Sex-game scenario ruled out in Amanda Knox retrial

FLORENCE, Italy, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Prosecutors Monday ruled out a sex-game scenario in the death of Amanda Knox's British roommate in Knox's retrial in Florence, Italy.

"I find no traces nor hints of this hypothetical erotic game," prosecutor Alessandro Crini said.

Defense lawyers in Florence wrapped up their closing remarks Monday in the retrial of Knox and ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the 2007 death of British student Meredith Kercher. Knox and Sollecito have denied killing Kercher in what prosecutors in the original trial said was a sex game gone wrong. They were convicted in 2009 but acquitted on appeal two years later.

Crini has repeatedly argued the murder was sparked by a series of arguments over the cleanliness of the apartment after a third person, Rudy Guede, left the bathroom dirty, ANSA reported. Guede was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of Kercher, but the Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation, said it was unlikely he acted alone.

The Court of Cassation overturned the appeal ruling of Knox and Sollecito and ordered the current appeals-level trial. Knox and Sollecito each spent four years in prison, including time before their first trial.

The attorney for U.S. student Amanda Knox in the retrial on the death of her British roommate in Italy says his client can't wait for the "nightmare" to end.

Sollecito was in court with his father while Knox remained at her home in Seattle, as she has since the retrial began. Knox and roommate Kercher were studying in Perugia in 2007.

A verdict is expected Jan. 30.

Carlo Dalla Vedova, representing Knox, said she followed the trial "step by step" while living her "normal life as a student."

"Amanda is confident that the court will proclaim her innocence," Vedova said. "She cannot wait to end this nightmare."

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 26 years in prison for Sollecito and 30 years for Knox. Knox's sentence includes four years for allegedly slandering a bar owner she initially implicated during police questioning. When she retracted her statement, she said she had been confused.