• Italian prosecutors, as expected, seek reinstatement of Amanda Knox conviction

    By NBC News and msnbc.com news services

    MILAN - Italian prosecutors asked the country's highest criminal court on Tuesday to reinstate the murder convictions of American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend in the brutal slaying of a British student.

    Knox, through her attoney, called the prosecutors' request "harassment."

    Perugia prosecutors filed the 112-page appeal, more than four months after an appeals court threw out the convictions against Knox, 24, and Raffaele Sollecito, 27.

    Prosecutors Giovanni Galati said he is "very convinced" that Sollecito and Knox are responsible for the Nov. 1, 2007, stabbing death of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British student who shared an apartment with Knox in the university town of Perugia.

    Galati told reporters in Pergugia that the appeals sentence must be thrown out, saying it was full of "ommissions and many errors," the news agency ANSA reported.

    The prosecutors appeal, which was expected, marks the third and final stage in the criminal case against Knox and Sollecito.

    The two were found guilty in a lower court of slaying Kercher in what prosecutors described as a sex-fueled attack, and sentenced to 26 years and 25 years respectively. An appeals court then said the evidence did not hold up, freeing Knox to return home to the United States after serving four years in prison. Sollecito lives in Italy.

    Luca Maori, Sollecito's lawyer, said the high court is expected to issue its decision toward the end of the year.

    The prosecutors move was expected, and Maori said he would file his counter-arguments after going over the prosecutors' appeal.

    "We will write our brief to say it's a mistake," Maori said.

    Amanda Knox's family, in a statement obtained by NBC News, said the appeal was not unexpected.

    "We are not concerned about this appeal, as Amanda’s innocence was clearly and convincingly proven in her appeal trial," said the statement, issued by attorney Theodore Simon. "This is simply another example of harassment by the prosecutor against Amanda and makes this terrible, painful incident continue to go on for Amanda, Raffaele and their families."

    Amanda Knox 'loves Italy' and might return


    Fatal blow?
    The high court cannot hear new evidence, and will make its decision based on what has been submitted in earlier trials.

    The fatal blow to the prosecution's case was a court-ordered DNA review in the appellate trial that discredited crucial genetic evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito in 2009.

    Kercher was found slain in a pool of blood in the house she shared with Knox in Perugia. The appeals court in October said the guilty verdicts against the pair were not corroborated by any evidence, and that the court hadn't proven they were in the house when Kercher was killed.

    Still, the appellate panel stopped short of saying what might have happened the night of the murder.

    An Italian appeals court throws out Amanda Knox's murder conviction and orders her free after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    A third defendant, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted in a separate trial of sexually assaulting and stabbing Kercher. His 16-year sentence, reduced in appeal from an initial 30 years, was upheld by Italy's highest court in 2010.

    Last week, Knox's Italian lawyer has filed an appeal of her slander conviction. Although she was cleared of the murder conviction, the Italian appeals court had upheld her conviction for slander — for falsely accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

     

    More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

  • Amanda Knox appeals slander conviction

    Amanda Knox, left, is comforted by her sister, Deanna Knox, during a news conference shortly after her arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Oct. 4, 2011.

    By msnbc.com news services

    Amanda Knox's Italian lawyer has filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Italy, a family spokesman said Monday.

    In October, an Italian appeals court overturned the young Seattle woman's murder conviction in the 2007 death of her British roommate in Perugia. But the same court upheld Knox's conviction for slander — for falsely accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying.

    Lumumba was freed after two weeks in prison for lack of evidence.

    Knox later said she was "manipulated" during her lengthy police interrogation.

    Amanda Knox 'loves Italy' and might return

    An appeal of the slander conviction was filed Monday, Knox family spokesman Dave Marriott confirmed. He doesn't know when the Italian court might consider it.

    Knox returned to Seattle after her murder conviction was overturned. The former exchange student had been in custody since 2007.

    In its ruling last fall, the Italian appeals court also acquitted Knox's then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the murder of Meredith Kercher.

    An Italian appeals court throws out Amanda Knox's murder conviction and orders her free after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    A third defendant, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted in a separate trial of sexually assaulting and stabbing Kercher. His 16-year prison sentence — reduced on appeal from an initial 30 years — was upheld by Italy's highest court in 2010.

    In a lengthy court document explaining the ruling that cleared Knox and Sollecito, presiding appeals court Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann wrote that Knox implicated Lumumba after hours of intense police questioning because "she was convinced that was what the police wanted her to do; to name a guilty person."

