Ferris Wheels and Murder Verdict in Perugia

PERUGIA, Italy Dec. 10, 2009— -- It is holiday season in the picturesque Italian city of Perugia. The Ferris wheel is up in on the plaza overlooking the gently rolling hills of Umbria. Nearby, at an open air market, artisans from around region sell their goods: salami, prosciutto, fine olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and an array of cheeses.

But this season the city famous for its chocolates, has become infamous for something else: the murder conviction of Seattle college student 22-year-old Amanda Knox, and her former boyfriend, engineering student Raffaele Sollecito, 25.

Early Saturday morning, a jury of six local residents of two judges sentenced Knox to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years in prison for the murder of Knox's British roommate Meredith Kercher in November 2007.

Knox's family had flown in from Seattle to be by her side, and had to fight their way through a media mob to hear the verdict. When the lead judge read it out in the packed courtroom, in Italian, at first Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, wasn't sure what was happening.

Click here for complete coverage of Amanda Knox case

"I heard someone gasping in the audience back where the public stood. I heard someone say 'no, no,'" Mellas told "20/20" anchor Elizabeth Vargas in her first interview after the verdict.

"I heard other people weeping back in the public area…and then I could see Amanda …she put her head down then she started to cry...she lost it. We all did."

It was a devastating moment for the Knoxes, who believed the defense had presented a strong case and whittled away the prosecution's evidence and minimized the attacks on Knox's behavior and character.

The Knox family has spent the past two years shuttling back and forth from Seattle to Perugia, doing everything in their power to free the young woman who had come to Perugia to study Italian, and ended up less than two months later arrested for Kercher's brutal murder.

From that moment on, Knox has been at the white-hot core of an international firestorm, labeled by the paparazzi as an icy killer and defended by supporters as an innocent victim of a zealous prosecutor who presented scant evidence and a shifting motive. And now her conviction has ignited a new round of debate.

"Colpevole" – guilty – screamed the headlines in the Italian papers the morning after the verdict.

For Kercher's family, the verdict is seen as bittersweet vindication.

Criticism of Amanda Knox Verdict Touched Nerve in Italy

"We are pleased with the decision, but it's not a time for celebration" Lyle Kercher, the victim's brother, told a room full of reporters from around the world at a news conference Saturday.

Some of the British press, which had initially joined in the vilification of Knox, are now starting to question whether there was enough evidence to try, let alone convict, Sollecito and Knox.

Back in Seattle, where Knox grew up and would have graduated college last spring, the verdict and sentence are criticized. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., issued a statement saying the verdict raises "serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial." The senator has contacted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who on Monday said she would meet with anyone who wants to discuss the case.

But the criticism touched a nerve in Italy, where they defend the verdict and deny any anti-American bias.

"This is a classic case of where you stand is where you sit," said Theodore Simon, an attorney who has defended Americans accused of crimes abroad.

"The two systems seem to magnify the actual differences in the case. There are those in the United States who would say she wouldn't even be tried, let alone convicted. But yet, in Italy people… are feeling, we wouldn't put on trial someone who was not guilty. How dare you think we are unfair? How dare you think we are incompetent? No. We're not about that. We're about justice, just as you are," Simon said.

Perugia' s thick walls have defended this city against intruders for centuries. The intruders today are the thousands of foreign students who flock here every year and party openly on the steps of the medieval church in the city's central square.

"Perugia is a small town and it has a pretty active and avid press," said Time magazine correspondent Nina Burleigh, who has covered the trial.

"A lot of people think ...this verdict has a lot to do with the power of the prosecutor, the power of the police in this town and the fact that once…the prosecutor charged [Knox and Sollecito], once they moved down this track, the jury and the judge in this case were very leery of stopping it," Burleigh said.

The jury of six local residents and two judges reached their unanimous verdict after more than 11 hours of deliberations.

Abc News spoke to one of the jurors, who called it an agonizing decision.

Amanda Knox Hopes Pinned on Appeal

"No one slept the night before," the female juror told ABC News in a telephone interview. "All of us, the judges included, were in tears before the verdict was read."

But the juror said she concluded that Knox was guilty. "It was hard to envision Knox doing this…but it is possible… we can all drink too much, then get in a car and drive."

In Italy, as in the United States, a jury must find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But an American definition of "reasonable" may get lost in translation. To Knox's father, Curt, there was no doubt which conclusion the jury should have reached.

"To me it should have been unanimous to an innocent verdict," Curt Knox told Vargas. "I thought we were so far past reasonable doubt that we were going to be able to take her home."

But instead, the Knox family must now pin its hopes on winning an appeal. The process will begin after the judge issues his full opinion, expected March 5. Then a new set of six jurors and two judges will be chosen to review all the evidence and testimony from the case. That could take nine months to a year, according to legal experts in Italy.

In an interview hours after the verdict, Deanna Knox, Amanda's younger sister, told Vargas she has doubts Knox can get a fair appeal in Perugia.

"Honestly it is hard to believe right now, because we believed in their system. We let them have the chance to do the right thing, and they didn't. And it's hard to believe that in just more time they will," Deanna Knox said.

If the first appeal fails, the Knox's can take the case to the highest court in Italy, the Court of Cassation, which could reverse the verdict if it finds the original trial violated a point of law. About one in three cases in Italy are ultimately reversed on appeal.

Over the past two years, Knox's prominent attorney Luciano Ghirga has defended her passionately in court, and in the court of public opinion.

In an interview with ABC News, Ghirga disagreed with the guilty verdict, and said that by not sentencing Knox to the harshest penalty, life in prison, the jury signaled it wasn't completely convinced of her guilt.

Ghirga said the jury must have accepted the prosecution's forensic evidence, even though the defense argued forcefully that it was inadequate, and collected improperly. He was referring specifically to DNA from Kercher and Knox found on a knife in Sollecito's kitchen. The amount of Kercher's DNA found on the blade was too small to be retested.

"The forensic evidence will be a strong point which we will argue because we believe the collection of the DNA was done badly and in violation of international protocols," Ghirga said. The lawyer also pointed out that not a shred of forensic evidence from Knox was found in the room where Kercher was killed.

"The road to acquittal remains open," said the distinguished, white-haired attorney who himself teared up during his impassioned closing argument, and comforted Knox after the verdict was read. "We are totally convinced. Amanda's strength gives us strength."• This past weekend, the Knox family visited the prison on the outskirts of Perugia that will remain her home for the foreseeable future. Knox has a new cell, which she shares with an American inmate.

Knox Family Flew Home Next to Empty Seat Meant for Her

"I told her to be strong and that this would get fixed she would come home," said Curt Knox.

"I think she is going to move forward with a positive attitude, knowing that the light is at the end of the tunnel. She is not going to be left here," her father said.

For the Knox family, the financial and emotional toll continues to mount. Her parents have already spent their life savings defending her, but they vow to fight on.

"We will do whatever it takes to support Amanda," said Edda Mellas, adding that the family is unshaken in its belief that their daughter is innocent, and grateful for the calls and e-mails of support they have received from around the world.

"The last thing I said to her was I put my hands on the outside of her face and said, 'You are going to come home.'"

On Wednesday, Curt Knox and three of his four daughters made the long trip home to Seattle, the seat on the airplane they bought for Amanda, empty.

Edda Mellas plans to remain in Perugia until just before Christmas, visiting her daughter twice a week for the one hour allowed.

Curt Knox will return to Perugia in January. By then, the Ferris wheel will be down, the market shut, and the bitter winter chill will have seeped deep into the ancient stones of Perugia.