Knox, ex-boyfriend to appeal verdict

Perugia, Italy : American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early yesterday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.

Her co-defendant, former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years. The two also were found guilty of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.

"No, no," Knox said, bursting into tears and clinging to one of her lawyers as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle, and the 25-year-old Sollecito were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.

Lawyers for Knox and Sollecito said they would appeal the sentences and Knox's family denounced the verdict as a "failure of the Italian judicial system".

A defence lawyer for Knox said she spent her first night in jail as a convicted woman under strict surveillance. Luciano Ghirga denied reports that Knox had been put under suicide watch.

Ghirga, who spent an hour with Knox yesterday morning, said she was "tired and disappointed".

"She couldn't sleep all night, she was comforted by other inmates and police officials," the lawyer said. "She's worried for her parents, too, but she is keeping the faith needed for the next steps."

Later, the woman's father, Curt Knox, also arrived at the Capanne prison to visit his daughter.

Silence fell on the packed and tense courtroom as the jurors walked in. Kercher's mother and sister cried at the verdict.

"The sentence is fair and satisfactory for the family," said their lawyer, Francesco Maresca. "It was a heartfelt sentence. There is deep suffering on all sides."

Involved

Knox's aunt Janet Huff told CNN: "We are just crushed." When asked what had "most damaged" Knox's case, Huff said: "The media from the get-go was fed false information and they ran with it.

"Boy, is it a sexy story: beautiful, young American girl caught up in this horrible nightmare," she added.

Huff said the US government was expected to wade into the fray. "They are involved. They have been involved since the beginning," she told CNN. "We've been receiving e-mails from government officials saying now it's time to do something," Huff said, without naming US officials or describing how they would step in.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.

"It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her," the statement said.

Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on November 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in central Italy.

Meredith Kercher's brother Lyle said that some 4.4 million euros awarded to the family by the court against her murderers was "to imply the severity of the case ... and it is purely symbolic."