    More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

  • Revealed: Why court cleared Amanda Knox

    The Italian appeals court that overturned the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox is now explaining its ruling in a newly-released report. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    UPDATED 3 p.m. ET

    The Associated Press offers more details about the appeals court ruling:

    MILAN, Italy -- The Italian appeals court that overturned Amanda Knox's murder conviction in the slaying of her British roommate gave the reasons for its ruling on Thursday: the evidence that had been used by a lower court against the American and her Italian boyfriend just didn't hold up.

    Those shortcomings included no murder weapon, faulty DNA, an inaccurate time for the killing, and insufficient proof that Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were even at the location where the crime occurred. So said the Perugia appellate court in its long-awaited reasoning behind its October ruling that reversed the lower court's convictions.

    British college student Meredith Kercher was found slain in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor in Perugia, Italy, on Nov. 2, 2007.

    Knox and Sollecito, who had just begun dating at the time of the murder, were arrested several days later, then convicted in what prosecutors' portrayed as a drug-fueled sexual assault. They were sentenced to 26 years and 25 years, respectively, in proceedings that made headlines around the world.

    Raffaelle Sollecito, the former lover of Amanda Knox, spoke candidly on Italian TV about his relationship with the American student and the "cruel injustice" that destroyed their love, saying they will always be linked by tragedy.

    On Thursday, the appellate cited among the other failed elements of the prosecutors' case DNA evidence, which was undermined during a re-examination in the appeals trial, and the failure to conclusively identify the murder weapon. The appellate court even contradicted the lower court's time of death, saying it happened at around 10:15 p.m., not after 11 p.m. The court said the "building blocks" used to construct the case had failed.

    The appeals court also said there was no proof of the prosecutors' claim that Knox and Sollecito had helped a third man, who was convicted separately, of sexually assault Kercher, nor was there evidence that the pair had simulated a burglary by throwing a rock through a window to remove suspicion from themselves, as prosecutors alleged.

    The appeals court said the lower court had arrived at a verdict "that was not corroborated by any objective element of evidence and in itself was not, in fact probable: the sudden choice of two young people, good and open to other people, to do evil for evil's sake, just like that, without another reason."

    "It is not, therefore, sufficient that the probability of the prosecutors' hypothesis is greater than the hypothesis of the defense, not even when they are notably greater in number, but it is necessary that every explanation that differs from the prosecutors' hypothesis is, according to the criteria of reasonability, not at all plausible," the court said.

    The only elements of the prosecutors case that were proven, the appeals court said, were the charge of slander against Knox, who was convicted of falsely accusing a bar owner of killing Kercher, and the fact that the Knox and Sollecito alibis did not match.

    TODAY's Matt Lauer talks to Amanda Knox's father, Curt, who says his daughter is currently focused on being with her friends, many of whom have stayed her friend while she was in prison.

    That the alibis were out of synch "is very different" from the prosecutors' claim of false alibis, the court said.

    The proven elements combined, the court said, are not enough to support convictions against Knox and Sollecito.

    "The only elements that are sustained don't allow the belief, even when put together, that the guilt of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the crime of murder ... has been proven," the court said.

    After her conviction was thrown out, Knox, 24, returned immediately home to Seattle. She was credited with time served for the conviction of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing.

    Prosecutors contended a kitchen knife found at Sollecito's house was the weapon because it matched wounds on Kercher's body and carried traces of Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle. However, the court-ordered review discredited the DNA evidence, saying there were glaring errors in evidence-collecting and that below-standard testing and possible contamination raised doubts over the DNA traces on the blade and on Kercher's bra clasp.

    In addition, the defense cast doubt on the knife, questioning why Knox and Sollecito would return it to Sollecito's home if it had been used in the murder. They maintain the real weapon has yet to be found.

    A third defendant in the case, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial of sexually assaulting and stabbing Kercher. His 16-year prison sentence — reduced on appeal from an initial 30 years — was upheld by Italy's highest court in 2010.

    The appeals court also expressed incredulity that the two would have cooperated in such a crime with Guede, with whom there is no proof of any relationship. "For example, there is no evidence of phone calls or text messages between the three," the court said.

     

    Earlier story:

    MILAN, Italy -- The appellate court in Italy that cleared American student Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate released the reasoning behind its ruling on Thursday.

    The Perugia court said faulty evidence was used to build the case linking Knox and her Italian boyfriend to the slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, whose body was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 1, 2007.

    U.K.-based news website The Week reported that Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman's 144-page report found that Kercher was killed by a "lone assassin."

    The judge also suggested that Knox's alleged confession came because she "was stressed," according to The Week.

    Knox, then a college student studying in Italy, and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of murdering Kercher in what prosecutors said was a drug-fueled sexual assault.

    An Italian appeals court overturned their convictions in October after independent forensic investigators sharply criticized police scientific evidence in the original investigation, saying it was unreliable. 

