Summary
We’re going to wind down our live coverage of the verdict with a summary of the key points, but you can read a full story on the unexpected and definitive acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito here.
- Italy’s highest court annulled the second convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007. The decision ends a tortuous legal odyssey that lasted more than seven years and ultimately included two convictions and two acquittals for Knox and Sollecito.
- Knox said she is “tremendously relieved and grateful” about the court’s decision, and thanked supporters. “To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
- Kercher’s mother said she was “surprised and very shocked” by the decision, and the family is expected to make a formal statement on Saturday. “They have been convicted twice so it’s a bit odd that it should change now,” she said.
- Sollecito is “happy and incredulous”, his lawyer told the Guardian, after the attorney herself ran from the courtroom shouting with joy upon hearing the judges’ ruling. “It’s a victory of justice. This was a mistake from the beginning,” Knox’s lawyer said.
- Friends and supporters of Knox took to the streets in her hometown of Seattle, telling the Guardian they were “ecstatic” about the ruling. “It was long and excruciating and twisted journey,” one friend said. “Hopefully people will leave these poor people alone.”
- The court’s ruling after more than 10 hours of deliberations has lifted any fears of further prosecution for Knox and Sollecito, and ended all speculation about possible extradition of Knox from the US. The judges’ reasoning in Friday’s decision will be released in 90 days.
- The third suspect in the case, Rudy Guede, remains convicted without question and in prison serving a 16-year sentence.
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“I think that it’s a defeat for the Italian justice system,” Francesco Maresca, the lawyer for the Kercher’s family has said.
The BBC’s Chris Morris succinctly tells the story of two families’ very different circumstances and reactions.
#AmandaKnox's lawyer says she cried with joy when he told her the verdict
— Chris Morris (@BBCChrisMorris) March 27, 2015
For #MeredithKercher's family though the pain of still not knowing what really happened. They have been badly let down.
— Chris Morris (@BBCChrisMorris) March 27, 2015
Earlier today, lawyer Giulia Bongiorno defended her client to Italy’s highest court by comparing him to Forrest Gump – she may have now cemented her reputation as Italy’s foremost defense attorney.
The star lawyer of the case was Giulia Bongiorno, the lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito.
— Steph Kirchgaessner (@skirchy) March 27, 2015
My colleague Lizzy Davies has more:
As far back as 2010, our colleagues at the Observer were asking whether Bongiorno – “Italy’s most famous lawyer” and “possibly the only woman in Italy feared by Silvio Berlusconi” – would eventually win the case for Sollecito.
Bongiorno, Sollecito’s defence lawyer, is a formidable character and right-wing politician whose talent for persuasive rhetoric was on full display earlier today. She compared her client to Forrest Gump, a luckless innocent who, she insisted, was watching cartoons at his home at the time of Kercher’s murder.
She told the judges: “He is an innocent who got wrapped up in spectacular and gigantic events that, like Forrest Gump, he did not fully realise. Absolve him.”
Sollecito is not even Bongiorno’s most famous client, Lizzy continues. “That prize probably goes to footballer Francesco Totti, but former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti also had reason to be grateful to her. As a young lawyer, Bongiorno represented him when he was fighting charges of complicity with the mafia. He got off.”
The high court’s decision is “likely to be a bitter pill for the Kercher family to swallow,” writes Stephanie Kirchgaessner from Rome.
Throughout the saga that has followed the 21-year-old Leeds University student’s murder, the family has sought to stay out of the spotlight and, before Friday night’s verdict, had expressed steady confidence in Italy’s notoriously slow and backed-up legal system, saying that the multiple tiers of appeals were designed to arrive at the right verdict.
Although they have always been careful not to personalise the legal battle, the family may well find the definitive clearing of both Knox and Sollecito hard to fathom.
An earlier verdict by the court of cassation, which found Rudy Guede, an Ivorian, definitively guilty of Kercher’s murder, specified that the murder could not have been carried out by him alone, and that he must have had accomplices.
Now, the only other people who have ever been seriously considered suspects in the case are now to walk free, for good, as a result of the same court.
You can read the full piece here.
Updated
The high court’s ruling comes a little more than a year after Knox faced a second conviction and the possibility of extradition and continuing years of legal battles.
Shortly after that ruling – now overturned and put to rest by Italy’s highest court – Knox sat down with the Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone for an interview, saying, “Being marked as an exoneree is one thing, but being marked as a criminal is another thing and it hurts. It’s not OK. I’m not OK with it. It makes me feel so much more isolated and branded.”
Kercher's mother 'shocked'
The mother of murdered British student Meredith Kercher has said she was “surprised and very shocked” by the decision, the Press Association reports.
Arline Kercher, Meredith’s mother, said she had heard little more about the decision other than the verdict.
She told the Press Association: “[I am] a bit surprised, and very shocked, but that is about it at the moment.
“They have been convicted twice so it’s a bit odd that it should change now.”
Asked whether she had any plans following the ruling, she said: “I really don’t know at the moment, I haven’t got any plans.”
Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2007 while studying in Perugia, Italy.
