Amanda Knox Awaits A Verdict, The Seattle Student Accused Of Briton’s Murder In Italy

Amanda Knox. Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The sensational murder trial of Seattle student Amanda Knox, 21, which began January 16, 2009, has ended, with closing arguments that lasted seven hours in an Italian courtroom. The case has attracted worldwide attention for the college-age lovers, as her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito has also been charged with the murder. The two met at a concert only two weeks before the murder.

On November 1, Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British woman sharing a Perugia apartment with Knox and two others, was brutally stabbed. Kercher’s father, a journalist, is writing a book about it.

The case, said Newsweek, has already destroyed the lives of everyone it has touched.

It is hard to feel sorry for prisoners who are serving hard time for heinous crimes. But Knox is not a convict, and yet her life has fallen apart. Between the trial (which resumes Monday), the constant media blitz (she is a tabloid sensation across the Western Hemisphere), and the expenses, the experience has essentially wrecked her adulthood. Thing is, she’s not alone. The collateral damage from Kercher’s tragic murder now spans from Seattle to London and Bari to Perugia. Her co-defendant and former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, is also being held in prison during the trial; his lawyers say he is suffering from health issues, including depression and acute gastroenteritis from stress. Meanwhile, her parents are broke, the victim’s parents are distraught, and even the lawyers who got involved with this case have come to regret it. The Knox trial is poison: nearly everyone it has touched so far has suffered irreparable psychological and financial harm.