    Knox, 24, immediately returned home to Seattle, after four years in jail. 

    After landing in Seattle, Amanda Knox told supporters, "Thank you to everyone who has believed in me, who has defended me, who has supported my family."

    Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Knox had hired a prominent Washington, D.C.-based lawyer as she considers possible book deals.

    Knox retained attorney Robert Barnett "to represent her in discussions with various book publishers" and to help her family evaluate "other opportunities," spokesman David Marriott said.

    Barnett has previously represented President Barack Obama, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, singer Barbra Streisand and a host of other political and entertainment luminaries in book deals.

    Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

  • Amanda Knox story lands British tabloid in trouble

    By LINDA BYRON , KING 5 News

    A British tabloid was sanctioned last week for publishing a story that not only said Amanda Knox's appeal was rejected, but included made up quotes from prosecutors and a fictional description of Knox's reaction to the ruling.

    Knox's appeal was granted on Oct. 3rd, but the Daily Mail published a pre-written piece that reported just the opposite. The piece was online for only a few minutes, but it was long enough to draw criticism from other British media organizations.

    It's not unusual for journalists to write two or more draft versions ahead of an expected major announcement, filling in the facts later. That way, no matter which way the story goes, a story can be posted quickly. But the Daily Mail took it even further -- the paper's staff made up quotes ahead of time and fictionalized reactions from key players in the courtroom.

    Read the original story on King5.com

    The story included a description of Knox's reaction and even quotes from prosecutors -- quotes that were completely fabricated.

    "Guilty: Amanda Knox looks stunned as appeal against murder conviction is rejected," the headline read.

    Britain's Press Complaints Commission has censured the tabloid, and the Daily Mail posted the commission's findings on its website and reports it is changing its procedures for what it calls "set and hold" stories.

    The Commission's ruling includes scathing criticism of the Daily Mail's methods: "In addition to the overarching complaint that the article had reported the wrong verdict, the complainants also drew the commissions attention to: the inclusion of quotes attributed to prosecutors, apparently reacting to the guilty verdict ('justice has been done' although 'it was sad two young people would be spending time in jail')."

    According to The Guardian, the Daily Mail's story included this fictional account of Knox's reaction to the announcement by Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman that the court denied her appeal for freedom: "As Knox realised (sic) the enormity of what judge Hellman was saying she sank into her chair sobbing uncontrollably while her family and friends hugged each other in tears." The Daily Mail's report also said Knox was taken back to prison and would be "put on a suicide watch."

    A writer for the Guardian noted that the Daily Mail was not alone in reporting the Knox news incorrectly. "The Sun and Sky News did it too and yes - hands up here - so did The Guardian in its live blog. It would appear that a false translation of the judge's summing up caused the problem, leading to papers jumping the gun," wrote Guardian blogger Roy Greenslade.

    Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

  • Knox: 'I'm really overwhelmed right now'

    NBC News

    Amanda Knox makes a short statement at Sea-Tac Airport.

    By msnbc.com's Kari Huus and Alex Johnson

    Update 9 p.m. ET: As Amanda Knox and her family leave and the ladders are folded, supporters urge the media crowd to "give them some peace. ... Give them some time." 

    _____

    Update 8:51 p.m. ET: Amanda Knox's statement at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: 

    They're reminding me to speak in English, because I'm having problems with that. 

    I'm really overwhelmed right now. I was looking down from the airplane, and it seemed everything wasn't real. 

    What's important for me to say is just thank you to everyone who's believed in me, who's defended me and who's supported my family.

    My family is the most important thing to me right now, and I just want to go be with them. So, thank you for being there for me.

    _____

    Update 8:41 p.m. ET: The news conference is over. Amanda Knox spoke briefly, saying, "I'm really overwhelmed right now."

    She arrived in the briefing room to loud whoops from a crowd of supporters. She was crying, with her hand over her mouth.

    • Full coverage of the Amanda Knox case on msnbc.com

    She then sat with her family, still crying and clutching a relative's hand.

    _____

    Kari Huus / msnbc.com

    A supporter of Amanda Knox at the Seattle airport Tuesday evening.

    Update 8:32p.m. ET: Amanda Knox and her family have arrived for a news conference at the Seattle airport. A groan went up from journalists when it was announced that no questions would be taken.

    _____

    Update 8:16 p.m. ET: The first Italian press to show up were Manuela Moreno, an anchor for Rai TV in Italy, and a producer who arrived with a producer this morning from New York, where they had been for the previous month. 

    For these veterans of the Amanda Knox drama — they've been covering it since the news of the murder — there's no surprise that even in relatively far-flung Seattle, press hunger for the story remains at a fever pitch. 