An Ivorian man named Rudy Guede, who admitted to having sex with Kercher and being at her apartment on the night of the murder, was convicted for the murder in 2008 and is about halfway through a 16-year sentence. An earlier, separate court ruling had found Guede could not have acted alone.
After Knox and Sollecito’s convictions had been reinstated last year, Kercher’s brother Lyle said, “Nothing of course will ever bring Meredith back. The best we can hope for is, of course, finally bringing this whole case to a conclusion, and then everyone can move on with their lives.”
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“I’m just ecstatic,” a friend of the Knox family tells Nicky Woolf, who is reporting near Knox’s home in Seattle.
“The Italian courts did the right thing,” Karen Pruett said. “It was very difficult for them, and we understand that, but we’re beyond pleased that they chose justice and truth.”
As the sound of cheers celebrations filtered out to the terrace from the restaurant inside, Pruett told the Guardian she thought the Knox family was feeling “jubilant, and relieved, and buoyant,” but also probably exhausted. “it was long and excrutiating and twisted journey,” she said.
“To say the least” Al Semple, from west Seattle, a long-time Knox supporter, who along with Julie Rogers, organised the earliest fund-raisers for Knox here at this restaurant by the bay, interrupted.
“This case is over,” Pruett continued. “If there’s anything that comes after that, it remains to be seen. Hopefully people will leave these poor people alone.”
Semple breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God it’s over,” he said.
Pruett also said that she hoped Meredith Kercher’s family continued their campaign for justice and answers, Nicky reports.
“In my opinion,” she told the Guardian, “the case file needs to be reopened and examined carefully, so that the proper information is given to the Kerchers and they get their questions answered.”
“After 10 hours of deliberations, presiding judge Gennaro Marasca read the decision, repeating the word ‘annulled’ several times – and the court and assembled journalists, including many who are not native Italian speakers, initially fell silent.”
“Then there was a burst of energy,” reports Stephanie Kirchgaessner from Rome.
Giulia Bongiorno, Sollecito’s lawyer and one of the most famous defence attorneys in Italy, began to scream and run out of the courtroom, even as journalists chased behind her. When a seemingly stunned Carlo Della Vedova, the lawyer for Knox, came out of the courtroom behind her, she lept into his arms and the two embraced. Even as he walked toward the exit, Della Vedova remained contained, saying in a hushed tone that such a bold decision was nearly unprecedented.
The decision to acquit both underscored the persistent questions that surrounded the case from the moment the pair were arrested for Kercher’s murder. Both attorneys for Knox and Sollecito forcefully argued that the fact did not add up – that the evidence was tainted, the lack of a clear motive suspect, and that Italian investigators had pursued the case as if it was a witch hunt.
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Sollecito is “obviously happy and also incredulous,” his lawyer tells my colleague Lizzy Davies.
“He’s obviously happy and also incredulous,” Giulia Bongiorno said, but added that she herself was not as surprised. “I was expecting it,” she said. “This sentence was so obvious.”
Her comments are perhaps understated descriptions of how she and Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova feel.
Giulia Bongiorno literally jumped into Carlo Dalla Vedova's arms for a huge hug as they exited the courtroom.
— Andrea Vogt (@andreavogt) March 27, 2015
Knox: 'tremendously relieved and grateful'
Amanda Knox has released a statement through her lawyer on the decision:
“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy. The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal.”
“And throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends, and strangers. To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
In a separate statement, her family said:
“We want to express our profound gratitude to all of those who have supported Amanda and our family. Countless people – from world-renowned DNA experts, to former FBI agents, to everyday citizens committed to justice – have spoken about her innocence.”
“We are thrilled with and grateful for today’s decision from the Supreme Court of Italy. And we are grateful beyond measure for all that so many of you have done for her.”
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The lawyer of Meredith Kercher’s family has told the Guardian’s Lizzy Davies that they will not deliver a statement tonight, but will likely do so on Saturday.
The family had previously said they would have wanted Knox extradited to Italy should her conviction have been upheld by the court.
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“I personally feel overjoyed that the truth won out, that she is innocent,” David Marriott, a spokesperson for Knox has told Reuters in Seattle. Marriott called the verdict “unexpected”.
Back in Italy, the reactions are more visceral. (Sollecito is in his hometown of Bari.)
Both raffaelle Sollecito and #amandaknox convictions have been fully overturned. Cries of joy in courtroom from sollecito's family
— Andrea Vogt (@andreavogt) March 27, 2015
“It’s a victory of justice. This was a mistake from the beginning,” says Knox’s lawyer Carlo Della Vedova, who is outside the courthouse speaking with reporters.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner has more from the scene:
Knox was informed of the news by Vedova, who said she was “very happy”.
“It’s a fair verdict. It’s a victory of justice. This was a mistake from the beginning,” he said as he was swarmed by cameras and reporters outside the court of cassation in Rome.The court room erupted in chaos as soon as the verdict was read by the presiding judge, Gennaro Marasca.
The decision will also spare Italy a possible diplomatic tussle with the US. If Knox’s conviction had been upheld, as most experts expected, Italy would likely have sought her extradition back to Italy to serve a 28 and a half year jail sentence.
