High court urged to trim Knox, Sollecito sentences

(ANSA) - Rome, March 25 - Prosecutors on Wednesday asked Italy's supreme Cassation Court to trim three months off the long prison terms imposed on Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, as a related minor crime has timed out.
    The high appeals court is scheduled to rule Friday on whether the convictions of the pair will be upheld.
    Knox had been sentenced to 28 years and six months while her ex-boyfriend Sollecito had been sentenced to 25 years in the case that saw them both serve four years in jail - including pre-trial custody - before they won their freedom in a subsequent appeal in 2011.
    However, in 2013 the supreme court struck down the 2011 acquittals and said that evidence linking Knox and Sollecito to the murder scene had not been properly considered.
    The hearing Friday will be essentially a repeat of the 2011 hearing that overturned the convictions of Sollecito and Knox, and a ruling is expected on the same day.
    Closing arguments from defence lawyers are scheduled, with Giulia Bongiorno, defence lawyer for Sollecito, likely to be the first to speak.
    Knox and Sollecito were initially convicted of the murders at the original trial in Perugia in 2009.
    Sollecito will be present at the verdict, while Knox has remained in her home city of Seattle, Washington.
    If the court finds them guilty, Knox may be liable for extradition under a 2006 treaty between Italy and the United States.