Amanda Knox 'Shocked' By Court Ruling That She Will Be Tried Again for Murder

ROME, March 26, 2013— -- Amanda Knox was "shocked" by Italy's Supreme Court ruling today that she must be retried for the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher.

Knox spent four years in prison before an Italian appeals court threw out her murder conviction in 2011 and she had been hoping the court would uphold the appeals court ruling and end her six year ordeal.

Instead she was told that the marathon legal battle would continue for her and for her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who had been convicted along with her.

The court also refused to vacate her conviction for slander over her identifying her employer, Patrick Lumumba, as the person who killed Kercher. It was a statement, she claims, she made under police duress.

"She is shocked and very sad," Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said. "She thought this was the end of a nightmare."

In a statement Knox said the court's decision was "painful" and "completely unfounded and unfair."

"The prosecution responsible for the many discrepancies in their work must be made to answer for them, for Raffaele's sake, my sake, and most especially for the sake of Meredith's family. Our hearts go out to them," she said.

"No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity," she added.

FULL COVERAGE: The Amanda Knox Trial

"It's a shocking decision, so we go back to discuss the case and we are ready again," Dalla Vedova said.

Kercher's family, which had been clearly disappointed when Knox and Sollecito were freed, said today that she "happy" by today's ruling, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Her lawyer said the new trial will probably start again next year. He said Knox will not come back for new trial.

The new trial does not mean that Knox would be back in an Italian prison any time soon. She would not be required to return to Italy for the trial and if she is convicted again, that ruling would be appealed up to the Supreme Court. More legal proceedings will be necessary to extradite Knox to Italy. Experts do not believe such an effort would be successful.

The court has 90 days to write their "motivation," explaining in detail why they overturned the acquittal and upheld Knox's slander conviction.

Knox's lawyers had said she was "anxious" Monday over the court's hearing. She stayed in Seattle for the hearing.

In their final arguments before Italy's Supreme Court Monday, Dalla Vedova told the court, "'This trial started with an error and the prosecution continues to insist in the errors even in an attempt to convince the Supreme Court that the recourse should be accepted."

Complete Coverage of Amanda Knox Case

Amanda Knox Shocked By Court Ruling

Prosecutors and a lawyer for Kercher's family argued that appeals court judges "lost their way" in analyzing the evidence and that Knox and Sollecito should be retried for Kercher's murder.

"We feel that Amanda and Raffaele are guilty and were in the room with Rudy Guede," Francesco Maresca, lawyer for the Kercher family, said as he entered the Corte di Cassazione, Italy's supreme court, in Rome.

Guede, an Ivory Coast drifter, has also been convicted in the 2007 murder and is serving a 16 year prison term.

Since her 2011 release from prison, Knox has resumed her life in Seattle, taking classes and spending time with her family and boyfriend, James Terrano.

Her memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard," published by HarperCollins, will be released April 30. She reportedly received an advance of $4 million for the book.

Knox's first interview since she was freed will air during a primetime special on Tuesday, April 30 at 10 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.