Guede's sentence reduced; gives hope to Amanda Knox

Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast native who was convicted of the same murder and sexual assault as Amanda Knox, had his sentence nearly cut in half on appeal Tuesday, from 30 years in prison to 16.

Guede had been tried separately from Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, because he had opted for a  fast-track trial.

Tuesday’s decision certainly bodes well for Amanda, whose lawyers have said they will appeal her guilty verdict.

Knox received 26 years in jail and Sollecito 25 when the jury came back its verdict in the early morning of Dec. 5.

All three were convicted of murder and sexual assault in the stabbing death of Meredith Kercher, a British student who shared a home in Perugia with Knox.

The case was widely followed in the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and passions ran high as Amanda developed a group of followers convinced she was getting a raw deal by the Italian justice system.

While the circumstantial evidence against Knox and Sollecito was strong, no witness ever came forward and there was no motive. The prosecution first argued that it was a sex game gone wrong, and later that the two women had a deep dislike for each other.