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October 3, 2011 in Nation/World, Region
Italy appeals court clears Knox of murder
Amanda Knox breaks down in tears after hearing the verdict that overturns her conviction and acquits her of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, at the Perugia court, central Italy, Monday, Oct. 3, 2011. Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox’s murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) — An Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox’s murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate.
Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The Kercher family looked on grimly and a bit dazed as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted “Shame, shame!”
Yet inside the frescoed courtroom, Knox’s parents, who have regularly traveled from their home in Seattle to Perugia to visit the 24-year-old over the past four years, hugged their lawyers and cried with joy.
“We’ve been waiting for this for four years,” said one of Sollecito’s lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno.
The judge upheld Knox’s conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya “Patrick” Lumumba of carrying out the killing. He set the sentence at three years, meaning for time served. Knox has been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007.
Prosecutors can appeal the acquittal to Italy’s highest court. There was no word late Monday if they planned to do so.
In Seattle, about a dozen Knox supporters were overjoyed that she has been cleared of the murder conviction.
“She’s free!” and “We did it!” they shouted at a hotel where they watched the court proceedings on TV.
Earlier Monday, Knox tearfully told the court she did not kill her roommate. Knox frequently paused for breath and fought back tears as she spoke in Italian to the eight members of the jury in a packed courtroom, but managed to maintain her composure during the 10-minute address.
“I’ve lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible,” she said of the 2007 murder of Kercher, who shared an apartment with Knox when they were both students in Perugia. “I’m paying with my life for things that I didn’t do.”
Knox and Sollecito, Knox’s former boyfriend from Italy, were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. They both deny wrongdoing.
“I never hurt anyone, never in my life,” Sollecito said Monday in his own speech to the jury.
Hundreds of eager observers gathered outside the courthouse ahead of the highly anticipated announcement, joining television vans that have been camped out for more than a week. One hundred reporters were being allowed into the subterranean courtroom.
Observers lined the street leading to the courthouse, taking pictures as the two vans carrying Knox and Sollecito from the prison to the court passed by.
Kercher’s mother, sister and a brother traveled to Perugia for the verdict. They had expressed worry over the possibility of an acquittal but told reporters as deliberations were under way that they hoped the jury would do the right thing and not be influenced by the media’s focus on the case.
“As long as they decide today based purely on the information available to them and they don’t look into the media hype, I think justice will be found,” the victim’s sister, Stephanie Kercher, told reporters. She said the family was satisfied with the original verdicts.
She lamented that Meredith had been “most forgotten” in the media circus surrounding the case, with news photos more frequently showing Knox and Sollecito than “Mez” — the victim’s nickname. “It’s very difficult to keep her memory alive in all of this,” she said.
The family, however, said it could understand the Knox family’s media campaign.
“They fully believe in her innocence. You can’t blame them for that,” said Lyle Kercher, the victim’s brother. “But it’s obviously hard for us.”
As the verdict was broadcast live, hundreds of reporters and camera crews filled the underground, frescoed courtroom before Knox’s address, while police outside cordoned off the entrance to the tribunal.
The trial has captivated audiences worldwide: Knox and Sollecito had been convicted of murdering Meredith in what the lower court said had begun as a drug-fueled sexual assault.
Knox insisted Monday that she had nothing to do with the murder and that Kercher was a friend who was always nice to her. Gesticulating, at times clasping her hands together, the American said she has always wanted justice for Kercher.
“She had her bedroom next to mine, she was killed in our own apartment. If I had been there that night, I would be dead,” Knox said. “But I was not there.”
“I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal. I wasn’t there,” Knox said.
After the morning court session, Knox was relaxing in the prison chapel, playing guitar and singing as she awaited the verdict, according to an Italian lawmaker who visited her in prison Monday.
“These are obviously the most difficult hours,” Rocco Girlanda, who has spearheaded a campaign in Italy in support of Knox, told The Associated Press. “The time never seems to pass.”
Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, a small-time drug dealer and drifter who spent most of his life in Italy after arriving here from his native Ivory Coast. Guede was convicted in a separate fast-track procedure and saw his sentence cut to 16 years in his final appeal.
Lawyers for Knox and Sollecito believe Guede was the sole killer, but the prosecution and a lawyer for the Kercher family say that bruises and a lack of defensive wounds on Kercher’s body prove that there was more than one aggressor holding her into submission.
