Amanda Knox murder case reopened in Italy’s highest court amid ‘trial by social media’

Italy’s highest court this week takes up the Amanda Knox murder case for the second time as a parallel trial-by-social media rages online.

While the internet advocacy and sparring over the trial details – on blogs, forums and most vociferously on Twitter – have no bearing on the real court case, observers and participants say it does have a role in shaping public opinion, particularly in the United States, where the exchanges are most acerbic.

And public opinion could eventually have some bearing, if a confirmed guilty verdict requires Knox to serve a sentence and Italy seeks to extradite her.

“This has become their life, and both sides are desperate to win any way they can. Even if that is in the court of public opinion, they will take that win,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor who directs the centre for legal advocacy at Loyola Law School.

“Everyone has woken up and realised that the law is not etched in stone. It is in the eye of the beholder and they are trying to influence that.”

The Italian Court of Cassation on Wednesday is expected to rule on Knox’s and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito’s appeal to their guilty verdicts in British student Meredith Kercher’s 2007 killing, issued last year by a Florence appeals court that sentenced Knox to 28 ½ years and Sollecito to 25 years.