Court finds fault with the case on which the Perugia court based its decision Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito walk free
The decision by an Italian appeals court to acquit Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher was based on a case littered with "multiple shortcomings, contradictions and inconsistencies", Italy's supreme court has said.
The American student and her Italian ex-boyfriend had been cleared of the charge in 2011 by a court in Perugia, the historic university town where the 21-year-old exchange student from Surrey was killed in 2007.
But, in a dramatic about-turn, judges for the court of cassation – Italy's highest appeals court – overturned the acquittal in March, paving the way for a rerun of Knox and Sollecito's appeal against their original convictions later this year.
In a 74-page document released, those judges detailed their reasoning for the decision, re-floating the theory, among others, that Kercher was killed after being forced to take part in a group "erotic game" which span out of control.
They found fault with the case on which the Perugia court based its decision to let the onetime lovers walk free, saying that the evidence against them had been underestimated. They questioned, among other points, the timeframe on which the court had based its reconstruction of events, suggesting it had got the time of death wrong.
In their explanation or motivazioni, which, under Italian law, must be issued within 90 days of a ruling, the court of cassation judges also said that the fresh trial should re-explore the theory that Rudy Guede, the Ivorian man serving a 16-year jail term for the murder, had not acted alone.
Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family lawyer, said he was "very content" with the reasoning. "Particularly important is the supreme court's reference to the declarations of Rudy Guede and to the necessity of taking his sentence into account," he said, also welcoming criticism meted out to certain officials at the Perugia appeals court.
The reasoning makes clear the hurdles that face Knox, now 25, and Sollecito, 29, in their quest to be definitively acquitted of the murder. Originally sentenced in 2009 to 26 and 25 years respectively in prison, the pair – who deny any involvement in the killing – spent four years behind bars before being freed in 2011.
Knox has gone back to Seattle, where she is a student, and has recently released her memoirs, Waiting to be Heard. Sollecito, meanwhile, had wanted to move to Switzerland to start a new life, but it emerged on Tuesday that his residency permit had been revoked.
After the release of the court's reasoning, his lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno told journalists she did not fear "further in-depth analysis" of the case as it would serve only, she said, to prove Sollecito's innocence.
Both Carlo Della Vedova and Luciano Ghirga, Knox's lawyers, declined to comment.