    "I expected it, yes, because Amanda is young, beautiful and enigmatic. There are three young people, love, sex and a horrible murder in a small town. ... It has all the ingredients for a horrible story," said Moreno.

    None of the same frenzy surrounds Knox's former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, whose conviction was also overturned. Moreno says she thinks this is because he is more "naive."  

    "But she is like a sphinx," Moreno says of Knox. "No one knows what she thinks."  

    Moreno sees no end to press interest in Italy for a long time, especially if she delays talking to Italian press.  

    "It all depends on how long Amanda drags is out before talking ot the press. The sooner she does, the sooner she will get rid of us."

    They hope to understand her better by seeing how she acts now that she is back in the United States. But if she is very elusive, they might end up camped in front of her house in West Seattle. 

    "It could get quite obnoxious," says Morena.

    — Kari Huus

    _____

    Update 8:09 p.m. ET: Amanda Knox's plane has landed safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

    _____

    Update 7:40 p.m. ET: While there was a sense of relief and joy among supporters of Amanda Knox, she and her family face a host of challenges, NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports. The family has been nearly bankrupted by legal fees, and her grandmother says she's drowning in debt:

    _____

    Update 7:25 p.m. ET: While news crews make up most of the crowd at Sea-Tac airport waiting for Amanda Knox, a couple of civilians did make their way to the press area.

    Kari Huus / msnbc.com

    News crews jam Seattle-Tacoma International Airport ahead of Amanda Knox's arrival.

    "I wondered why there weren't more people here," Rochelle Fitzgerald — who landed in Seattle on her way back to Port Angeles, Wash., from Los Angeles — said upon learning that Knox wasn't expected to land until after 5 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET).

    Fitzgerald just happened by coincidence to be in the airport as the press was setting up and she was hoping to catch a glimpse of Knox, who she said got a raw deal.

    "All I can say is it's a shame when our American people go into another country, and the things that happen," she said. "I think it's a sad situation to go through that, and [Knox] needs all the support she can get."

    • Full details and background on the Amanda Knox case

    By contrast, Thomas Bakker of Seattle has been following the case from day one, and with a day off work, he took Seattle's light rail to Sea-Tac expressly for Knox's homecoming.

    In Bakker's opinion, "after all is said and done, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

    "She kept mixing up her story at the beginning," he said, "and so that probably triggered the prosecution, who was able to go after her." 

    — Kari Huus

    ____

    Update 6:32 p.m. ET: Anne Bremner, a Seattle defense attorney who served as a spokeswoman for Friends of Amanda Knox, which raised money for her defense, tells Reuters that Knox is likely to make a brief statement thanking her supporters. 

    NBC station KING-TV of Seattle reported that Friends of Amanda Knox would not be at the airport but would instead wait for Knox to decide when and where they would hold a celebration.
    _____

    Original post: Nearly a dozen TV satellite trucks are sitting outside the Seattle airport, part of a media maelstrom awaiting Amanda Knox's return home after she served four years in an Italian prison for a murder she was ultimately found not to have committed.

    After four years in prison, Amanda Knox is a free woman after an Italian appeals court overturned her conviction for the murder of her roommate. NBC News' Keith Miller reports.

    Knox's British Airways flight was on schedule for an estimated arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport about 8:12 p.m. ET. When she lands, customs agents will meet her and her family, and then they will be whisked through a secure door for a news conference, said Perry Cooper, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, which operates Sea-Tac.

    Knox's parents and the family's legal adviser are expected to speak, but it isn't known whether Knox, 24, an exchange student at the University of Washington, herself plans to make any statement. They'll then be whisked away to depart privately.

    Msnbc.com will stream the news conference live, probably beginning around 9 p.m. ET.

    Knox was initially sentenced to 26 years in prison after she and her then-boyfriend were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007. An Italian appeals court overturned the convictions Monday, setting off a media frenzy in Italy and the U.S. alike. The prosecutor said he would appeal the ruling, and Kercher's family was left without a resolution to her killing. 

    Knox's case generated enormous interest and sympathy in the U.S., but NBC News' Claudio Lavanga reported from Perugia that as soon as the verdict became clear Monday, the air filled with  cries of "Shame, Shame." The Knox family, pelted with heady insults when they emerged from the court, had to be whisked away by security.

    • Full details and background on the Amanda Knox case

    Carlo Dalla Vedova, one of Knox's Italian attorneys, said Knox is weak, stressed and scared after her ordeal.

    "She hasn't got so much sleep, and this week has been extremely heavy on her," Dalla Vedova said in an interview with NBC's TODAY:

    Carlo Dalla Vedova, one of Amanda Knox's attorneys, says his client's exoneration is the "end of a nightmare" for the American student.

    — Alex Johnson