Amanda Knox, an American who was convicted and then exonerated of murdering her housemate while they were studying in Italy, on Wednesday lost another trial in an Italian court against slander charges related to the 2007 killing.
Ms. Knox was convicted by a court in Florence on charges that she had slandered a man who ran a bar where she worked by unjustly accusing him of killing her housemate, the 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, in 2007. Ms. Knox was sentenced by the court to three years in prison, time she has already served.
Ms. Knox was initially found guilty of slandering the man, Diya Lumumba, also known as Patrick, in 2009, a conviction that was upheld by various Italian courts. At the time of the killing, Mr. Lumumba ran a bar called Le Chic where Ms. Knox worked part time.
Ms. Knox declined to speak to reporters after the ruling on Wednesday. Standing at the front of the courtroom, she appeared distressed and held her husband, Christopher Robinson, in a long embrace.
“Amanda is very upset,” one of her lawyers, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said after the verdict was issued. He said that she had been looking forward to the trial as a way of putting an end to “17 years of judicial procedure.”
Her defense team said it would read the court’s full written ruling, which is expected within 60 days, and would then most likely appeal to Italy’s highest court.