Italian Prosecutors Appeal Amanda Knox Acquittal

(NewsCore) - Italian prosecutors Tuesday filed an appeal of the decision to acquit Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, the ANSA news agency reported.

Perugia prosecutor Giovanni Galati said he was "convinced" Knox and Sollecito were behind the killing and wanted the acquittal thrown out, AFP reported.

In Knox's hometown of Seattle, her family issued a statement saying "We are not concerned about this appeal as Amanda's innocence was clearly and convincingly proven in her appeal trial.

"This is simply another example of harassment by the prosecution against Amanda and makes this terrible, painful incident continue to go on for Amanda, Raffaele and their families."

Knox's US lawyer, Theodore Simon, released a statement saying, "While the prosecution, as expected, has appealed, very little has changed.

"The appellate jurors conducted a thorough, painstaking, searching inquiry into the true facts and determined in a lengthy, logical and comprehensive decision, that Amanda Knox was not guilty of the tragic loss of Meredith Kercher."

Knox was jailed for 26 years in 2009 for murdering Kercher, who was found half-naked with her throat slit in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia. Her ex-boyfriend Sollecito received a 25-year sentence for the crime.

Both were freed last October when their convictions were overturned by an appeals court.

Knox cannot be extradited back to Italy regardless of the court's decision on Tuesday's appeal.

Earlier this month, lawyers for Knox filed an appeal against the 24 year old's slander conviction for falsely implicating her former employer, bar owner Patrick Lumumba, in the crime.

"It's a story that never ends," Sollecito told ANSA.