Amanda Knox and her verdict
The verdict of Amanda Knox was announced in the Italian court on Monday, and the 24-year-old exchange student was acquitted of murder.
Free from the initial sentence of 26 years in prison, Knox is expected to return to Seattle on Tuesday with her family.
The verdict was delivered one-and-a-half hours after the promised 8 p.m. deadline, an indication that the jury did not have an easy time with the decision.
Knox was found guilty of slander for accusing bar owner Diya ‘Patrick’ Lumumba of carrying out the crime. The judge set the sentence at three years, which she has already served, and ordered Knox to pay 22,000 euros.
Upon hearing the verdict reversal, Knox collapsed in tears, and wept uncontrollably as she was led back to prison by security guards to collect her belongings.
The Kercher family appeared dazed as the verdict was read by the judge after nearly 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury.
Outside the court, hundreds of people gathered to watch the spectacle, many of them upset by the acquittal.
Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were freed as the Italian appeals court overturned both of their guilty verdicts for murdering Knox’s roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009 after a ten month long trial, each sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors had demanded that Knox’s sentence be increased from 26 years to life, calling the murder of Kercher a senseless crime and Knox a ‘she-devil’ as they portrayed her as a double-sided, sex-crazed party girl. Kercher’s body was wounded over 40 times with her throat slit.
Amanda Knox.
American student Amanda Knox headed for home on Tuesday after spending four years in an Italian jail, leaving the family of Meredith Kercher to express their anguish at being no closer to the truth about her murder.
Knox left Rome shortly before midday for London where she and her family were due to board a connecting flight to their home in Seattle – airport officials said.
The 24-year-old had broken down in sobs on Monday after an appeals court in Perugia ruled she and her former boyfriend, Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, should be freed immediately.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday they would appeal against the ruling and Kercher’s disappointed family said the search for who killed the British student in 2007 would go on.
“We’re still absorbing it. You think you’ve come to a decision and now it’s been overturned” – Meredith’s morther Arline told reporters at a news conference.
The prosecution will now appeal to the Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest appeals court.
Kercher’s sister Stephanie said they would wait for the written explanation of the acquittal verdict in the hope that all the killers would eventually be found.
“Once we’ve got the reasons behind the decisions for this one, then we can understand why they have been acquitted of it and work towards finding those who are responsible” – she said.
“That’s the biggest disappointment — not knowing still and knowing that there is someone or people out there who have done this.”
Once it was clear that Amanda Knox’s Italian murder conviction had been overturned, her supporters in Seattle burst into cheers, threw their hands in the air and began to cry in joy.
“She’s free” – Tom Rochelle repeated as the translation of the Italian judge’s words came across TV Monday.
Surrounded by news cameras, the dozen or so supporters began hugging each other at a downtown hotel suite. The celebration marked four years of uncertainty for friends and supporters of Knox’s family.
In its ruling, the Italian appeals court also cleared Knox’s co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito, of murder in British student Meredith Kercher’s death. Kercher (21) shared an apartment with Knox when they were both studying in Perugia. She was stabbed to death in her bedroom.
Knox and Sollecito, her former boyfriend from Italy, were convicted of murdering Kercher in 2009. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, a drifter and native of the Ivory Coast.
Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and the appeals court ultimately agreed.
Supporters also expressed sympathy for the Kercher family.
“This is primarily a sad occasion” – said Tom Wright, one of the main organizers of the Friends of Amanda group, after the verdict. “They lost their daughter. We’ll keep them in our prayers.”
Knox grew up in Seattle, attending a private Jesuit high school before going to the University of Washington.
Friends of Amanda formed shortly after Knox was arrested for murder in 2007. With Italy nine hours ahead of Seattle, the group rented a suite and waited through the night for the court’s ruling.