Italian Supreme Court Orders a Retrial for Amanda Knox

Thanks to the redundancy/thoroughness of the Italian legal system, there will be a third volume of Hard Knox Life, most likley minus its main character. On Tuesday, Italian Supreme Court judges ruled that Amanda Knox, along with former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, should stand trial yet again for the death of her former roommate in Italy.

Knox, who is currently living and attending school in Seattle, was obviously not present for the hearing. Attorney Carlo Dalla Vedovo told the press that he’d spoken to Knox, and that she was, according to CNN, “upset and surprised because we thought that the case was over.” He added suggestively that “at the same time, as she’s done in the last five years, she’s ready to continue and we are ready to fight.”

It’s unlikely, however, that Knox would actually return to Italy for the retrial. Rachel Donato from the New York Times explained further that court’s decision only pertains to the technical matters of the Knox case, not the merits of the case, and the AP’s legal analysis added this little tidbit about the possibility of Knox’s extradition: “Italian law cannot compel Knox to return to Italy, although a court could declare her in contempt of court, which carries no additional penalties.”

Knox spent four years in Italian prison after she and Sollecito were convicted of Meredith Kercher’s murder in 2007. Four years later, Knox an appellate court overturned that conviction (meanwhile, an Ivory Coast national named Rudy Guede was separately convicted of Kercher’s murder, though he has maintained his innocence).

After the Supreme Court overturned Knox’s acquittal, Perugia prosecutor Giovanni Galati (not, unfortunately, Giuliano “It’s All a Satanic Ritual!” Mignini of Monster of Florence fame) said that the prosecution is still “convinced” that Knox and Sollecito were the “authors” of Kercher’s death. Knox may be ordered to return to return to a Florentine appellate court for the retrial, but odds are she won’t go voluntarily. Italy could then appeal to the U.S. for extradition, but U.S. officials would almost certainly reject such a request since it would violate one of our most well-known legal principles — a criminal can’t be tried twice for the same allegation.