Amanda Knox May Face Re-Trial for Meredith Kercher Murder

In October 2011, an Italian court overturned Amanda Knox's conviction for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. But the 25-year-old Seattle woman still faces another round of legal battles.

On Monday 25 March, Italian prosecutors in Rome will argue that Knox and her ex-boyfriend should be re-tried. The decision will be based on paperwork and legal documents, and no new witnesses will be produced.

Knox, now a student at the University of Washington, was convicted of Kercher's brutal murder in December 2009. Kercher was found dead in 2007 in the room they shared in the Italian city of Perugia. Also convicted were Raffaele Sollecito (Knox's then boyfriend) and Rudy Guede, a friend of Kercher.

Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively, but were acquitted in October 2011, when an Italian appeals court criticised the prosecution's case.

Rudy Guede, whose DNA was found almost everywhere at the crime scene, is serving a 16-year prison sentence. However, no DNA from Knox was found in the bedroom where Kercher was murdered.

Neither Knox nor Sollecito is expected to attend Monday's hearing. However, if the prosecutors' argument is successful, the duo will face a re-trial. If the Supreme Court upholds Knox and Sollecito's acquittal, they will face no further legal action over the murder, as the Supreme Court's decision is the final word in the Italian judicial process.

"She is very anxious about the hearing but she is waiting for it knowing full well that the outcome is very important," Luciano Ghirga, Knox's lawyer, has said.

Knox's defence has also appealed against her conviction for slander against her former boss Patrick Lumumba, whom she accused of Kercher's murder. In 2009, Knox stated that she accused Lumumba only after she was beaten on the head and yelled at during a 50-hour interrogation.

Of the four years Knox spent in prison, three were for the slander conviction. If Knox's slander conviction were quashed, she could seek compensation for false imprisonment.

Since her release in 2011, Knox has maintained a low profile in the United States, living with her family, taking classes and spending time with her boyfriend, James Terrano.

Her memoir, Waiting to Be Heard, will be published by HarperCollins on 30 April. On the same day, her first interview since being released will air on the ABC Television Network at 10pm ET. Knox has reportedly received an advance of $4m (£2.6m) for the book.