing against the verdict.

2010

November 24: Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito return to court in Perugia for the start of their appeal.

December 11: Ms Knox breaks down in tears as she makes an emotional courtroom appeal against her conviction, saying she was the innocent victim of an “enormous mistake”.

December 16: Italy’s highest criminal court upholds Mr Guede’s conviction and prison sentence, which was slashed to 16 years in his first appeal.

December 19: The court allows a review of the DNA evidence used to convict Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito.

2011

June 27: Mr Guede gives evidence for the prosecution in the appeal process and confirms the contents of a letter he wrote to his lawyers in 2010, which included a direct accusation against Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito.

July 25: Experts tell the appeal court that the forensic scientists who helped convict Ms Knox made a series of glaring errors. The genetic evidence was tainted by the use of a dirty glove and failure to wear protective caps, they claim.

September 7: The appeal court rejects a prosecution request for new DNA tests, saying they would be unnecessary. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi reportedly says she can envisage Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito being cleared.