Court hears 'sampling of errors' in Sollecito-Knox murder case

(ANSA) - Rome, March 27 - Italy's highest appeals court was offered "a little sampling" of prosecution errors Friday which the defence lawyer for Raffaele Sollicito said showed the prosecution case against the Italian and his ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox was a sham.
    Giulia Bongiorno, who argued Sollecito's case for almost two hours, said there were "colossal" mistakes made and contradictions in the 2014 Florence appeals court verdict that convicted the pair in the November 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.
    Italy's Cassation Court adjourned midday Friday to consider the case and was expected to deliver its verdict possibly as early as the end of day.
    Sollecito was present with his lawyers and his father as the case continued Friday.
    Knox has remained in her home city of Seattle, Washington with her parents, her lawyer said Friday.
    She has said that she will never, willingly, return to Italy and her lawyer told the media that she is so anxiously waiting the ruling that she cannot sleep.
    "Amanda has not closed her eyes, she cannot sleep as she is waiting on pins and needles for the decision of the court," said Carlo Dalla Vedova.
    If the Cassation Court finds them guilty, Knox may be liable for extradition under a 2006 treaty between Italy and the United States.
    The pair were initially convicted of Kercher's murder at the original trial in Perugia in 2009.
    Knox was then sentenced to 28 years and six months while Sollecito was 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 Cassation Court struck down those acquittals and said that evidence linking Knox and Sollecito to the murder scene had not been properly considered, ordering a new trial.
    It suggested Kercher was likely killed after a violent argument between the roommates, rather than earlier prosecution theories of a drug-fuelled sex game gone wrong.
    The case has had a high profile internationally, given the fact the two young women - one from the US, the other from Britain - were studying at a university for foreigners that draws students from around the world.
    Race was also a factor, as the third person convicted in the case was a black man from the Ivory Coast.
    Rudy Guede was convicted in a separate fast-track proceeding and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
    His DNA was found at the murder scene and inside Kercher, who had been sexually assaulted.
    Kercher's family will await the outcome in England but will be in contact with their lawyers representing them as civil plaintiffs.