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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2014 5:32:15 GMT
Ryan Ferguson, who spent 10 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, has become a confidante of Amanda Knox as she awaits the verdict in her latest trial, which could come Thursday. “I wanted to reach out to her because I’ve looked at the facts in her case, and I believe in her innocence 100 percent,’’ Ferguson told TODAY.com. “She was very supportive and helpful when I got out, and I want to be able to give back. I believe she’s nervous and a little scared, but overwhelmingly, I would say she has been positive. The facts are in her favor.” Amanda Knox has confided in Ryan Ferguson, who spent 10 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, as she awaits the verdict from an Italian court for her latest trial involving the murder of a former roommate. "I can identify with Amanda on many levels as I know firsthand what it is like to have the world turn against you based on a series of lies,'' Ferguson wrote on Facebook on Jan. 19. "There are also several similarities to my own case." “The only thing that’s scary, and this is a quote from me and not her, is the political aspect of it,’’ Ferguson told TODAY.com. “What I’ve seen in the justice system in the situation I was in is that it’s not always about facts and circumstances; it’s about politics.” Ferguson read Knox’s book, “Waiting to be Heard,’’ while he was in prison, and Knox publicly supported him after his release. “We’ve been through the same thing at different stages and experienced the same thing in different ways,’’ Ferguson said. “She’s waiting for the decision and dealing with that stress, which is very difficult for her family and her. I just told her what I did to get through the days and offer a different perspective. I just told her she has to do whatever will get her through that situation and help her keep her peace and keep her happiness.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2014 22:14:04 GMT
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have had their guilty verdicts for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher reinstated by judges in Florence. Neither American Knox, 26, nor Sollecito, 29, an Italian national, were in the courtroom to hear the verdict, though members of Miss Kercher's family were at the hearing. This is the third time the pair have been tried for the killing of Miss Kercher, who died in Perugia in 2007. Originally convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 50 years in jail, a retrial cleared Knox and Sollecito in 2011, however an appeal for a retrial was granted early last year, leading to Thursday's reinstatement of the guilty verdicts. Drug dealer Rudy Guede is already serving a 16-year sentence over Miss Kercher's death, though it has not been decided whether Knox will be extradited from the US to Italy to serve her sentence. Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said she will launch an appeal against the decision. But he said the telephone line "went dead" as he told his client of the verdict. Ghirga said: "For those that, like me, are convinced that Amanda is innocent, it is a very difficult time. "We have to respect the verdict but we will challenge them. We're very sad at the moment. We will definitely try everything. This is not the final word. I am very upset by this decision. We continue to be brave, we have plenty of courage. "The road to the next appeal is quite difficult but we are ready for a new battle." Sollecito's solicitor, Giulia Bongiorno, said she had not spoken to her client yet. She said: "He was prepared for any outcome. He is totally astonished why the court keeps changing mind in this way. The court gives credit to rumours. This is not a surprise. They (Knox and Sollecito) have always been considered the murderers." Miss Kercher's brother Lyle, who was in the court for today's verdict, said he would not be able to forgive those responsible for his sister's death. In an interview with Sky, Mr Kercher said: "I think you'd have to be a very strong-willed - arguably religious - person to find that forgiveness. "I think it is so easily forgotten what happened to Meredith. When I read reports even now, I find myself skimming past the paragraphs that refer to what actually happened to her because it is so horrific. I think anybody would just need to read in detail or know what happened to her to then question themselves - could they ever forgive someone who did that to their sister or daughter?" Speaking after the verdict, Mr Kercher said: "No matter what the verdict, it was never going to be a case of celebrating anything. That's probably the best we could have hoped for."
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Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2014 22:14:10 GMT
Knox was not in court Thursday when Judge Alessandro Nencini sentenced her to 28-1/2 years in prison, more than the 26 years she received at her first trial. She refused to attend the second appeal, which opened in Florence last year, writing to the court from Seattle that she feared being "wrongly convicted."
Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years. He was instructed to hand over his passport and forbidden from leaving the country before Italy’s supreme court confirms the sentence.
If the guilty verdict is upheld by the supreme court, Knox could face extradition proceedings. But under Italy’s slow-paced justice system, the supreme court is unlikely to hear the case until April or May 2015, said Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family.
In an interview with Italian television Wednesday, Knox said she would be waiting at home with her family for the verdict with "my heart in my mouth." "The proof is in the facts. There is no proof I was there when it happened," she said.
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Post by Admin on Jan 31, 2014 21:53:33 GMT
An emotional Amanda Knox said Friday that that she would "never willingly go back" to Italy, where an appeals court has declared her guilty of the 2007 murder of her roommate. Knox, who lives in Seattle, told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts that the ruling Thursday "really hit me like a train." "I did not expect this to happen," she told ABC. "I really expected so much more from the Italian justice system. They found me innocent once before." Knox also said she had sent a letter to her lawyer that is addressed to the Kercher's family. "Mainly I just want them to know that I really understand that this is incredibly difficult, that they've also been on this never ending thing and when the case has been messed up so much, like a verdict is no longer consolation for them," she said. After Italian court upholds guilty verdict, Amanda Knox speaks out exclusively to @gma on Friday Knox, who released a statement Thursday from her hometown, said she was "frightened and saddened by the unjust verdict" and blamed "overzealous and intransigent prosecution," ''narrow-minded investigation" and coercive interrogation techniques. "This has gotten out of hand," Knox said in the statement. "Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system."
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Post by Admin on Feb 1, 2014 5:42:47 GMT
Raffaele Sollecito, the Italian found guilty alongside Amanda Knox of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, has been stopped by police on the Slovenian border with Italy, local media have reported. The 29-year-old, who is set to serve a 25-year jail sentence for the killing in 2007, was ordered by the judge to surrender his passport and identity card, after the conviction on Thursday evening. Banned from leaving the country, Sollecito was stopped on Friday, close to the Slovenian and Austrian borders. La Republicca reported Sollecito had in fact already crossed the border to Austria, but then returned to Italy. ANSA, the Italian news agency said he was found by officers with his current girlfriend at a hotel in the village of Venzone, about 24 miles from the border with Slovenia, at around 1am. Florence flying squad officers and Udine police took part in the arrest, and Sollecito has been taken to the main police station in Udine, ANSA said. He was freed later with a stamp in his passport forbidding him from leaving the country. La Repubblica quoted police who said Sollecito told them he "took a trip to Austria. Then I came back to Italy. I stopped there to rest." "I never thought of escape. Neither before nor now," said Sollecito, through his lawyer Luca Maori, who said that Sollecito had "spontaneously" surrendered his passport.
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