Knox, Sollecito not to appear in court

• Tweet

PERUGIA, Italy, March 23 (UPI) -- Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, who were acquitted of the 2007 slaying of Knox's roommate in Italy, will not be in court for an appeal's verdict.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of killing Meredith Kercher, a British woman whom Knox, a U.S. national, lived with in Perugia, Italy, ABC News reported.

Their convictions were overturned in October 2011 by an Italian appeals court and Knox and Sollecito were released from prison. A third person, Rudy Guede, has been convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison for Kercher's death.

Prosecutors appealed the acquittal, and a court is set to give a verdict in the case on Monday, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

However, neither Knox, now a student at the University of Washington, or Sollecito, who is studying in Verona, will be in attendance for the verdict.

If prosecutors are successful in their appeal, Knox and Sollecito will face a retrial.

Kercher, a 21-year-old Leeds University student, was found dead on Nov. 2, 2007. She was stabbed multiple times in her throat.