Knox said she had nothing more than a passing acquaintance with Guede, who played basketball at a court near the house, and didn’t even know his name. Sollecito, who addressed the court before Knox, told jurors that he did not know Guede at all.
Sollecito was anxious as he addressed the court, shifting as he spoke and stopping to sip water. He said prior to the Nov. 1, 2007 murder was a happy time for him, he was close to defending his thesis to graduate from university and had just met Knox.
The weekend Kercher was murdered was the first the pair planned to spend together “in tenderness and cuddles,” he said.
At the end of his 17-minute address, Sollecito took off a white rubber bracelet emblazoned with “Free Amanda and Raffaele” that he said he has been wearing for four years.
“I have never taken it off. Many emotions are concentrated in this bracelet,” he said. “Now I want to pay homage to the court. The moment to take it off has arrived.”
© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
drywitt99 on October 03 at 5:54 a.m.
Be grateful you’re not in Texas, kiddo.
JBlim on October 03 at 6:48 a.m.
She’d be better off in Texas unless she was black or Hispanic. These Italians are nuts.
misjustice on October 03 at 10:04 a.m.
I would not be surprised if the court doubles down; life sentence.
Codywiench on October 03 at 11:11 a.m.
Someone can correct me if I am wrong, (In the United States) but if a person is convicted and sentenced, at the appeal the prosecution cannot appeal as well, asking for a tougher sentence, can they? If the can (as it seems they can in Italy), that is totally messed up.
Shadedmuse on October 03 at 12:03 p.m.
The Catholic church runs the courts, that is why they have no DEATH Penalty and did you notice the big crusifix on the wall behind the judge. if U.S Courts did this it would be a serious vilation of church and state.
for those tea-baggers worried about Sharia law being in U.S courts it will never happen because it would be a violation of church and state.
By the way their is No Difference between Sharia law and Christian reconstructionism/Dominionism both fall old testiment gods law where if you work on the sabbath you must be put to death, what would be hard to do because the sabbath is a diffrent day to some religions some say it is Monday some say Friday some say saturday and others say Sunday. if you go with sunday look at all the NFL players who would be sentence to death not to mention the broadcasters that cover the game.
misjustice on October 03 at 12:55 p.m.
Thank goodness, Amanda has been successful in her appeal! Yeah!
I was worried that the Italian Court would double down, and glad that I was wrong.
WHS on October 03 at 1:09 p.m.
And now she best just get the he!! out of there! If I were in Ms Knox’s shoes, I would’nt be on my knees, I would be in a taxi headed to the airport for the first flight out of the country.
WHS
Al_Loysius on October 03 at 1:21 p.m.
She has gotten away with murder. The Italian jury was under tremendous political pressure to get this headache out of the Italian justice system. It goes to show that if you are pretty and white, the victim is multi-racial, and if you can pin it on a black guy, you can skate.
The American media bought the million dollar public relation effort by the Knox family and don’t think that media pressure did not affect the jury over the past few months.
MrNatural on October 03 at 1:23 p.m.
Pazzesco!!!
Due Ave Marie…Piuttosto due Padre Nostri?
jddavis on October 03 at 1:27 p.m.
Al—just like OJ?
Al_Loysius on October 03 at 1:32 p.m.
And Casey Anthony.
norpass on October 03 at 1:39 p.m.
Dear Ms. Amanda:
Get the hell out of Italy and do not stop to pass go. Come home girlfriend and don’t you EVER leave again.
Loudin on October 03 at 1:44 p.m.
I’m so happy w/this verdict! I was so surprised that my monocle actually fell into my champagne flute; does anybody know a good optometrist on Vashon Island?
Seriously: As much as this story was about judicial misconduct, it was also about happenstance. If you happen to be a photogenic young woman w/a university education and upper-middle class parents, you most likely will get out of trouble when it arises. Change Amanda’s name to “Jesus,” give her a year-round tan and parents who cut asparagus for a living, and I don’t think anybody in Meattle gives a darn. So goes life…so goes justice.
meadman on October 03 at 1:46 p.m.
Al….you are WRONG …another person already confessed to the murder. Your name explains your inane comment.
metaline on October 03 at 1:47 p.m.
