

London exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered in Perugia, Italy, on Nov. 1, 2007. One of her roommates, American Amanda Knox (pictured) was convicted of sexual assault and murder on Dec. 4, 2009, and sentenced to 26 years in prison. She has since appealed the conviction. Stefano Medici/AP/File
Italian Raffaele Sollecito, the former boyfriend of Amanda Knox, also was convicted in 2009 of the sexual assault and murder of Meredith Kercher and is appealing his conviction. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/File
Rudy Guede, originally from Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial on Oct. 28, 2008, of the sexual assault and murder of Meredith Kercher. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Zuma Press/Newscom/File
Edda Knox, Amanda’s mother, told the Associated Press, ‘You don't leave your innocent child locked up in a jail and not do everything you can to get her out of there.’ Also pictured is her husband, Amanda’s stepfather Chris Mellas. Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/File
Luciano Ghirga (l.) is Amanda Knox’s (r.) defense attorney. In July, he said of an independent forensic report concluding that much of the DNA evidence used to convict Amanda Knox is unreliable, ‘We've been waiting for three years for this.’ Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images/Newcom/File
Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann has said that the trial of Amanda Knox is a ‘media trial.’ He appointed new forensics experts to review the DNA evidence for Amanda Knox’s appeal. Newscom/File
Francesco Sollecito (l.), father of Raffaele, has defended his son’s collecting of knives, saying that such activity does not make him a killer. At right is Amanda Knox's lawyer Luciano Ghirga. Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/File
Giulia Buongiorno is Raffaele Sollecito’s defense attorney. She is president of the judiciary commission of the Italian parliament and is considered to be Italy’s top female lawyer. Alessandro Bianch/Reuters/File
In July, forensics experts Carla Vecchiotti (l.) and Stefano Conti called into question DNA evidence that helped convict Amanda Knox and Rafaelle Sollecito of murder. Stefano Medici/AP/File
Patrizia Stefanoni is the forensics expert whose testimony helped convict Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in 2009, which has since been called into question. She stands by her findings and methods. Giampiero Sposito/Reuters
Prosecutor Manuela Comodi (r.) has defended the forensics work of Patrizia Stefanoni (l.) in the Amanda Knox case. Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/File
Judge Giancarlo Massei refused the defense’s request for independent DNA testing in the first Amanda Knox trial. Alberton Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom/File
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini (l.) secured the conviction of Amanda Knox in her first trial. He was convicted in 2010 of tapping the phones of police officers and journalists investigating the ‘Monster of Florence’ serial killer. Here he talks to Giulia Buongiorno, Raffaele Sollecito’s defense attorney. Tizinia Fabi/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom/File