FILE PHOTOS COMBO - File photos combo shows, from left; Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, slain 21-year-old British woman Meredith Kercher, her American roommate Amanda Knox. Few international criminal cases have cleaved along national biases as that of American student Amanda Knox, awaiting half world away her third Italian court verdict in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Whatever is decided this week, the protracted legal battle that has grabbed global headlines and polarized trial-watchers in three nations probably won't end in Florence. With the first two trials producing flip-flop guilty-then-innocent verdicts against Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, the case has produced harshly clashing versions of events. A Florence appeals panel designated by Italy's supreme court to address errors in the appeals acquittal is set to deliberate Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, with a verdict expected later in the day. (AP Photo/files)
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — American student Amanda Knox is waiting half a world away for her third Italian court verdict in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.
Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were first found guilty of murder, then acquitted by an appeals court. Italy's highest court then set aside the acquittal and sent the case back to another appeals tribunal.
That court, in Florence, is set to deliberate on Thursday with a verdict expected later in the day.
Knox chose to remain in Seattle during the third trial, saying she feared a wrongful conviction in Italy.
Whatever is decided this week, the protracted legal battle that has grabbed global headlines and polarized trial-watchers probably won't end in Florence.
