Amanda Knox of Seattle, Washington, was found guilty in a trial in Italy for the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. The guilty verdict and subsequent 26-year prison sentence was handed down on December 5, 2009 in Italy.The University of Washington student had been in Perugia for just a few hours on a hot summer day in 2007 with her younger sister, Deanna, who saw a poster that included the word "appartamento." The sisters chatted for hours in the kitchen with the two friendly Italian girls who lived there and made plans with them to tour the town the next day. Knox testified on June 12, and June 13, 2009, that she was visiting her boyfriend the night her roommate was killed. CNN reported she testified to the fact that "she said she checked her e-mails at his place before the couple had dinner, watched a movie, smoked a marijuana joint, made love and fell asleep."6 Her mother, Edda Mellas, testified as well, telling the court that Knox and Kercher "got along great."The two court-appointed experts are looking into DNA traces on the knife believed to have been used to kill Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old Briton who shared an apartment with Knox in Perugia, and into DNA traces found on the clasp of the bra Kercher was allegedly wearing at the time she was killed.