Amanda Knox Guilty of Murder

In a stunning end to a long and often confusing trial, Amanda Knox was found guilty of murder and sexual violence today by an eight-person jury in the Italian city of Perugia. She was given a sentence of 26 years. 

The 22-year-old Knox, now Seattle's most famous exchange student ever, has been in jail since November 2, 2007, when the body of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was found dead in the apartment the two shared. Knox had been accused of murdering Kercher with the help of her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25. Sollecito was also found guilty by the jury but was sentenced to only 25 years.

In an agonizingly long trial process, the prosecution claimed that Knox and Sollecito were in the apartment on the night of the murder. According to the prosecution, Knox and Kercher had an argument that ended with Knox, Sollecito, and Rudy Guede--the fourth person in the apartment that night--attacked, beat, sexually assaulted, and killed Kercher. 

Guede, whose DNA was found on Kercher's body, was convicted in an earlier trial and is currently serving a 30-year sentence. He has appealed the conviction.

During the trial, the prosecution painted Knox as a sexually promiscuous, adventurous (one of the items introduced into evidence was a sex toy) drug user who participated in the murder while stoned. Under the prosecutor's theory, Knox and Kercher grew to hate each other over Knox's tendency to leave the apartment a mess, a sort of Odd Couple meets Sopranos. 

Prosecutors also charged Knox and Sollecito with breaking a window to make it look like there was a robbery, and stealing money and credit cards from Kercher to distract investigators. In total, Knox stood trial against eleven charges in connection with Kercher's death. 

Knox said she and Sollecito were watching a movie at his apartment, smoked dope, had sex, and went to bed. Returning to her apartment in the morning, she found Kercher dead. 

Knox frequently changed her story on the night in question and gave contradictory stories about what happened that night. At one point, she told Italian authorities that she was in the apartment during the killing and had to cover her ears to block out the sound of Kercher's screams. 

Throughout the trial, Knox proclaimed her innocence. Her emotional final testimony can be seen in the video link above. 

Her contradictory statements probably carried the day, despite the fact that prosecutors were unable to tie Knox to the murder with any direct or even circumstantial evidence. Nor was there a compelling motive. Prosecutors tried to counter the lack of motive by saying violent crimes rarely have a motive, something we are struggling with in Seattle this month after multiple high-profile murders. 

Locally, friends, family and interested parties, who have rallied to her support, will no doubt rail against the sometimes mysterious legal system in Italy and the historical tendency of the lead prosecutor to create wild, bizarre scenarios around the cases he is involved in.

Almost certainly, the case will be appealed and this long, strange, and deadly trip will continue.