Prosecutors seek 30-year sentence for Knox
Italian prosecutors on Tuesday asked for a 30-year prison sentence for former US student Amanda Knox at a retrial where she is being judged in absentia for the murder of her housemate Meredith Kercher, Italian media reported.
Prosecutors at the trial also requested that her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito be given 26 years, saying the punishment should be harsher for Knox because she initially accused someone else of the crime.
In presenting his case, Prosecutor Alessandro Crini said the pair’s acquittal ignored two key witness testimonies, which he claims help prove they murdered British student Kercher in 2007.
Kercher was found stabbed to death on November 2nd 2007 in the Perugia home she shared with fellow exchange student Knox.
Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of Kercher’s murder although acquitted in 2011. That decision was overturned by Italy’s highest court earlier this year, prompting the Florence retrial to go through the evidence anew.
In presenting his case, Crini said the court should “not make the same mistaken judgement of the court in Perugia,” which acquitted the pair.
Crini said that the testimony of Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man in Perugia, disproves Sollecito’s alibi. Curatolo said he saw Knox and Sollecito talking by railings close to the house where the British student was killed.
“This is not a generic memory, but a vivid scene,” the prosecutor said, adding that the homeless man is reliable as he has already testified in another murder trial.
Another witness, Marco Quintavalle, said he saw an agitated Knox outside his shop the morning after the murder, La Nazione reported. The prosecutor argued that Knox lied by saying she was in bed with Sollecito when she was spotted by Quintavalle.
Earlier this month the court heard that DNA on a knife found at Sollecito’s home matched Knox, but not the victim, which the prosecution asserts is one of the weapons used to kill Kercher.
READ MORE: Knox DNA found on knife in murder retrial
The defence is due to present its arguments next month, before a verdict is reached in January.
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Prosecutors at the trial also requested that her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito be given 26 years, saying the punishment should be harsher for Knox because she initially accused someone else of the crime.
In presenting his case, Prosecutor Alessandro Crini said the pair’s acquittal ignored two key witness testimonies, which he claims help prove they murdered British student Kercher in 2007.
Kercher was found stabbed to death on November 2nd 2007 in the Perugia home she shared with fellow exchange student Knox.
Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of Kercher’s murder although acquitted in 2011. That decision was overturned by Italy’s highest court earlier this year, prompting the Florence retrial to go through the evidence anew.
In presenting his case, Crini said the court should “not make the same mistaken judgement of the court in Perugia,” which acquitted the pair.
Crini said that the testimony of Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man in Perugia, disproves Sollecito’s alibi. Curatolo said he saw Knox and Sollecito talking by railings close to the house where the British student was killed.
“This is not a generic memory, but a vivid scene,” the prosecutor said, adding that the homeless man is reliable as he has already testified in another murder trial.
Another witness, Marco Quintavalle, said he saw an agitated Knox outside his shop the morning after the murder, La Nazione reported. The prosecutor argued that Knox lied by saying she was in bed with Sollecito when she was spotted by Quintavalle.
Earlier this month the court heard that DNA on a knife found at Sollecito’s home matched Knox, but not the victim, which the prosecution asserts is one of the weapons used to kill Kercher.
READ MORE: Knox DNA found on knife in murder retrial
The defence is due to present its arguments next month, before a verdict is reached in January.
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