Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also convicted of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.

There is an automatic appeal, but that process could take as long as two years. The Prosecuting Attorney had sought life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest sentence.

The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive. The prosecution responded that violent crimes can lack a motive, saying, “We live at a time where violence is purposeless”.

Amanda’s family insists she is innocent and a victim of character assassination with prosecutors portraying Amanda as a sex-crazed, drugs and booze addled, typical, young American girl. The nickname “Foxy Knoxy” (such a rockin’ “moniker”) was actually given to Amanda by her soccer pals when she was eight years old, apparently for fancy footwork.

The Meredith Kercher Timeline -

The house where Meredith Kercher was murdered is a converted cowshed next to a two-story parking ramp, just yards from the city’s busiest junkie hangout. She shared the house with three other girls – Amanda, an A-student at one of the oldest universities in Europe and two Italians.

Nov. 2, 2007
The body of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher is found in a pool of blood in her bedroom. Investigators say she died from a stab wound to the neck.

Nov. 6, 2007
Knox is arrested in connection with the slaying. Also arrested are Knox’s then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito of Italy; and the Congolese owner of a Perugia bar where Knox worked, Diya Lumumba.

Nov. 20, 2007
Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede is arrested in Germany after an international manhunt. He was wanted in Italy in connection to the slaying. Lumumba, who had been implicated by Knox’s statements to the police in the aftermath of the killing, is released from jail for lack of evidence.

Nov. 21, 2007
Guede, awaiting extradition to Italy, tells German court that he was in Kercher’s room but insists he didn’t kill her. Said Kercher and Knox were arguing about missing money.

Dec. 6, 2007
Guede is extradited from Germany. He is picked up by Italian authorities and jailed.

Dec. 14, 2007
Kercher is laid to rest after a private funeral service in south London.

April 1, 2008.
The Court of Cassation, Italy’s top criminal court, rejects requests by defense lawyers for the release of Knox, Sollecito and Guede and orders them to remain in jail.

Sept. 9, 2008
Guede’s lawyers ask for a fast-track trial. The procedure, in which evidence is presented in document form and no witnesses testify, is quicker and leads to lesser sentences if the suspect is found guilty.

Sept. 16, 2008
Knox appears in court at the opening of a preliminary hearing to determine whether she and the other two suspects must face trial. Sollecito is not in court. Guede, who attends the hearing, is granted the fast-track trial sought by his lawyers.

Oct. 28, 2008
Judge Paolo Micheli orders Knox and Sollecito to stand trial on charges of murder and sexual assault. The same judge also convicts Guede of murder and sexual assault and sentences him to 30 years in prison.

Jan. 16, 2009
Trial of Knox and Sollecito opens in Perugia before presiding Judge Giancarlo Massei.

June 6, 2009
Kercher’s mother, Arline Kercher, tells court in emotional testimony that she will never get over her daughter’s brutal death.

June 12, 2009
Knox takes the stand. She tells the court that she was shocked by Kercher’s death, offers an alibi for the night of the murder and says police beat her into making a false statement in the case.

Nov. 18, 2009
Guede’s appeals trial opens. Guede testifies that he heard Kercher arguing with Knox minutes before she was slain.

Nov 21, 2009
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini requests life sentences for Knox and Sollecito. Knox addresses the court minutes later to say the accusations against her are “pure fantasy.”

Dec. 4, 2009
An eight-member jury convicts Amanda Knox of murdering her British roommate, and sentences her to 26 years. The jury ialso convicts Knox’s ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and sentences him to 25 years.

The prosecutors contend on the night of the murder, Knox and her new boyfriend Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.

The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under “the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol.”

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.

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her. Strangely, Amanda is witnessed doing Cartwheels around the police station.

Knox and Sollecito say they were watching a video at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.

Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher’s screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.

Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.

The prosecution maintains that a 6½-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito’s house could be the murder weapon; they say Kercher’s DNA was found on the blade and Knox’s on the handle. However, defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher’s wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.

So, how much DNA do you need anyway? …to for instance, clone someone.

Go Home from Amanda Knox.

If you are charged with a crime that could send you to jail and you cannot afford legal counsel, you have a right to a lawyer at no charge and the court will supply you with one who is well qualified to give you a competent defense.

In order to qualify for an attorney at no cost, you must be able to show that you are unable to pay because of lack of finances. Some Courts may require that documents be filled out in order to prove your inability to pay. If you are unable to afford an attorney, the Court must supply you with a free attorney. This is your right under the law.

In criminal cases, if you qualify for a free attorney, the judge will assign a lawyer to represent you. In such cases the attorney is paid for by public funds. The attorneys appointed by the court are trained attorneys. They are as prepared to represent a private citizen accused of a crime as the District Attorney General is prepared to prosecute that crime.

If the Court appoints an attorney to represent you but you are able to pay a part of the cost, the Court may require you to make payments into the Court. This will of course depend on your ability to pay.

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Picking a lawyer is a personal judgment you must make. You should be comfortable with your choice. Ask questions and shop around. Get referrals from relatives, friends, real estate agents, and others who have had similar issues to deal with. In the end it is important to select someone you can trust to do the best job possible for you. Realize however, that there are no guarantees, be wary of anyone who assures you of a victory.

Before any work begins, ask what the cost will be for the lawyer’s services and whether you will be responsible for other fees and charges. State ethics rules require lawyers to charge a reasonable fee. The American Bar Association advises that lawyers explain their fees, preferably in writing, within a reasonable time after beginning to represent you.

Some state bars require that lawyers put their fees in writing before they take a case. Your lawyer may charge you extra for copying documents, courier services, court filing fees, or research services. Be sure you understand what you will be charged for and how much.

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If you have decided to see an accident attorney how do you go about picking one? Remember, as with other professionals, attorneys tend to specialize in a particular area of the law. Law is simply too complex for one lawyer to be proficient in all of it! When looking for an attorney consider the lawyers expertise in the problem area you need help in. Look at prior experience and reputation.

Recommendations from satisfied prior customers may be one way to gauge this. Practical factors must be considered: the location of the attorney’s office: is “X” convenient to you or to where the problem is? How quickly can the attorney deal with your problem? And what is it going to cost? Your personal preferences regarding a lawyer’s personality, gender, age, etc., may be a factor.

Picking a lawyer is a personal judgment you must make. You should be comfortable with your choice. Ask questions and shop around. Get referrals from relatives, friends, real estate agents, and others who have had similar issues to deal with. In the end it is important to select someone you can trust to do the best job possible for you. Realize however, that there are no guarantees, be wary of anyone who assures you of a victory.

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The FLSA applies to any individual employed by an “employer” but not to independent contractors or volunteers because they are not considered “employees” under the FLSA.

Fines of up to $11,000 per violation may be assessed against employers who violate the child labor provisions of the law and up to $1,100 per violation against employers who willfully or repeatedly violate the minimum wage or overtime pay provisions. This law prohibits discriminating against or discharging workers who file a complaint or participate in any proceedings under the Act.

Certain full-time students, student learners, apprentices, and workers with disabilities may be paid less than the minimum wage under special certificates issued by the Department of Labor.

Employers of “tipped employees” must pay a cash wage of minimun specified amount per hour if they claim a tip credit against their minimum wage obligation. If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s cash wage of the minimum specified amount per hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Certain other conditions must also be met.

An employee must be paid 1½ times his regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

An employee must be at least 16 years old to work in most non-farm jobs and at least 18 to work in non-farm jobs declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.

Youths 14 and 15 years old may work outside school hours in various non-manufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs under the following conditions:

• No more than 3 hours on a school day or 18 hours in a school week
• 8 hours on a non-school day or 40 hours in a non-school week
• Work may not begin before 7 a.m. or end after 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when evening hours are extended to 9 p.m.
• Different rules apply in agricultural employment

The Department of Labor may recover back wages, either administratively or through court action, for the employees that have been underpaid in violation of the law. Violations may result in civil or criminal action.

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