Amanda Knox, 22, was convicted last night of murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Both girls were studying abroad at the University for Foreigners in Perugia. Knox does not look like a convicted murderer: a young, seemingly average American student with a pretty, even sweet, face. A photo from the beginning of the trial two years ago shows Knox smiling and giggling, perhaps in disbelief or denial of the gravity of the situation. Last night, however, she collapsed in sobs as the courtroom simply stared and the verdict was read.
Knox’s family maintains that she is innocent and was thus wrongly convicted, but the evidence against her was enough to put her away for 26 years. Her boyfriend and accomplice at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years. They will have to pay a whopping 5 million euros to the victim’s family, as well as an additional 40,000 euros from Knox to a man whom she wrongly accused of the crime. Meredith Kercher died under sad and bizarre circumstances: she was found stabbed to death after supposedly being taunted and tortured by the couple. Knox is said to have hated her, although she denies it; reports say that both she and Sollecito sexually assaulted her and threatened her, before Knox plunged the knife into her neck. The evidence that convicted the couple, included DNA belonging to Sollecito found on Kercher's bra clasp, as well as DNA on the murder weapon itself, a kitchen knife found in Sollecito’s kitchen.
