On the night of November 1, 2007 in Perugia, Italy, Meredith Kercher was killed with a stab wound to the back of the head. Kercher's roommate, Amanda Knox, returned home on the morning of November 2, after spending the night with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. Later, Knox returned to Sollecito's apartment and explained that she had observed small bloodstains in the bathroom, the front door ajar, and Kercher's bedroom door locked. Kercher's body was found half naked and under a duvet after police broke down Kercher's bedroom door. Knox was interrogated several times without a lawyer present. She was slapped on the back of the head and forced to visualize a probable scenario, which the police interpreted as a guilty plea and made her sign a viewing statement. DNA was recovered from the crime scene, but it pointed to only one suspect, Rudy Guede, who had fled Italy on the night of the murder, arrested in Germany, admitted to being in Kercher's apartment that night and in He was later found guilty. No DNA evidence has been recovered implicating the presence of Knox or Sollecito at the time of the murder. In 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted and sentenced to 25 and 26 years. In 2011, an appellate judge overturned the sentences of Knox and Sollecito on the basis of the absence of evidence of their guilt. Knox returned home to the United States. In 2013, the Italian Supreme Court, the Court of Cassation, ordered a new trial. Knox and Sollecito were later found guilty of the death of Meredith Kercher. Italy has since requested the extradition of Amanda Knox, but there is still an appeal. The Italian legal system is that of civil law. According to Abadinsky, civil law is based on written laws and statutes dictated by legislation and must be strictly respected... middle of paper... throughout the affair, false information was provided that would lead the Italian people to believe their judicial branch . The prosecution leaked outright lies about the case to the local press who tried to paint Knox as a cold-blooded American beauty. Works Cited Abadinsky, Howard. Law and Justice: An Introduction to the American Legal System. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print."Knox Verdict: How the Italian Legal System Works." Canale 4 News. Np, 13 January 2014. Web. 11 February 2014. Koerner, Brendan. “When do judges sequester juries?” Slate Magazine. The Slate Group and the Web. February 11, 2014. Rufe, Cynthia M., and Scott P. Sigman. "The trial of Amanda Knox highlights the differences between the US and Italian legal systems." - American Inns of Court. American Inns of Court, March-April. 2012. Network. 11 February. 2014.