Amanda Knox is headed to trial once again.
After Italy’s highest court overturned her 2007 murder conviction, the court issued a new ruling on Tuesday to re-hear the case against Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.
The two had originally been convicted of killing British exchange student Meredith Kercher, who was found stabbed more than 40 times in the home they three all shared. Several of Kercher’s belongings including her credit cards, cash, and phones were all missing.
Prosecutors believed that Knox, Sollecito, and an Ivory Coast man maned Rudy Guede killed Kercher. Guede admitted to having sex with Kercher but denied killing her . He is now the only person serving time for the murder after being convicted to 16 years in prison in a separate sentence.
The case gained international attention as many criticized the flimsy evidence against Amanda Knox and a motive seemingly invented by the prosecution — that Kercher was killed as part of a sex game gone wrong.
Amanda Knox is now a student at the University of Washington in Seattle and has a book about the case due to be published on April 30. Sollecito has returned to Italy where he lives in Verona and is studying computer engineering.
Within minutes of the announcement that she would be retried, Amanda Knox released a statement reiterating that the prosecution’s case against her continued to be “completely unfounded and unfair.”
“No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity,” the statement said .
The Italian ruling did not call for the re-arrest of the two defendants. A lawyer for Amanda Knox said she is unlikely to return to Italy for trial, saying “the psychological stress of the case has been heavy.”Though disappointed in the decision, Knox said she is confident she will again win the case.
“No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity,” Amanda Knox said.