I have no idea if she is guily or innocent. I also have no idea what the tea party has to do with it. At the end of the day, the only thing important is the truth. I hope the court got it right.
schleufer on October 03 at 1:51 p.m.
she went there for an education…id say she got one. with the way things are in the world i cant see why anyone would want to go live in any other country. i tried to feel sorry for those 3 that got stuck in iran for 2 years but jeezus read the papers about those places before you go there.
MrNatural on October 03 at 2:18 p.m.
Absolutely schleufer…you might call this the school of hard Knox
misjustice on October 03 at 2:32 p.m.
Good one, Natch!
And Loudin, unfortunately, I believe that your observation is spot on…
Byrdie714 on October 03 at 3:04 p.m.
Ironic that she is freed on the same day that OJ Simpson was acquitted 16 years ago..
Goes to show—both court systems are flawed.
She’ll come home, hit the lecture circuit, write a book, possibly star in a movie and become a millionaire.
Ahh….the American way of life.
Al_Loysius on October 03 at 3:36 p.m.
Mead, You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Nobody had confessed to the crime. Rudy Guede was tried separately and convicted. Another court hearing Guede’s appeal noted that the forensics support that 3 persons were involved. No part of the decision today changes the fact that Guede did not act alone.
spokane20 on October 03 at 3:58 p.m.
Al,
Then explain why her DNA never found on any knife, body, or anything else found at the murder scene?
FREE!!
Al_Loysius on October 03 at 4:00 p.m.
Italians are practical realists. The jurors may well have thought:
1. Raffaele is a nice Italian boy and is the son of a doctor and of “good ” family. We have to let Amanda go so we can let him go.
2.) We already have a black guy from Africa in prison on this, and he won’t eleicit much sympathy from anybody.
3.) We don’t need to have this story being front page news in the US anymore, since it hurts our ability to get Americans here to spend money, and our economy is already shaky.
4.) Meredith Kercher may have been a sweet girl, but nothing can bring her back, and she was not Italian anyway.
Al_Loysius on October 03 at 4:24 p.m.
Spokane 20, there is a lot of evidence that has not been mentioned in the mainstream US media: Luminol evidence, staged break in, Amanda’ lamp being found in the victim’s room, a faulty alibi based on phone records, alibis between Raffaele and Amanda that don’t match, the phony accusation of Lumumba, etc.: Take a look at
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C460/
MikeA on October 03 at 6:31 p.m.
The prosecutor obviously studied at the Guantanamo Bay School for Prosecution.
1) Cast aspersions and use name-calling whenever possible;
2) lead the jury with your prejudices whenever possible;
3) don’t allow anyone from the defense to know what the “evidence” is or they might want to challenge it; and most important
4) get as much sympathetic ‘news media’ coverage as you can —they will do the conviction for you with no need for anything as messy and inconvenient as facts.
Shadedmuse on October 03 at 7:08 p.m.
Itlaly Prosecuters must of went to the Nancy Grace School of Law.
if the Italy prosecuter read this and charge me with defamantion, then I say bring it on. because you guys act like you were schooled by the Nancey Grace school of law of incompitance, I can do a better job prosecuting a case then you crusifix loving idiots. get that crusifix out of the court its worse then in god we trust.
At least Amanda wasn;t in texas, Gubonor Good hair would of stuck a needle in her.
also she is lucky she wasnt in turkey, have you seen midnight express.
bdr on October 03 at 9:35 p.m.
Now hopefully the Italy prosecutor will reimburse this family, they have apparently spent WAY over a million dollars trying to save their daughter.
Pigrobin on October 03 at 10:04 p.m.
MikeA: Guantanamo prosecutors? Pretty sketchy comparison…tell us about all the prosecutions down in Guantanamo. You wouldn’t be making this up would you? I’ve missed all this “sympathetic news media coverage” and am interested in hearing about the phantom convictions you seem to know about.
MaoTenDoo on October 03 at 10:45 p.m.
@Al_Loysius, thanks for the compelling “evidence” from a random internet dude named Kermit.
No one really knows what happened that night in Italy, but the facts presented in court were entirely circumstantial. Knox’s original statements to police are hardly legitimate since she barely spoke the language and wasn’t given legal representation until the day after her arrest.
drywitt99 on October 04 at 2:19 a.m.
Doesn’t matter whether its Florida or Italy…
Cute white girls can get away with murder.
Pigrobin on October 04 at 6:19 a.m.
So can old black football players.