Legal experts said the extradition could have created friction between the US and Italy because of public perceptions that the case was poorly handled by Italian authorities.
Updated
By deciding to definitively end the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, Italy’s highest judges have acted particularly decisively and beyond their usual role as arbiters of procedural arbiters, the AP explains.
The supreme Court of Cassation overturned last year’s convictions by a Florence appeals court, and declined to order another trial. The decision means the judges, after thoroughly examining the case, concluded that a conviction could not be supported by the evidence. Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.
Had the judges upheld the convictions, legal battles would likely have continued for years as Knox and Sollecito appealed the cases and the US waded into a fight over Knox’s extradition to Italy. The pair have maintained their innocence ever since the murder in November 2007.
Knox’s supporters in Seattle are ebullient and relieved, reports Nicky Woolf, who’s in Salty’s Restaurant on the waterfront of west Seattle, near Knox’s childhood home.
When news of the verdict broke, the sound of fireworks briefly echoed triumphantly over the water.
“Thank God it’s over, they can get on with their lives,” said Candace Dempsey, author of Murder in Italy, a book about the case, who along with several Knox supporters are celebrating here, at the restaurant where the first fundraiser for Knox was held in 2009.
“I’m very pleased and very surprised. Usually I’m an optimist, but I was sure this was going against them. I think it’s a brilliant move by Italy. They’ve averted a diplomatic crisis that no-one needed. I couldn’t be happier that two innocent people are going free.”
“I never thought when I wrote my book that this would happen. I’m so happy.”
Dempsey is also happy that the online abuse she said she has suffered from those who insisted Knox was guilty will come to an end. “I just hope the ‘guilters’ can go home now, and this tragic saga will be over at last,” she said. “It’s made me an admirer of Italian justice.”
Updated
In a stunning turn in a legal saga that has lasted more than seven years, Italy’s high court has not only rejected the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, it has annulled them and declined to order another retrial.
After 10 hours of deliberations, the ruling closes the case, and Knox and Sollecito are free without fear of charges or, in Knox’s case, extradition to Italy.
Near Knox’s home in Seattle, Nicky Woolf hears what he believes are fireworks.
Updated
Knox acquitted
The court has annulled the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kirchner, Reuters reports.
Shocking Verdict. Both verdicts annulled
— Steph Kirchgaessner (@skirchy) March 27, 2015
Updated
Earlier today Knox and Sollecito’s lawyers made final appeals to the judges to overturn the convictions, in arguments that included a comparison of the Italian man to Forrest Gump.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner reported from the court where Sollecito’s lawyer provided a “little sampling” of the many errors she perceived in his conviction.
In a rousing closing argument that lasted nearly two hours – they are supposed to be limited to 20 minutes in the court of cassation in Rome – Giulia Bongiorno, Sollecito’s attorney, said her client had always tried to cooperate with investigators and had not been in the room where the crime was committed.
“During the violence he was watching cartoons [at home],” she argued. “He is an innocent that got wrapped up in spectacular and gigantic events that, like Forrest Gump, he did not fully realise. Absolve him.”
Bongiorno did not point the finger at Knox but said that if the court believed that a statement the American made to police – and later retracted – was true, it meant her client was exonerated. Knox told police that she was in the house when Kercher was killed but that Sollecito was not.
You can read the full account here.
Updated
With the clock nearing 10.30pm in Rome, the judges of Italy’s high court have been deliberating for hours past their predicted deadline of 5pm.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner, reporting from the courthouse for the Guardian, says we can expect an announcement within 15-20 minutes.
In #amandaknox trial of first instance in Perugia judges deliberated from 10 a.m. to midnight. Many speculating about judicial rift.
— Andrea Vogt (@andreavogt) March 27, 2015
Updated
Welcome to our live coverage of the final verdict of Italy’s highest court in the Amanda Knox murder trial, more than seven years after the American was accused with her then boyfriend of murdering her room-mate, the British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of the murder in 2009, cleared of the charge in 2011, and then ordered to face a retrial when Italy’s Court of Cassation threw out their acquittals in 2013. In January 2014 an appeals court reinstated the original conviction, sentencing Knox and Sollecito to 28 ½ and 25 years in prison respectively.
The judges will decide on Friday whether to confirm those convictions, to reject them, or to order another retrial for Knox and/or Sollecito. A conviction could begin an extradition process for Knox, who returned to her home in Washington state in 2011. Knox has promised to fight the conviction “to the end” and resist any attempt to be removed back to Italy.
Should Knox be convicted and Italy request her extradition the US State Department could either grant it under the countries’ treaty or attempt to argue against it on disputable provisions.
A third person, an Ivorian named Rudy Guede, was convicted in 2008 and has served almost half of a 16-year sentence. Knox and Sollecito have vehemently denied any role in the murder or prosecutors’ allegations that the three accused cut Kercher’s throat during a sex game; they maintain their innocence and insist that Guede acted alone.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner (@skirchy) in Rome and Nicky Woolf (@nickywoolf) in Seattle will contribute reporting throughout the day as the ramifications of the judges’ verdict become clear.
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