Closing arguments made in retrial of British exchange student's death

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. Defense lawyers wrapped up their closing remarks Monday in the retrial of Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the 2007 death of British student Meredith Kercher. Sollecito was in court with his father, while Knox remained at her home in Seattle, as she has since the retrial began into the death of Kercher, Knox's roommate when the two were studying in Perugia in 2007, ANSA reported. A verdict is expected Jan. 30. Carlo Dalla Vedova, representing Knox, said she followed 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. 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. Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation, overturned the appeal ruling and ordered a new appeals-level trial in 2013 in Florence. Knox and Sollecito each spent four years in prison, including time before their first trial. A third accused, Rudy Guede of Ivory Coast, was convicted in a fast-tracked trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison.