Victim’s brother: we’re pleased with conviction of Knox but no cause for celebration

Victim’s family: ‘pleased’ with Knox conviction

PERUGIA, Italy — The murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox brings a measure of justice for her slain roommate Meredith Kercher but is no cause for celebration, Kercher’s family said Saturday.

In their first comments since Knox was convicted late Friday, the victim’s relatives said that they are pleased with the 26-year sentence but it doesn’t ease their pain.

“Meredith still leaves a big hole in our lives and her presence is missed everytime we meet up as a family,” John Kercher Jr., one of her brothers, told a press conference.

The court also convicted Knox’s co-defendant and former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave him a 25-year jail term for the 2007 murder.

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

Ghirga, who spent an hour with Knox on Saturday 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.

Both families had come to this central Italian town for the verdict.

“Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we’ve got a decision, but it’s not a time for celebration,” brother Lyle Kercher said.

Kercher’s sister, Stephanie, said the verdict “does bring a little bit of justice, for us and for her.” But she added: “Life will never be the same without Mez.”

Kercher, 21, was Knox’s roommate while they studied in Perugia.

Her body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, at the apartment they shared. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

After a yearlong trial and some 13 hours of deliberations, the jury read out the verdict in a packed, tension-filled courtroom. Knox burst into tears and murmured “No, no,” clinging to one of her lawyers.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old from Seattle was put in a police van with sirens blaring and driven back to her jail just outside Perugia.

In Italy verdicts can be appealed by either side. Both the Knox family and lawyers for Sollecito have announced an appeal, which could take months to begin.

Curt Knox, asked shortly after the verdict if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: “Hell, yes.”

The prosecutors said they were satisfied with the ruling and would not seek to appeal, even though the court did not grant their request for life imprisonment. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi said that the verdict “recognizes the defendants are guilty of all the crimes they had been charged with.”

As part of the verdict, Kercher’s parents were awarded €1 million ($1.5 million) each in compensation, while €800,000 ($1,200,440) were granted to Kercher’s two brothers and sister each, said the family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca. He said this was only an initial sum. Maresca asked for a total of €25 million ($38 million) from Knox, Sollecito and Guede, and he said this request would be discussed in a separate civil proceedings.

Kercher’s family, however, stressed that they were not expecting to receive any money, but the high compensation was a symbol of the gravity of their crimes.

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 Knox family said in a statement.

In Seattle, Madison Paxton, Knox’s friend from the University of Washington, said: “They’re convicting a made-up person … “They they’re convicting ‘Foxy Knoxy.’ That’s not Amanda.”

Prosecutors argued that on the night of the murder, Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined Sollecito and Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under “the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol.”

Guede was convicted previously and sentenced to 30 years. He denies wrongdoing and is appealing.

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.

Defense lawyers maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.

The pair also was convicted of illegally carrying a weapon — the knife — and of staging a burglary at the house where the murder occurred by breaking a window, supposedly in an effort to sidetrack the investigation.

Knox also was convicted of defaming a Congolese man whom she initially accused of the killing. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared. Knox said during the trial that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.

Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.